Spirit responds to 'most-complained about' label

Spirit Airlines is responding to a report last week that found it to be the most-complained about U.S. carrier.

The report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund found Spirit generated the most complaints relative to its size, and the number of complaints is increasing each year, the consumer advocacy group reported in "The Unfriendly Skies: Five Years of Airline Passenger Complaints to the DOT."

Now, "ultra-low-cost carrier" Spirit is offering a rebuttal of sorts, both in an open letter from CEO Ben Baldanza and through a $24 discount to "celebrate" the "99.99% of our customers (who) did not file a complaint with the Department of Transportation in 2013."

"We care about every one of our customers and work hard to deliver what they value most: safe, reliable transportation to where they want to go at a lower cost than other airlines," Baldanza says in the letter, which was sent to media outlets that reported on the results of the study. "That's because we know that the No.1 thing that makes our customers happy is getting where they want to go for less."

"We've all learned that there's always 'more to the story,' and there is here too," Baldanza adds.

"First, the absolute number of complaints to the Department of Transportation is very small for all airlines, including Spirit," Baldanza says. "The industry averages around 1 or 2 complaints from every 100,000 customers, which is a great level of performance. Our complaint rate is higher: over the last five years we've averaged 8 complaints per 100,000 customers. That means 99,992 customers did not file a complaint, while 8 did. That is a very, very small number, but not one with which we are satisfied. For the last few months, complaints about Spirit have declined by over 30% to 5 per 100,000 customers."

Baldanza says the carrier continues to work to bring that figure down even further.

"Offering our low fares requires doing some things that some people complain about — more seats on our planes with a little less legroom, no Wi-Fi or video screens, and no refunds without insurance," Baldanza says. "However, these reduce costs which gives our customers the lowest fares in the industry. Judging by the number of customers on our planes and repeat customer rate, most people like this tradeoff."

Concurrent to the letter (full text here), Spirit also rolled out a fare discount of $24 off to "celebrate" the "99.99%" of its customers who didn't file a complaint in 2013.

"To the 0.01% — that's OK, we know we aren't the airline for everyone (though we'd love for you to save by flying with us again!)," Spirit says in a statement announcing the discount.

For those interested, customers must enter a promo code (24OFF) when booking on Spirit's website. The discount only applies to bookings made by Friday (April 18) for travel from Sept. 3 through Nov. 19. That period — coming after the summer season ends and before the big fall and winter holidays — is traditionally one of the slowest for U.S. carriers.

In touting its $24 discount, Spirit adds:

"Spirit lets customers go more places, more often at the lowest fares possible. On Spirit, you start with our unbundled base fare and add on the options you want. No 'free' bag, peanuts or drink. These are baked into your ticket price on other airlines, whether you use them or not. But on Spirit, you're never stuck paying for extras you didn't ask for and you get to choose the options you want."