_ Spirit Airlines has announced a new $2 fee on every ticket they sell. This is in response to the latest regulation from the United States Department of Transportation requiring all airlines to allow consumers to cancel a ticket purchase within 24 hours without penalty.


Spirit has instituted this new fee, complaining that this “misguided and expensive regulation” will cut deeply into their bottom line. “This prevents us from selling these seats to someone who definitively wants to book their reservation and leads to seats not being filled,” says Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. “The consequence is that we must spread costs over fewer customers, thus raising the cost for all passengers.”

It’s actually kinda funny when you think about it.

Spirit WILL need those extra two dollars per ticket because of this new regulation, but not because they have to hold seats for 24 hours that may not actually be sold. That would only be a factor on flights running at 100% occupancy, and even on those, Spirit routinely oversells their seats.

Here, I believe, is the real reason this regulation will hurt Spirit Airlines:

For years, Spirit Airlines has thrived on a strategy I call “Too Bad, We Have Your Money Now.”

Did you buy a Spirit ticket on Travelocity for one set price, then found out a few hours later that Spirit’s additional fees not mentioned on Travelocity would add hundreds of dollars to your trip? Too bad, we have your money now! No refunds!

Did you buy a ticket on Spirit’s site to fly on a Sunday and then realize moments later the site somehow assigned you a ticket to fly on Monday? Too bad, we have your money now! Any change will cost you $130.

This new regulation is simply the DOT doing its job: protecting consumers from predatory practices. And it's about time. A company that isn’t in the business of taking advantage of consumers shouldn’t have any issue with giving a customer a grace period for a full refund. If Mr. Baldanza wants the DOT to leave his airline alone, he would be well advised to end Spirit’s policies that regularly take advantage of consumers.

 

_ No, this time it's not for telling mis-truths in their advertising, or for losing passengers' luggage without compensation or for cancelling flights without properly warning their passengers.

This time it's for improperly categorizing and quantifying their disability complaints in 2009. Sounds like it's just a paperwork SNAFU, really. Of course the fine is only ... one hundred thousand dollars! (Cue the Dr. Evil music.) Here's the story from The Hill.

That's a rather steep fine for a simple paperwork violation. Spirit will likely release a statement soon saying it was a minor fine for a minor infraction. They can say whatever they like, but while a $100,000 fine assessed by the D.O.T. may not be the end of the world for an airline, it certainly isn't minor either.

We may be seeing the start of the D.O.T. getting serious about ending Spirit's questionable business practices. At the very least, it's clear Spirit Airlines hasn't been making many friends in Washington D.C. lately.

Stay tuned ....

_ Spirit Airlines has just released a new website called KeepMyFaresLow.org. The content of this site was also sent to those on their email list. The argument of KeepMyFaresLow.org:

                        Thanks to the U.S. Department of Transportation's latest fare rules, Spirit must now
                        HIDE the government's taxes and fees in your fares.

                        If the government can hide taxes in your airfares, then they can carry out their hidden
                        agenda and quietly increase their taxes. (Yes, such talks are already underway.)

                        And if they can do it to the airline industry, what's next?

                        As the transparency leader and most consumer-friendly airline, Spirit DOES NOT
                        support this new USDOT mandate. We believe the better form of transparency is
                        to break out costs so customers know exactly what they're buying.

Interestingly KeepMyFaresLow.org doesn't specifically oppose the increasing of taxes and fees. It seems that what KeepMyFaresLow.org DOES oppose is forcing airlines to advertise the FULL actual price that consumers like you will have to pay when their transactions are final. The U.S. Department of Transportation takes the opposite view.

"Airline passengers have rights, and they should be able to expect fair and reasonable treatment when booking a trip and when they fly," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement released yesterday. "The new passenger protections taking effect this week are a continuation of our effort to help air travelers receive the respect they deserve."

In other words, the Department of Transportation is forcing airlines to be more truthful in their advertising. Evidently Spirit Airlines has a reason to oppose truth in advertising.

Our advice to Spirit Airlines: comply with the DOT regulations, and add a line of copy in every ad about how much of each fare is taxes and fees. If they want to gather support to lower government taxes and fees, I'm sure they can find many, many travelers who will support them in that effort. But pushing for LESS truth in their advertising isn't really going to help anybody.

Except for, perhaps, Spirit Airlines.