A video has amassed 3.7 million views and over 14,000 comments on TikTok of a woman who claims her Spirit Airlines left one hour early and the budget carrier only let her know after the flight took off about her early departure.
Did A Spirit Airlines Flight Really Depart One Hour Early Without Notice?
Kaley Reed claims she showed up at 2:45pm for a 4:00pm Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas. When she reached the counter, however, she was told by a check-in agent that her flight had already departed.
@kaleyreed_ any tips other than to not ever fly spirit airlines lol #spiritairlines #spirit #lasvegasairport
A back-and-froth ensued, with Reed advised to check her email. According to Reed, at 3:02pm she received an email from Spirit advising her that her flight would be leaving an hour early at 3:00pm.
No route was provided, no email was posted, and Spirit Airlines has declined to address the incident.
Am I only the only one who finds Reed’s story far-fetched? Certainly Spirit Airlines has never won any customer service awards. Furthermore, there are times in which schedule changes occur, even at the last-minute. But this would be the first time I’ve ever heard of a carrier changing flight times and only notifying passengers after the fact. I would think that there would be dozens of angry passengers who also would have taken to social media had the schedule change truly occurred at the last minute.
I have to wonder whether Hayes failed to check her email and missed the schedule change, which may have occurred days or weeks in advance.
Reminder: Check Flight Itineraries Often
Whether her story is true or not, her missed flight is an important reminder that we must keep an eye on our itineraries, because departure times do shift and airlines are not always vigilant about providing notice.
Apps like Flight Update Pro ($5.99 in Apple App Store) can help keep you abreast of any flight changes, but you can also simply use your airlines’ app to monitor your flight plans. Make a point of checking at least once per week and even more often in the final days before travel.
This is helpful not just for schedule changes, but potential airport swaps which may alter your seat assignments.
CONCLUSION
I’m not convinced Spirit Airlines actually notified Reed of her schedule change only after the flight left. Even so, her trial serves as an important reminder that we should stay on top of our flight itineraries to avoid any unpleasant surprises at the airport.
image: Tomás Del Coro
@ Matthew — For a second, I thought it must be Sunday.
LOL, glad to know I’m not the only one who skips the blog on Sundays. Have a great weekend!
I don’t live spirit airlines, but pax collectively has a poor record of being objective about their own experiences.
Email could have been delayed. Spirit should have called and texted.
No excuse for flight leaving early. I could be drunk and asleep, and under no obligation to check my messages.
That said, Americans are pawns of corporate interests and quite a few masochist Americans actually love getting raped by corporates, so i don’t expect any regulatory or legal protection from corporate shenanigans like these.
After 20 years as a flight attendant for United I have never known of a flight to leave before it’s posted time. There have been delays when the flight is posted to depart at 11:45AM rather then 9:45AM. At first I would ask an agent if there is a chance the departure would be early, before the 11:45 posted time. A customer service manager told me once a flight time is posted that will be the time. No squeezing up to an earlier departure. Of course it could be delayed again but the best surprise for passengers is no surprise. Perhaps if all the confirmed passengers are on board and the paperwork and manifesto handed off to the crew, the captain may request an earlier gate departure .
I couldn’t look away from her impressive gum chewing.
I have been on flights leaving early before but it was only by a few minutes in most cases. One may have left ten or fifteen minutes early. In all cases I believe it was because all passengers that were flying were already onboard.
Time zone issue?
The only incident of a flight leaving early was in 1985 when TWA left over an hour early from Frankfurt. Coincidentally (or not), the airport was bombed soon after.
If it happened as she said, she would not be the only one that this happened to. What about the rest of the passengers? This one just doesn’t smell right, and I say that knowing that Spirit is not an airline to be trusted.
Her story ended up being true. She posted the proof and her charges were refunded by the banks after seeing the email proof.
If you know how to use tiktok, search and you can see there are a few others sharing the same story!
Please post a link here.
This just happened to me right now with Spirit at SNA. They left 30 min early and the departure board was NOT updated. Myself and 5 others missed the flight that we checked into the night prior. I have yet to receive any email orany update of the flight time. Spirit is the WORST!