Source: Fox News
By Joshua Rhett Miller / Fox News.com – Spirit Airlines is finding out that if you take on one old soldier, you can end up facing an army.
Veterans groups around the nation are rallying to the side of dying Vietnam veteran and ex-Marine Jerry Meekins, 76, of Clearwater, Fla., following the airline’s refusal to refund him $197 for a ticket after the doctor treating him for terminal esophageal cancer told him not to fly. Meekins told FoxNews.com he’s received “hundreds of calls” from veterans nationwide who are as mad at Spirit as he is.
“The response from most veterans is that they’re going to boycott Spirit Airlines,” Meekins told FoxNews.com. “We’re talking 6 or 7 million people.”
CKA – Something tells me that Spirit Airlines is going to lose a lot more than $197 dollars with this public relations disaster. Fools!!
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ex-Marine is an insult to anyone who has worn the uniform. Former or retired are acceptable. Ex indicates that you left the Corps under other than honorable conditions. Honor, Courage Commitment. Don’t expect you to understand, however a little respect would be appreciated.
GunnyD
Actually I do understand! Once a Marine always a Marine. That was the title of the story that I passed along to show just how out of touch the Airline is.
My brother is USMC Ret. so your point is well taken!
CKA
I respect this man for his service to our country and the sacrifices he has made, and sympathize with him for his unfortunate medical condition. However, that has nothing to do with the fact that he booked a plane ticket that was clearly stated to be non-refundable. He could have bought a refundable ticket for an extra $15 but he didn’t think he would need it. Spirit Airlines’ CEO addressed this situation, and while his response seemed somewhat callous, he made a very legitimate point that if you don’t have homeowners insurance and you’re house burns down, you can’t call an insurance company and ask them to fix it.
Let’s be honest, the bad PR is going to cost the airline way more than the $197 refund, so it was a bad move on the CEO’s part, the other part of the story is the man asked if he could transfer the ticket to his daughter seeing he had already paid for it. The airline said NO!! Sometimes you need to use discretion and this case called for it IMO.
I appreciate your thoughts on this!
CKA
I completely agree that the bad publicity of this will cost Spirit Airlines a lot more than $197. If I was running the company, I would have quietly given the man a refund (or transferred his ticket to his daughter which is apparently what he wanted). The reason I defend Spirit Airlines in this situation is that every news article on this issue starts with “Spirit denies dying marine refund.” In my mind, the most important issue here is that Spirit did in fact follow their own policy, and they did not do anything unethical or illegal.
Thanks for you’re feedback CommanderKoolAid
I know what your saying. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t look at this case individually from the get go as opposed to policy for obvious reasons.
My guess is they will going forward.
CKA