Spirit Airlines customers frustrated after ‘technical issue’ causes cancellations, delays at FLL

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Frustration for Spirit Airlines customers continued Thursday after a handful of flights were canceled at Fort Lauderdale Airport due to a “technical issue.”

Local 10 News spoke with many frustrated passengers who were looking to head back home.

“It’s frustrating. We’re just here stuck in the airport (and) we cannot do nothing,” said Spirit customer Alejandro Zuniga, who had his flight canceled.

The airline initially said in a tweet that it expected longer lines than usual at airports and advised customers to check FlightAware, a site that tracks and provides real-time updates on flights.

At one point, FlightAware showed that 372 flights were delayed.

Spirit officials said the issue was fixed between third-party services that affected their website, mobile app and some internal applications, however, problems continued on the ground.

Spirit passenger Jacob Dureau told Local 10 News that he was ready to fly back home to New Jersey when the airline told him that his boarding pass was invalid at the gate, even though he passed through security and paid for his ticket.

“I’ve been on the phone with them for about 13 minutes right now. They’re not picking up, so, we don’t know what to do,” he said.

According to a Flight tracking website, Pulse.Anuvu.com, under 10 percent of Spirit Flights are currently leaving on time with four percent of the flights being canceled.

Spirit passengers are now demanding solutions.

“You can’t get a straight answer, you know, and it’s just a circus. If any other business were run this way, they would be out of business,” said TJ Cesar.

Other passengers like Nour Qomaq said he wasn’t surprised after hearing his flight was canceled.

“Bummed out, but what do you expect with Spirit, really,” he said.

As the technical issues continue throughout the country, Spirit is encouraging passengers to use Flightaware.com to check the status of their flight and to arrive at the airport early.

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