Spirit Airlines could be losing a lot of customers in the next few weeks. The airline, which recently implemented a $100 carry-on luggage fee, is currently the subject of a Facebook boycott. But the Spirit Airlines boycott isn’t about ridiculous luggage fees, instead, thousands of people are vowing not to fly with the airline because Spirit refused to give a dying former marine a refund for his ticket.
Last week, 76-year-old Jerry Meekins made headlines when Spirit refused to give him a $197 refund for his ticket. Fox reports that Meekins, who has terminal esophageal cancer, bought a ticket to fly to New Jersey to be with his daughter during surgery. Meekins’ health deteriorated before the flight and his doctor told him not to fly. Meekins’ canceled his ticket but was not able to get a refund.
A Spirit Airlines Boycott Facebook page was started earlier this week and already has 25,000 likes. One user writes:
“This is a despicable act on their part… They should have quietly returned the airfare and they could have avoided this. I will never fly this airline.”
Another person writes:
“I hope all the negative publicity is worth $197.”
Spirit Airlines has stood by its decision to deny Meekins a refund saying that they can’t give special treatment on an individual basis. Spirit said that their refusal to compromise is one of the reasons they are able to keep costs down. And in completely unrelated news, Spirit decided to start charging $100 for a single piece of carry-on luggage.
Are you joining the Spirit Airlines boycott? Do you think Spirit should have given Jerry Meekins a refund?
