Spirit Airlines cancels 277 flights in ONE DAY leaving thousands of passengers stranded over ‘operational challenges’
TRAVELERS faced chaos across the US on Monday after Spirit Airlines canceled hundreds of flights in one day - leaving thousands stranded.
The airline canceled 277 flights Monday - which amounts to around 36 per cent of all its scheduled journeys.
“We are experiencing operational challenges in some areas of our network,” the posted Monday, directing travelers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.
The -based airline also had an extraordinary number of delayed flights, with 159 on Monday and 342 on Sunday, reported.
“We're working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges," Spirit Airlines spokesman Erik Hofmeyer said via email to the outlet.
“I will never book a spirit airline flight again! What a great way to ruin a vacation!” one person wrote on Spirit’s Tweet about the “operational challenges” causing the issues.
“Operational challenges is an understatement!” another person wrote. “One of your representatives HUNG UP on us while we were trying to get information on our flight that was canceled! Horrible customer service.”
“We were stuck overnight with no clothes or essentials for our 3 or 1 year olds and are still without answers and searching for flights.”
Some social media users claimed Spirit workers were on strike, but in an email to , a representative claimed that was not the case.
“There is no strike," Spirit representative Field Sutton said in an email to the outlet.
"I’m aware of the rumor of a pilot strike, but it’s 100% false. We have a fantastic team of pilots working very hard during this busy travel season."
And Spirit wasn’t the only airline that canceled flights Monday.
also canceled 429 flights on Monday, working out to about 14 percent of scheduled flights.
The airline also delayed hundreds of other flights in the wake of Sunday storms in Dallas, where American has a major hub.