Spirit Airlines Bogus Fee ‘RICO’ Class Action Lawsuit
By Mike Holter
A federal racketeering class action lawsuit claims Spirit Airlines charges a bogus “Passenger Usage Fee” for online ticket purchases, but provides nothing for it and hides it among government-imposed fees and taxes. As a result, Spirit misrepresents the airfare for each flight booked by its customers because it unbundles certain fees that are assessed for no other purpose than to increase Spirit’s bottom line, the class action lawsuit says.
“Spirit touts itself as an ‘Ultra Low Cost Carrier’ that offers fares far below other carriers. In reality, Spirit is employing an ‘ancillary revenue model’ which forces consumers to pay unbundled charges that have traditionally been included in the total price of an airline ticket. Spirit’s ‘fares,’ in effect, are little more than a down payment on air travel,” the class action lawsuit states.
“Spirit claims its success is because it maintains very low operational costs through exceptional efficiency, which purportedly allows it to pass savings on to its customers through cheap fares. In reality, however, its greatest boost in revenue has resulted from its collection of numerous charges and fees that are added on to its deceptively advertised low fares, as evidenced by the 21 percent rise in ‘non-ticket’ revenue from the first fiscal year quarters of 2011 to 2012.”
The RICO claims in the Spirit Airlines fee class action lawsuit arise out of Spirit’s association with third-party consultants “for the deliberate purpose of engaging in racketeering activity presenting, assessing and collecting the bogus and unconscionable” Passenger Usage Fee.
The Spirit Airlines RICO class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all Spirit customers in the U.S. who incurred a Passenger Usage Fee as a result of Spirit’s practice of assessing and collecting baseless hidden fees. It is seeking damages, treble damages, an injunction, and more.
A copy of the Spirit Airlines RICO Fee Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.
The case is Bryan Ray v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., Case No. 12-cv-61528-RNS, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division.
Updated August 9th, 2012
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5 thoughts onSpirit Airlines Bogus Fee ‘RICO’ Class Action Lawsuit
i had travel with them a bunch of times and dont think thats very nice of them.
How can I join class action lawsuit this airline was horrible had a migraine by time I was off plane,
I had flown many times with Spirit air How do I file a claim??
HORRIBLE SERVICE AND WE WERE RIPPED OFF.
How can I join this class action lawsuit?