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The travel chaos continues for Spirit Airlines and its customers. On Friday morning, the low-cost airline canceled more than 250 flights, bringing the total number of flights canceled this week to more than 1,700.
Spirit blames a perfect storm of staff shortage and bad weather for cancellations, which left thousands of frustrated passengers stranded.
President and CEO Ted Christie said the cancellations will continue for a few more days. He told CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett he expects operations to return to normal by early next week – and warmly apologizes to passengers.
But that doesn’t help travelers, some of whom have spent hundreds of dollars on new flights, hotels, and car rentals. Those who cannot afford it sleep in baggage claim areas and in wheelchairs at airports from coast to coast to coast, and that adds to their frustration.
CBS News asked Christie to respond to these stories of passengers who had nowhere to go.
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s a terrible experience, and we do our best to make up for it, and I believe we did it, so that these people were either in their place, or in a hotel, or had them. means of the possibility of going elsewhere. ”
Christie said this includes reimbursing travelers for food and booking them on other airlines.
CBS News
He admits Spirit was simply overwhelmed and the problems started in late July with bad weather across the country leading to delays and stranded crews resulting in staff shortages, creating a domino effect.
The airline should have canceled even more flights to reset, he said, but instead tried to stay afloat by maintaining flights to accommodate the large number of passenger bookings.
Christie said he was determined to win back the trust of his customers. The airline has worked diligently to improve its reliability and reputation, he said. But since this week has been so painful for so many people, it remains to be seen how long it will take before they trust this airline again.
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