A Spirit Airlines airlines passenger who was traveling for desperately needed surgery was stranded in the Tampa airport for days after her flight to Houston from Chicago was rerouted to Florida. With 5 blood clots in her heart, it was a race against time for the grandmother of two who wasn’t even able to shower.
Chicago resident Jennifer Sims, a grandmother of two, was traveling to Houston for much-needed surgery when her Spirit Airlines flight was caught up in the recent spate of weather chaos and rerouted to Tampa. From there, her hellish journey only got worse as Sims found herself stranded for several days at the airport and without lodging.
According to a local Fox news report, Sims was initially refused lodging by Spirit Airlines who claimed the disruption didn’t qualify for a travel voucher. Sims, who suffers from blood clots in her heart, was scheduled to have her spleen removed after a bout with cancer and to have several stints put in. She commented that she has a “3% chance right now.”
Ultimately, Spirit did relent after public pressure and put her up in a hotel room before her Wednesday morning flight to Houston. According to a statement from Spirit Airlines, the situation was unavoidable:
We’re currently recovering from the cumulative effect of weather-related challenges throughout Florida and other major markets resulting in numerous air traffic control delay programs that impacted the industry over the past several days. Spirit has a very large presence in Florida with hundreds of flights touching the state each day. It takes time to get our crews and planes back into place after multiple days of weather and restrictions. We’re seeing improved operating conditions, and we expect to move toward resuming our normal operations over the next few days. We sincerely apologize for the inconveniences that our Guests have experienced, and we continue to take care of our Guests. We encourage those traveling to check their email and flight status before heading to the airport, and Guests can contact us for information and rebooking options.
Spirit Airlines Statement
5 comments
If you’re life is on the line… and your life relies on Spirit Airlines arriving on time……well good luck with that. Booking Spirit in a situation like this is just plain foolish.
I saw where it stated this passenger has 2 grandchildren. I missed the part about 12!! Mercy!!
I know I would not be flying spirit if I am in a “desperate” situation. A small airline based in FL in the spring is guaranteed to be cancelled at least once a day and twice on Sunday.
The article indicates that she is a grandmother of 16, not 2. This is an awful story!! I hope she recovers well.
The word is “stent” not “stint”. And James is 100% correct.