What if you have to cancel one way on a round trip? Spirit Airlines

[chabs]

I need to make a change to my Spirit Airlines reservations, but Spirit is charging me $420 (for 2 people-fees plus price on ticket went up) to make the change. I found it cheaper to just book one way on a different airline for the flight out, which means I would not take the first leg of my trip with Spirit. What happens then? Would they cancel my flight back because I didn't fly out with them? I'm trying to figure out what I should do with these tickets. If I cancel the whole flight, I don't think I would get anything back at all.

 

[nordkin]

Your return flight will probably be cancelled because you were a no show on the first leg of the reservation.

 

[a742246]

I would call Spirit and find out what their policies are. You may want to tell them that you considering driving one way instead of going with another airline.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If you don't fly the outbound portion of your ticket, the entire ticket will be cancelled. This is true for every airline. You will have to cancel this ticket. It would probably have been cheaper to just keep your original RT flight.

 

[chabs]

I guess I will have to suck up the charges and just change it. Something came up that I cannot change (out of my control) so I'm trying to figure out what my best options are. I can't get through on the phone-probably do to the upcoming storm.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Are you sure you bought round trip tickets? Most airlines are two one way fares, even if you bought them as one transaction.

Anyway, if you're talking about the trip in your ticker, wait until Wednesday, try calling again. Just ask the customer service rep what woukd happen.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Are you sure you bought round trip tickets? Most airlines are two one way fares, even if you bought them as one transaction. Anyway, if you're talking about the trip in your ticker, wait until Wednesday, try calling again. Just ask the customer service rep what woukd happen.

This statement is not correct. The only airline that sells that way is Southwest as far as I know. On all other major airlines it is a round trip and if you miss the first flight all remaining flights are cancelled

Now I have no idea what the rules are on Spirit since I refuse to fly them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well!
Harrumph!!
I never...!


Kidding. The above poster who says I'm wrong has much more airline experience than I do.

 

[chabs]

Thanks for everyone's help. I am supposed to be going to HP weekend at Universal on Friday, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go because of the storm. Kids have midterms this week and are off Friday. If we had a snow day today, tests would be switched to Friday and we couldn't go until Saturday. So far so good-we didn't get much snow, but it's supposed to pick up later. I'm still taking the wait and see attitude and hope that we can get through the rest of the day without any school cancellations.

I thought I would give Spirit a try, since my tickets were $200 total for 2 people-I would have paid $600 on SW and it was a last minute trip. I regretted it after seeing how much it was going to be to change my tickets and probably won't do it again.

 

[betterbutter]

Keep watching their site. If they change their travel advisory to include your airport and date of travel you will be able to change with no fee.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This statement is not correct. The only airline that sells that way is Southwest as far as I know. On all other major airlines it is a round trip and if you miss the first flight all remaining flights are cancelled

Now I have no idea what the rules are on Spirit since I refuse to fly them.

This is right. RT tickets are priced as two one way tickets, but if you buy a RT ticket, it's a true RT ticket. If you bought two one way tickets, you'd have two confirmation numbers. Does that make sense,

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Are you sure you bought round trip tickets? Most airlines are two one way fares, even if you bought them as one transaction. Anyway, if you're talking about the trip in your ticker, wait until Wednesday, try calling again. Just ask the customer service rep what woukd happen.

This statement is not correct. The only airline that sells that way is Southwest as far as I know. On all other major airlines it is a round trip and if you miss the first flight all remaining flights are cancelled

Now I have no idea what the rules are on Spirit since I refuse to fly them.

 

[Addam]

Spirit WILL cancel your return leg. Here is their policy:

2.4 Cancellation of Reservations
2.4.1. All reservations and seat assignments are subject to cancellation without notice if:
a. The customer does not have a printed boarding pass in-hand at least 45 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for all domestic flights, and 60 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for all international flights including U.S.V.I. flights.
b. The customer fails to make themself available for boarding at the gate at least 15 minutes prior to (original) scheduled departure time for domestic flights; or 30 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for international flights even if the customer has already checked in for the flight at a location designated for check-in. In the event of a delay, customers are recommended to remain in the gate area for updates and possible early departures. Spirit shall not be liable to any customer who misses a flight, which departed earlier than the estimated departure time posted for the delay.
c. The customer fails to travel on any flight segment of a booked itinerary and fails to modify/cancel their reservation prior to the time limit outlined in section 3.3. In such instances, all subsequent flight segments on the itinerary will be cancelled.
d. Such action is necessary to comply with any governmental regulation or direction, or to comply with any governmental request for emergency transportation in connection with the national defense. 6
e. The customer has been informed that he/she is not permitted to purchase transportation from Spirit.

Sorry, you're out of luck. With most other airlines I'd say you might be able to beg, but Spirit has notoriously rigid policies.

 

[JohnneeO]

Spirit WILL cancel your return leg. Here is their policy:

2.4 Cancellation of Reservations
2.4.1. All reservations and seat assignments are subject to cancellation without notice if:
a. The customer does not have a printed boarding pass in-hand at least 45 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for all domestic flights, and 60 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for all international flights including U.S.V.I. flights.
b. The customer fails to make themself available for boarding at the gate at least 15 minutes prior to (original) scheduled departure time for domestic flights; or 30 minutes prior to the (original) scheduled departure time for international flights even if the customer has already checked in for the flight at a location designated for check-in. In the event of a delay, customers are recommended to remain in the gate area for updates and possible early departures. Spirit shall not be liable to any customer who misses a flight, which departed earlier than the estimated departure time posted for the delay.
c. The customer fails to travel on any flight segment of a booked itinerary and fails to modify/cancel their reservation prior to the time limit outlined in section 3.3. In such instances, all subsequent flight segments on the itinerary will be cancelled.
d. Such action is necessary to comply with any governmental regulation or direction, or to comply with any governmental request for emergency transportation in connection with the national defense. 6
e. The customer has been informed that he/she is not permitted to purchase transportation from Spirit.

Sorry, you're out of luck. With most other airlines I'd say you might be able to beg, but Spirit has notoriously rigid policies.

This was almost two years ago! This situation is almost certainly resolved by now.

 

[MillauFr]

This was almost two years ago! This situation is almost certainly resolved by now.

Not necessarily. Spirit may have canceled one of the legs of the OPs flight and they are still trying to reschedule them to get them to their destination.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Not necessarily. Spirit may have canceled one of the legs of the OPs flight and they are still trying to reschedule them to get them to their destination.

Man if this person is waiting for Spirit to reschedule them two years later that is one heck of an ordeal. Since the original post for this thread was 2 years ago! HAHAHA

 

[adisneyaunt]

What happened with OP here? Result?
Considering Spirit flight...hmmmm
Maybe not, or Atleast do one ways!

 

[Magic Maniac]

UPDATE MARCH 2019: I just had this same situation. I called and the agent told me he could split the reservation so my wife's flights wouldn't be affected. However, he could not cancel just the outgoing portion of my flight and let me still keep the return portion active. I tried arguing with him for a bit but he said there was NO way to do it. Against policy etc. So I told him not to do anything.
I called back 10 minutes later, was extra charming to the lady who answered and she quickly split the reservation and then created a new one-way reservation for me so I could keep my return flight. So instead several hundred dollars in changes from Spirit, I paid nothing. (the other flight out that I booked was only $90)
So it looks like they can easily make these kind of changes if they want to. You just may have to call back a few times to get an understanding agent.

 

[Rach3975]

UPDATE MARCH 2019:
So it looks like they can easily make these kind of changes if they want to. You just may have to call back a few times to get an understanding agent.

I'm glad you found someone who would help you! I think I'll have to remember to book all our flights as two one way tickets from now on. In the past we've always flown on SW, so it was a non-issue. This time we booked with other airlines, and I noticed that the cancellation and change fees were about the same price as one ticket and MORE than the other ticket. That's ridiculous! So we figured if anything changed unexpectedly, we'd just no show. Had no idea they'd cancel the entire reservation--they shouldn't be allowed to do that if we've paid for the ticket and choose not to sit in the seat.

 

[seashoreCM]

Trying to cancel the outgoing (first) half of both persons' reservations while keeping their return trips is a completely different question from cancelling one person's trip and keeping the other person's trip (booked in the same purchase) wholly intact. The second situation should be gracefully accommodated by the airline.

One disadvantage of booking two one ways as opposed to one round trip: If the airline makes a schedule change or if a storm occurs that makes your entire trip useless then you would not be able to get a refund for the leg that was not modified.