Here's my rant.
SO. I took my family to disneyland for the days preceding my daughter's birthday, which falls on July 3rd. On the flight there, Spirit airlines lost my daughter's bag. When I spoke to their customer service at the airport their exact words were "I have no idea where it is. It's just gone. Maybe it'll turn up." So helpful and comforting, right? Which I thought was just absolutely hilarious considering we didn't know we had to pay extra just for carry ons until A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE FLIGHT. Extra. For a carry on. And they even warned us if we didn't pay ahead of time they would charge $100 a bag. No one warned us of this when booking. Not Expedia. Not Spirit. It even says on their website that nothing if "free" with them. Even the free drink you get on a flight. We're talking that one third of a soda you get that's basically a shot of soda. Yeah, that's too much for them. So there was a nice extra charge for the trip. Especially considering we had to buy my daughter new clothes because we didn't get the bag back until THE DAY BEFORE WE LEFT TO COME HOME. So convenient, right? The hotel was awesome, I love that place. Anaheim Majestic Garden. Seriously, no sarcasm this time. Great place for families or just you and the hubby. If you're going to disneyland it's just a short walk or you can take the complimentary shuttle. I recommend that hotel to anyone traveling to the anaheim area. Then the flight back was just oh so much fun. Arrived at the airport three hours early just to make sure we were on time. You all know how bad LAX security can be during high travel seasons. Well arriving early didn't really make a difference. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:25. It was delayed five minutes until 6:30, then half an hour after that until 7:00, then an hour after that until 8:00, then another hour after that until 9:00, and finally it was cancelled an hour before it was supposed to leave, but lucky for us no one informed us of that. I was at the gate. There was no announcement. When I finally figured out what was going on I went to go search for the bags I had paid over $100 to check ahead of time and it took around 45 minutes just to get them back even though they had never left the airport. We finally got over to the ticket counter and there was a solid line that looked like about an hour wait. But I was told to go wait in a separate line for everyone from the canceled flight because the line of people who were checking in for current flights was more important to them. You know, not the 100 or so people they just stranded in L.A. Probably the next 100 people they were planning on stranding. Anyway, I got this nifty little card that said I could call a number or go to a website to rebook. Tried using the website; it told me to click a button to rebook that did not exist. Very handy. So I called the number and was informed I would have to wait two more days for a flight out from them or have a chance to get on a flight the next day around 9 P.M. In other words, they wanted me to just wait around, pay for a hotel, until they MIGHT be able to find us a way out. I basically told them to screw off and give me a refund. I mean honestly, I looked over at my wife and daughter crying from exhaustion, worried they weren't going to be able to go home, and said EFF THIS PLACE I'M GETTING THEM HOME. I had to pay for a rental car in L.A. and overnight drive my family all the way to Seattle, WA just so my daughter could be home for her birthday. An 18 hour drive, 1100 miles, starting at 9:30 at night.(I do live in Olympia, but remember my car was parked at Seatac because I was supposed to be riding on a plane home). While waiting in the hour long line for the rental car my mother, back home in Washington, decided to call Expedia and Spirit to see if either was willing to help us out in any way. Both of them essentially said they aren't liable for any costs associated with us being stuck in the middle of nowhere because of a flight expedia booked for us and spirit canceled. I did end up getting my family home the next day, but not because of ANY help from expedia or spirit, but because I decided the end of our trip would be in my hands and not some greedy travel agencies who don't care about following through on their end of the bargain or getting FAMILIES AND FIVE YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRLS where they deserve to be. Home. I don't care if you've always had good experiences with them. I always had good experiences with expedia too up until this happened. I just know personally I'm never booking with either of them again. read more