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Spirit Airlines and American Airlines have angered customers all over the United States in the last week with mounting flight cancellations.
Spirit and American both have canceled or delayed more than 1,000 flights since Sunday, variously attributed to weather conditions, staffing problems, and IT issues. On Wednesday, more than 60% of Spirit’s flights were canceled and another 10% were delayed, while American canceled a much smaller 4% of its flights on Wednesday but delayed about 19%, according to Flight Aware.
A Spirit spokesperson told CBS on Wednesday that the company is working to provide refunds and cancellations affected travelers, and that cancellations are expected to “progressively drop in the days to come.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for American told NPR the company’s team members “are working around the clock for our customers” amid a major storm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where the airline’s biggest hub is located.
But if stranded travelers ultimately feel legal action is necessary, they could be out of luck.
American added a class action waiver to its contract of carriage — the document outlining legal responsibilities of both an airline and its customers — in April 2020, and Spirit has had one since even before that. The waivers essentially force passengers who want to file class action lawsuits against the company to instead go through arbitration.
The arbitration process essentially gives companies a detour out of court for most disputes, forcing potential plaintiffs to have their complaints heard before an ostensibly-neutral “arbitrator” rather than a judge or jury. In most cases, the decision of the arbitrator is binding and cannot be reversed in court.
“What the airline is saying is: If you ever have a dispute with us, the only way you can pursue this is in private,” said Deborah Hensler, Ph.D., a professor of law at Stanford Law School, told The New York Times back in April. “These types of agreements are usually an effort to prevent people from having an effective way of challenging a company on what might arguably be a legal violation.”
Forced arbitration is usually quite effective at limiting loss for companies — so effective that few people even bother to go through the process. For example, per data submitted by Google and Facebook to Congress two years ago, the two tech companies had just a handful of arbitration cases between 2014 and 2019, with Google reporting 14 and Facebook showing only five.
And it’s already quite difficult for airlines to be sued in the United States, The New York Times noted, as they are exempt from state and local laws. That already leaves class action lawsuits one of the only avenues airline passengers can use to right any perceived wrongs, and arbitration makes that all the more difficult.
That hasn’t stopped class action lawsuits from being filed against airlines with arbitration clauses — anyone can sue, but that doesn’t mean the lawsuit will be successful.
In 2020, Spirit successfully pointed to its class action waiver in its contract of carriage to defend itself from a lawsuit over a $6 security shortcut pass that plaintiffs argued was a sham.
More recently, a Florida couple sued Spirit over a similar “shortcut boarding” upgrade that was allegedly rendered useless by strict loading and unloading protocols mandated during the coronavirus pandemic. That lawsuit is still playing out in court.
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36 thoughts onFlight Cancellations Mount, But Customers Looking to Legal Remedy for Airline Woes May Be Disappointed
Hi am a travel agent and I know that these airlines are the worst so I never book any of my clients on them also I wouldn’t recommend you use frontier airlines at all they fit in the same category. But unfortunately because they have cheaper flights people book them sometimes you get what you pay for. I tell my clients upfront am not comfortable with these companies and booking with them is at there own risk so when I have to book with them I get insurance that way my clients is covered. Good luck guys
My flight was canceled from Fort Lauderdale to Texas. I had to purchase last minute tickets for 8 people cost me over $3000. We had to stay in Florida two extra days .Spirit refunded a portion of my money for only one ticket. Please add me
Our flights were canceled from Orlando to Houston on July 22 with Spirit. We had to end up driving a rental van back which ended up costing us $1,078.00. My husband had to have surgery the next day. Please add me.
Add me
In Las Vegas our flight was canceled, rebooked a canceled again. Told I would get a refund in 7 business days which had come and gone. I had to rent my scooter and rooms in Vegas for 2 more nights and meals. Not to mention an airfare which was double the price one way home. Customer value ZERO
Same for my son. 7 days and counting. Them having the ability to add this to the carriage contract needs to be taken away. Then they would need to deliver the services that they claim to offer.
It’s reality’s Soul Plane.
What a joke Spirit Airlines is. They cancel a flight just as you’re getting in your car to head to the airport. You can’t rebook and have to go to another airline so you don’t miss a family reunion where you are getting to meet your 15-month-old grandson for the first time thanks to COVID-19.
They think that a 30% refund would be acceptable after you’ve been inconvenienced and have to put out a lot more money to go to another airline at the last minute, you miss a day of pre-paid hotel expenses and refusing to put your mileage points back on your account.
You tried contacting them and you’re on hold for two hours. You go on their chat option and you’re on hold for 24 hours until they finally drop the call. You try emailing and you don’t get a response for 10 days. I have yet to talk to a live person.
I build my points up by using my Bank of America spirit airlines card. I have contacted them about my dispute and I’m waiting to see what the end result will be.
What happened to companies taking ownership of their mistakes and making them as right as they possibly can?
I remember the days when an airline did this (Cancellation of a flight for no reason other than they are mismanaged ) they would get you to another flight even on another airline if necessary.
I’m so glad I work with a company (Avon lady here) that stands behind their products and makes things right.
If there is a class action suit I want to be a part of it. These people cost us more money. Lost time with our family and not to mention the stress levels.
Ironically, this article is wrong. A class action waiver does not compel arbitration. AFAIK, no American carrier has an arbitration clause in their CoC (other terms may apply). And Spirit’s doesn’t even have a class action waiver (they do prohibit jury trials). AA does have a “Class Action Waiver,” which is a recent addition (April 2020). And yes, most claims are precluded under ADA/Ginsberg but you can always try your luck in state court!
I want to be added As well my number is 812-493-7381 I booked 2 flights, round trip tickets for me and a friend which cost me over $600 and they cancels our flight at SDF and was told they couldn’t find us a flight for 3 more days which I would have lost the hotel money. then they canceled my flight in Pensacola which was the other half of my round trip ticket. After that they returned our money then took it right back out of our account. The same exact day!?? Is that legal to take it back and so as of now I got zero back and when I called the guy acted like he couldn’t hear me 30 min after talking to him and then hung up on me! I have pictures and recording of all of this
I had a flight and they delayed it, after that, they made me bought another flight I did because I didn’t want to lose my all vacation to Orlando.
Add me
Please add me. I had a cancelation and had to sit at the airport for over 24 hours. Missed work and my child missed school.