8/13/2023 0 Comments Spirit pilot strike![]() ![]() The service meltdown is likely to draw government scrutiny, said airline consultant Michael Boyd. That meant that other airlines wouldn't honor its tickets, leaving Spirit passengers stranded across the eastern U.S., Caribbean and Central America with few choices other than cooling their heels or paying full, last-minute summer fares. The low-cost carrier doesn't have interline ticketing or baggage agreements with any other carriers. It also offered to refund purchases, but travelers found it difficult to get through on the hot line the company provided, Brancatelli said. Spirit offered stranded customers flight credits for the amount they had originally paid for tickets plus $100. But Spirit's short walkout also carried a lasting message for bargain-hunters: read the fine print. ![]() John Prater told the Tribune hours before the Spirit strike. "Whether this thing goes to a strike or whether there's an acceptable agreement, it's going to have a positive impact on my members," ALPA President Capt. carriers that could be headed to possible labor showdowns this summer: AirTran Airways and regional carriers Trans States and Pinnacle airlines. The talks were a test for the Air Line Pilots Association, a powerful union that represents Spirit pilots as well as those at three other U.S. In last-minute negotiations Saturday, the 500-member union rejected a 30 percent pay raise totaling $70 million over five years, Spirit said. Spirit and union representatives couldn't be reached late Wednesday to comment on the deal. Spirit's pilots have agreed to continue flying until union members ratify the new contract in a vote that is planned for July, the airline said in a statement. Spirit and its pilots union must also draft new contract language for the tentative agreement, reached Wednesday afternoon in a marathon bargaining session supervised by the National Mediation Board, the pilots union said in a message to members. However, the strike isn't officially over. Airline industry sources predicted that sporadic flight cancellations would continue until Spirit gets its network in order. Spirit advised passengers to reconfirm their flights on its Web site,, before they head to the airport. It could take several days for the ultra-low-cost carrier to get its planes and flight crews into a formation where it smoothly operates its 150 daily flights, including five out of O'Hare, airline observers said. Spirit's fleet is spread across the 40 airports it serves, parked where pilots left the jets when they walked off the job Saturday morning. A forlorn Spirit jet, stranded outside O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 3, is a reminder of the difficulty the Florida-based discounter will face in resuming operations and getting the 96,000 passengers affected by the strike to their destinations. "Spirit takes it to the very edge of the margin: 'I'm sorry you're stuck, but how is that our problem?'" said Joe Brancatelli, travel writer and publisher of, which caters to business travelers. Stranded travelers, whom Spirit didn't - and couldn't - rebook on other carriers, could provide added momentum to the sweeping new passenger protections that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed to impose on airlines earlier this month. The quick resolution to the standoff, reached with prodding from federal mediators, signals that the Obama administration intends to push airlines and their unions to resolve their differences more quickly than preceding administrations at a time when labor discontent is widespread, said labor and aviation expert Bill Swelbar. ![]() passenger carrier since 2001 and, analysts said, is reverberating through the airline industry, even though Spirit is a minor player that had operated on the edge of obscurity until this year. The walkout is the first by pilots at a U.S. Spirit Airlines plans to resume flights Friday, now that it has reached a deal with its pilots union to end a strike that has grounded the budget carrier since Saturday. ![]()
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