More flights canceled as strike continues

June 14, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Spirit Airlines is canceling all its flights through Tuesday, stranding thousands more passengers as a pilot’s strike continues into its second day.

The discount carrier said on its website Sunday that all Spirit Airlines flights have been canceled through June 15. Spirit pilots walked off the job Saturday amid an ongoing contract dispute with the airline that has lasted for more than three years. Spirit pilots have said their pay lags behind competitors such as AirTran Airways and JetBlue.

“None of the planes are moving, and none of our pilots have crossed the picket line,” Paul Hopkins, strike committee chairman of Spirit’s unit of The Air Line Pilots Association, said Sunday.

The privately held airline, based in Miramar, Fla., carries 16,680 passengers per day — about 1 percent of the U.S. total — mostly between the eastern U.S. and the Caribbean and Latin America. Spirit’s CEO said this weekend that no talks were scheduled with picketing pilots.

The shutdown continues to cause major problems for Spirit’s flyers. The airline said it is refunding fares for flights Saturday through Tuesday plus offering a $100 credit toward future flights as it tries to get its passengers booked onto other airlines.

But people who needed to replace their Spirit tickets found the cost of same-day fares on other airlines was two to three times more than their tickets.

Tim and Dana Wells spent the past week on a cruise ship and didn’t hear about the strike until a taxi dropped them off at Fort Lauderdale airport Sunday morning.

Wells, 40, frantically searched his laptop for a flight home to St. Joseph, Mich. His wife’s pink sunhat rested on the seat next to him as a distant reminder of the peaceful vacation that’s turned into a nightmare.

“I think Spirit should be put out of business if they are going to do that to their customers,” he said.

The couple eventually found flights home for nearly $1,300 — almost $1,000 more than their original tickets. The new flight didn’t leave until 6 p.m., leaving them stranded all day at the airport.

Fellow travelers Jackie and Gary Brown had surprised their two sons with a cruise vacation. “They’ve never been on a plane, never been out of the Midwest,” said the Bartlett, Ill., mother.

Now the family is planning to rent a car and drive home to save money. Spirit refunded their original tickets which they bought for $900 for the whole family. A flight home Sunday cost about $900 for each person, they said.

“We just don’t have a lot of options right now,” said Jackie Brown, who said she and her husband are both worried about missing work today. She sat on the airport floor, surrounded by luggage, typing furiously on her cell phone looking for ways home.

Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport is Spirit’s main hub, where it is the only airline to 14 international cities and five U.S. destinations, airport spokesman Greg Meyer said. Around the country, Spirit runs roughly 150 flights per day.

Dozens more angry passengers waited at Spirit ticket counters Sunday morning, many vowing never to use the airline again. Children sat on beds made of luggage, waiting and playing video games. Extra Spirit staff and local police officers were posted in the ticketing area.