DD is on the way to a large metro airport for a flight to join us all for spring break family time.
She is currently stopped by a landslide on the major highway.
If there is no detour in time and she misses the flight, what options does she have from the airline?
Sadly it’s Spirit Air
If she misses the flight should the move her to the next one?
She is meeting her sister at the arrival airport and the car is in stuck sisters name (though I reserved it)
If stuck sister does not make it, will they give sibling the car?
What a mess and with all the prices already high for spring break, it’s concerning about having any options.
Yikes! Spirit usually only has one flight a day, right…? She needs to try to contact THEM. Good luck!
RE: the rental car…can that reservation be cancelled and another made in the name of the kid who IS going to get there?
Oh my! See if you can view your car rez online and modify it. Good luck to your family!
Does her phone app show her a way around the landslide? Can she contact highway patrol for help navigating? Contact Spirit and see what they advise. So stressful. Hoping this works out well so that you can all enjoy your vacation.
I think she’ll be SOL with Spirit.
As far as the car goes, it depends on how that reservation was made. I recently made one through Hotwire and no changes were allowed. Other reservations have no penalty for changes or cancellations, but the issue may be whether the sister can get a new reservation for the same price, or if she’s old enough to rent a car.
I’ve never had a problem picking up a car in someone else’s name.
I’d try making a backup reservation with a car company for the sister, just in case. Make sure you don’t give them a credit card, and if sis doesn’t pick it up, it just cancels. You might find out that last minute reservations are cheap, you never know.
Gotta call Spirit for flight options, see what they can do. If they say she’s SOL, are there other flight options?
Spirit are jerks, they would charge her another $300 to change to a later flight. If anyone has ever had any luck with Spirit allowing future credit for a missed flight, do let me know the magic words and we’ll try again
Luckily she found a decently priced flight on another airline for tonight, she has back tracked to her remote town and is trying to drive out on what would be considered the perfect Saturday drive in the mountains twisty, windy road, it’ll be slow, but is only closed to one lane instead of zero.
I had an Alamo car rental via Costco and it was no issue to change the name, which is good because new reservations would be more than twice the existing, Spring break prices stink.
In the spirit of truly making the best of things, sister is going to see if she can take a later flight and get a freebie voucher as her flight showed as overbooked when she checked in.
@somemom honestly I think you got all you’re going to get from Spirit. They are not known for customer service -a CEO said as much a couple years ago. Their rep is to charging fees for everything, getting a refund is quite unlikely. The $300 to change flights seems to include a $90-100 change fee (standard for airlines and less than many charge for a change) and the difference in fare between what you paid initially and today’s price for the next flight they can accommodate her on. And that’s one big issue with Spirit -they don’t have a robust flight schedule, usually only a flight or 2 a day to a destination and in some cases flights only run a few days/week. And they don’t interline.
I am pleasantly surprised you could find another flight tonight. Good job on that.
Curious - I assume your daughters are < 25 year old? If so, how easy was it to get a rental car for them given age? When I’ve tried, it’s been quite expensive or not allowed.
Hope the rest of their trip is uneventful!
OP - I sure hope it all works out and that the rest of the trip is uneventful and that this “just” a snag.
That said, I don’t know if it’s because of my age (58) or simply the state of how quickly I see airlines switching things, canceling/delaying flights, etc. but about 10 years ago I started purchasing travel insurance for myself, and my D any time we would make plans - the rates are reasonable (compared to the costs associated with changes if necessary) and the one time I had t use it I was paid quickly and without fanfare. Somehow that must’ve stuck with D as she purchases it now too. I always buy it through Insure My Trip. And yes, I compare what “travel insurance” my Capital One credit card offers vs whomever Insure My Trip plan I choose. Pretty much I don’t travel anymore without it.
I wonder if you have some protection if you bought the ticket on a credit card that provides free travel insurance.
Traveling is terrible but I’m glad she will be able to get to the destination. Time with the entire family is precious.
We do purchase travel with CCs that provide ‘free’ travel insurance. Have used it once and reimbursed promptly with no hassles.
Would travel insurance provide coverage because a passenger couldn’t get to the airport on time because of a landslide? Check that first…before you buy for a reason like that.
I am going to have her check the credit card protection, great idea.
Now I am thinking, she will have missed the first leg of a round trip flight, does that mean they will cancel her return?
DDs are all over 25 (I am old!) so no worries on that, I have been searching car rentals for months, twice a week on Costoc/USAA/etc and finally got one for $40/day, that is the best I saw the entire time, anything lately has been $60/day (out the door)
I do think USAA was always good about getting the car rental without the extra youth fee.
They may cancel her return - I would definitely check with Spirit about this.
A few years ago H had a job interview and they flew him out. An accident closed the highway needed to get to the airport and he missed his flight. Got another flight; when he tried to return on the original round trip ticket he found it was canceled since he missed the first flight.
Yes absolutely make sure they don’t cancel her return. And even if they say they won’t, check it online every day and make sure it’s still there. Again, Spirit is NOT known for customer service so be proactive.
Thanks for the reminders, she talked to Spirit, they would have cancelled the return, they now say they won’t; we’ll keep an eye on it.
I am thankful they made it, though it was 23 hours of difficult travel!