Blog says ‘Do Not Fly Spirit Airlines’
Like any frequent traveler, Alex Rudloff knows to expect cancellations anddelays at the airport.
So when Spirit Airlines called him a few weeks ago to tell him his flightto Las Vegas the next day was canceled, he was annoyed, but not shocked. Aftercalling to reschedule and getting disconnected several times, Rudloff wasfinally able to book a new flight. He wasn’t given a reason for thecancellation and the customer-service representative refused to refund the $5fee each way to check bags.
Upset, he went to his personal blog, AlexRudloff.com, to vent.
“So, instead of losing $5 on a customer who has every right to be angry,I’ll write this blog post and tell all my traveling buddies to add SpiritAirlines to their growing list of airlines to avoid,” Rudloff wrote on Aug. 4.”If Spirit Airlines works their magic like they usually do, at least one of the 4,931daily searches for “Spirit Airlines” will turn up this result and save someonethe headache (and hopefully end up costing Spirit Airlines $6 or more).”
What started as a warning for family and friends has made headlines acrossthe Internet, providing a dramatic lesson of the power and reach of blogs. Asof 6 p.m. Thursday, his post, titled, “Do Not Fly Spirit Airlines . . . ,”was the third result that popped up on Google when searching “Spirit Airlines”ahead of the airline’s Wikipedia entry and behind links to two official SpiritWeb pages. Rudloff estimates that 25 percent of the people searching forSpirit on Google end up clicking on his blog post.
Although Rudloff received a $100 travel voucher from Spirit, for him — andmost of the readers of his blog — the real issue was how they were treated.
More than 100 readers have posted comments to his blog and e-mailed him toreport Spirit horror stories, most relating to customer service. Some havesaid they were about to book a flight, but changed their minds when they sawhis blog post. Others claiming to be Spirit employees have contacted him tovent about the airline.
“I think ultimately that customers have to speak out and they have toengage in word of mouth,” said Rudloff, 26, a Web developer and the CEO ofEmurse.com, a job-hunting site. “That’s what the market responds to.”
One of the most popular responses to his blog came from an Orlando couplewho e-mailed Spirit’s CEO and other executives to lodge a complaint. Jim andChristy Boswell had booked a flight from Orlando to Atlanta to see a concert.The flight was delayed 170 minutes and they missed the concert. Spiritoffered the couple $200 in travel vouchers, but they wanted the airline to payfor their concert tickets, hotel room, parking and other fees.
After getting the e-mail on his BlackBerry, Spirit CEO Ben Baldanzaaccidentally hit “reply all” when responding to fellow executives and sent hisresponse back to the couple.
“Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned,”Baldanza wrote. “Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown usbefore anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”
Christy Boswell, 28, said she and her husband wouldn’t have sent the e-mailif they had been treated better by Spirit’s employees. When Baldanza’s e-mailreply arrived, the couple was shocked and Christy sent him a response to askwhy he sent the e-mail. She never heard back.
“All we would really like is an apology at this point,” Christy Boswellsaid. “Regardless of if our request was out of line or not, they should stilltreat their customers with respect.”
Alison Russell, a spokeswoman for the Miramar-based airline, stood byBaldanza’s response. She said the Boswells’ flight was delayed because ofweather and Spirit compensated them by offering the travel vouchers.
“No, we really don’t believe we have anything to apologize for regardingBen’s e-mail,” Russell said. “I can tell you that Ben cares enormously aboutour customers and our customer service. Ben said what is exactly true: that wedon’t owe the customer anything. People can and do post whatever they wouldlike on the Internet. But it cannot alter your adherence to your companypolicy or your procedures.”
Russell said she’s aware of the popularity of Rudloff’s blog post, but itdoesn’t worry her.
“Truthfully, I’m genuinely not concerned,” she said. “People are going tohave a blog for good things or bad things. We are very pleased with ourcustomer service, we are very pleased with what we do.”
But Josh Hallett, a Winter Haven blog consultant, says Spirit shouldn’tdismiss Rudloff’s post as just one man’s rant.
“From a standpoint of brand, you can say that you are who Google says youare,” said Hallett, who advises companies on how to deal with negative blogposts. “Those first three results will define my initial perception of who youare.”
To save face, Hallett said Spirit should reach out to Rudloff or post acomment on his blog explaining how the airline is addressing customer servicecomplaints.
“But if you ignore it, it keeps growing and growing and the reporters startcalling,” Hallett said.
Rudloff says he’s not vindictive and isn’t looking for any morecompensation.
“I would like to see them involved in the discussion with these people andstart handling these customer service issues, so I don’t have to.”
Etan Horowitz can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5447.
[via Orlandosentinel]