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A Florida couple says that Spirit Airlines duped consumers into purchasing “shortcut boarding” upgrades despite knowing that strict loading and unloading protocols mandated during the coronavirus pandemic would render them useless.
Lead plaintiffs, Anthony Pochiro and Barbara Kuhns, want to represent other Spirit passengers who they say were duped into paying $5.99 for a boarding upgrade that the airline knew they would never be able to use. They say that despite regulations enacted at the start of the pandemic, the airline continued to market the upgrade into January of 2021. They accuse Spirit of deceptive business practices.
Spirit’s “Shortcut Boarding” upgrade purports to offer passengers on the “no frills” airline the option to get on the plane sooner and have first dibs on coveted overhead storage space.
The couple says that they paid a total of $11.98 for the Shortcut Boarding upgrade on their Spirit flight to Cleveland in December, but watched helplessly as the plane was loaded from back to front per COVID-19 health regulations mandated by federal and state authorities during the pandemic.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, various state, federal, and local regulations made Shortcut Boarding either impracticable or illegal,” says the class action lawsuit. “Yet nine months into the pandemic, Spirit continued to sell Shortcut Boarding as an option and retain the money it charged from these sales.”
The plaintiffs say the airline owes them and other passengers refunds for the deceptively marketed service. They accuse Spirit of breach of contract, violating state consumer protection laws, and unjust enrichment.
Pochiro and Kuhns want to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased Shortcut Boarding upgrades for their Spirit flight at any time after April 1, 2020. They are seeking damaged from the airline on behalf of the Class Members, as well as a court order that would force Spirit to stop deceptively advertising the Shortcut Boarding upgrade.
Did you buy a “shortcut boarding” upgrade from Spirit during the pandemic? We want to hear about your experience! Tell us in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Joshua Harris and Michael J. Pascucci Eggnatz of Eggnatz Pascucci, PA, and Jay R. Carson of Wegman Hessler.
The Spirit “Shortcut Boarding” Class Action Lawsuit is Pochiro, et al. v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., Case No. 0:21-cv-61343-XXXX in the U.S> District Court Southern District of Florida Fort Lauderdale Division.
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16 thoughts onSpirit Sold Useless ‘Shortcut Boarding’ Upgrade During COVID, Says Class Action Lawsuit
I purchased this add on in March 2021 not only did I not honor the add on but I checked in thru the spirit app and when I arrived at the airport they told me I never checked in and would not allowed to board the plane because they said I wouldn’t have time to get thru security (mind you the airport was empty) AND the flight was boarding earlier than expected. I missed my flight and never got a refund or discount not even a sorry
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I recently purchased a vacation package from Spirit that was falsely advertised. When I arrived at the hotel that I paid Spirit for I was unable to checkin because Spirit paid the hotel for one night instead of the two nights that I paid Spirit for and I was stranded all the hotels was sold out in that area so I was forced to stay at a one star hotel versus the four star hotel that I paid spirit for. I’ve been in contact with Spirit and they gave me flight vouchers that are useless. The vouchers can not be redeemed unless the trip is a significant amount but it only covers the base fare and not the total cost so if I want to use the vouchers I will purchase a trip over $200 and the $100 vouchers will only cover $26 which I will have to pay $174.00 and that’s more than what I paid for on my previous flight. They give these useless vouchers just to make people think that are being fair but in reality they not.
It’s more than just this problem with spirit spirit has numerous amounts of issues like for 1 my 20 year old daughter and my 5 year old grandson was kicked out of the airport at 1 o’clock in the morning for a flight through spirit that they were supposed to take at 3 o’clock that they canceled and then they didn’t even accommodate them to a hotel didn’t give Them a ride to the hotel they didn’t give them the payphone hotel they just throw them out in the middle of the night and I think that was a hazard and something needs to be done about spirit spirit needs to be shut down what are they working on1099 over there. At this rate spirit must be self employed if that’s the case then I understand but if there’s self employed they need to do better they customer service sucks They should not be able to continue to book flights and you can accommodate no one it was people that was supposed to catch a spirit flight yesterday that still they are trying to catch a spirit flight today so that means 48 hours you’ve been trying to catch a spirit flight that keeps canceling it because they say they don’t have any pilots So if you don’t have any pilots why are you still taking reservations why are you still taking reservations why are you putting people out of the airport and midnight with young kids with young kids it’s dangerous out here that’s for sale here that’s it has it all in itself and something needs to be done it’s been years that spirit has been doing this to people and it’s ridiculous
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I have been calling Spirit daily regarding the shortcut boarding that I purchased and was unable to use. Purchased 7/2021
I purchased shortcut boarding August 2020 and it was also useless. I’d like to be a part of this if possible
My shortcut boarding was honored on my flight 6/20/21, but not the shortcut TSA. Spirit refused to issue a refund and I have not gotten a response from the corporate office as promised. I flew out of the Philadelphia airport where the service being sold is not offered at all. Per TSA agent, they said Spirit has done this daily to many customers.
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