You get what you pay for, was the Spirit spirit. And for everything else, you pay extra. The airline led the way in charging travelers extra fees to check a bag or even carry on a bag, or to do much of anything besides sitting in the cramped cheap seats. Spirit has also become a pacesetter in other traveler-unfriendly categories, routinely achieving the industry’s highest rate of consumer complaints and worst on-time performance.
But the new chief executive, Robert Fornaro, six months into his job, says he is ready to put a new face on Spirit and a new emphasis on customer service. The makeover also includes toning down the frat-boy image, cleaning up the cabins and maybe even getting more of the planes to arrive on time.
