Spirit is one of those airlines that people seem to love to hate, and now the government is getting in on the act as well. The DOT has assessed a massive $375,000 fine on Spirit for all kinds of shenanigans (they’ll only have to pay $215,000 if they don’t violate it again). This is a pretty hefty fine for something that’s not safety-related.

So what exactly did they do? Well, this was all a result of the analysis of complaints that came in to the DOT from customers. I dove in to the DOT filing to get the full details.

Denied Boarding Compensation
Basically, Spirit bumped passengers and didn’t follow the rules. They also were uncooperative when inspectors asked for information. The DOT didn’t get too specific here other than saying that “Spirit bumped passengers, but did not follow one or more of the provisions of 14 CFR 250.” That’s the denied boarding piece of legislation that allow airlines to oversell flights.

In exchange for being able to oversell flights, airlines have to agree to the following:

• Any passenger who holds confirmed reserved space on a flight and is involuntarily bumped must be compensated
• Before that passenger can be bumped, the airline has to ask for volunteers
• If there aren’t enough volunteers, the customer must be given cash or a check for the amount stipulated by the law right there at the airport
• Airlines are allowed to offer vouchers instead, but they first have to tell the passenger how much they could have in cold hard cash
• Airlines have to provide written notice to any passenger that is bumped involuntarily

So Spirit broke one or more of those rules but I don’t know the details. It could have been something as small as not handing out the written notice and instead doing it verbally. Or it could have been something really major like not offering compensation.

Delayed Reporting
As we all know, airlines have to file a variety of reports with the DOT regarding financial fitness (balance sheets, traffic information, etc). On more than one occasion, Spirit was late in filing some reports. They were warned not to do it again, but those warnings were apparently ignored. Oops.

Fail to Keep Required Complaint Records
Spirit decided that keeping complaint letters was too difficult, despite the fact that it’s required by law. Instead, they entered a “brief synopsis” of the complaint into their tracking system and then shredded the letter. The DOT was not too thrilled about this since they wanted those letters as part of their investigation.

Failing to Provide Disabled Passenger Information
Twice, DOT inspectors tried to get Spirit to provide them with the federal rules on disabled passengers at the ticket counter in Ft Lauderdale and twice it didn’t happen. In case you didn’t see this coming, it’s required that a written copy be kept at each airport by each airline.

Delayed Bag Payments
Spirit spent plenty of time delaying payments for lost bags. According to the DOT, it took one person 14 months to get anything out of them. While there isn’t any maximum time to respond in the law, the DOT says delays like this are unfair and deceptive. That’s not legal.

Not Paying Lost Bag Travel Expenses
14 CFR 254.4 clearly (well, as clearly as government can be) states that airlines need to compensate passengers up to $3,300 for “provable direct or consequential damages resulting from the disappearance of, damage to, or delay in delivery of a passenger’s personal property.” They apparently only followed this rule on the outbound of a roundtrip ticket and only for expenses incurred more than 24 hours after the bag was lost.

Translation: They withheld money that they owed people for losing or damaging their bags.

Lying About FAA and DOT Regulations
From the wording in the complaint, this one clearly pissed off the DOT. Spirit employees seem to have invoked the old “we don’t wanna do this but the FAA or DOT makes us” strategy in some cases when dealing with passengers, even if the complaint had nothing to do with federal regulations.

Violating the Full Fare Ad Rule
Airlines are required to advertise their full fare, well, sort of. They have to advertise the full fare but that can exclude government imposed taxes or fees like PFCs and the September 11th Security Fee. But Spirit failed to include its online booking fee on its ads on its website, and that’s a no-no.

Failing to Take Responsibility for Bags on International Flights
International flights are governed by the Montreal Convention when it comes to lost bags, and that Convention specifically states that the airline is liable for anything checked in the luggage while its in the airline’s control. Spirit went against that and failed to take responsibility in some cases.

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So there you have it. According to Spirit, this is all ancient history and none of this has happened for over a year. So if that’s the case, then they may not have anything to worry about going forward. But, it still helps to reinforce the image in travelers’ minds that Spirit is not exactly playing fair. Spirit has never really cared much about its image. Those low fares tend to speak for themselves anyway.

I’m hijacking my usual “This Week on BNET” post with a brief plug. Minnesota Public Radio puts out a weekly podcast called In the Loop, and I was one of the guests for this week’s production. I usually do interviews on the phone, but this time I went downtown to record in a radio booth where they record NPR’s Marketplace. That means you get to hear my voice in all its crystal-clear glory.

We talked about the latest fun with Ryanair, Wizz Air’s busted promotion, and of course, United breaking guitars. Take a listen for yourself. My piece starts at 18:30 if you want to skip ahead, but it’s a fun show that’s worth listening to the whole way through.

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US Airways Sees Further Unit Revenue Erosion in June
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June 2009 Monthly Traffic Numbers
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Virgin America Gets New Funding
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ExpressJet To Fly 10 Planes for United This Summer
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Delta Pulls Out of Boston – Baltimore Route
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Hearings on the Buffalo Q400 Crash Begin Today
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Virgin America Shows Worse Q4 Numbers Excluding Lower Fuel Prices
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Virgin America Posts Low January Load Factors
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Digging in to Virgin America’s Q4 Operational Stats
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Former America West Pilots Win in Court Ruling Over Legacy US Airways Pilots
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Spirit Wants People To Know Who They Are
You know who Spirit is? If so, you might not like them. They’re trying to change that, but not by improving customer service. Just by talking.

A piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday noted that Spirit is planning to start charging a PUF, or Passenger Usage Fee, for anyone who doesn’t book their tickets at the airport ticket counter. Even though the author said it was coming in the future, it looks like they didn’t waste any time, because it’s already out there. The article makes it sound like this is a new invention, but Allegiant has been doing it for quite some time, as those who read the comments on this blog would already know. . . .

From the checks I did, it appears that this fee is $4.90 each way per person. So, for a family of four traveling roundtrip, this could be a nice chunk of change. The fee will be attached to any booking that’s not made at the airport ticket counter. This is the same scheme as the “convenience fee” that Allegiant tacks on to its tickets. It makes no sense from a cost reduction standpoint so it’s frustrating. But, it does make sense from a revenue standpoint – people aren’t going to go to the airport and wait in line for something like this. And that’s why this kind of fee will stick with carriers like this.

It’s my understanding that they couldn’t put this on every single itinerary. It’s actually not on flights to Colombia and Panama because it’s not allowed by the governments down there! But the rest of you will get stuck with it unless you head on in to an airport to buy.

It’s very interesting that the Journal article notes that Spirit had to come to terms with the feds on using the fee, because the first attempt to use it was considered deceptive. I haven’t heard that Allegiant has had any trouble with it, so I assume that they’re being more upfront about it than Spirit here. But the result is the same – another fee.

Those who know Spirit will not be surprised by this at all. It’s par for the course for an airline that wants to advertise extremely low fares and then pile on extra charges all around. It’s very much like Ryanair in that way, so just make sure that you understand how they operate when you decide to fly with them. Assume they’ll charge you for everything, and you won’t face any unexpected surprises.

My guess is that we’ll see even more of these types of fees if they can get away with it. Maybe they’ll start charging a fee to use a jet bridge to board? Or perhaps they’ll charge a fee for not being subject to a body cavity search at security. The opportunities are endless.

Spirit has been pretty quiet lately, and that should scare all of us. This is an airline that thrives on getting itself free PR, and it usually does a very good job with it. But maybe their old tricks just aren’t working anymore. So what do they do? Step it up a notch. The airline has now decided to sell ads on flight attendant aprons. Free PR + extra revenue = Awesome.

You know that this means, don’t you? It’s time to step up the Cranky in-cabin ad program that I wanted to launch on Skybus.

Spirit already sells ads on its aircraft interiors, so this is a next somewhat-logical step for the airline that has made it clear nothing is sacred. I’m waiting to see Spirit’s chief Ben Baldanza sell advertising on his forehead. Something tells me if he could, he would.

The flight attendants are balking at having ads all over their bodies because they think it will diminish their standing as being there “primarily for our safety” as we hear every time we get on a plane. But this in no way hinders their ability to get things done. If this is really on aprons as reported, they won’t even be wearing them unless they’re doing an inflight service. And trust me, if there’s a situation that requires flight attendants to actually perform out-of-the-ordinary safety duties, people will still look right at them for help.

So, I just don’t see it as such a big deal for Spirit. They’ve made it quite clear what they want to do, and this completely fits with their image. Now if I can only get a discount for my grand plan . . . .

[Original photos from superbomba via Flickr and Wikipedia]