Three travelers were arrested Monday after police were called to quell fights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The chaos erupted amid almost a week of Spirit Airlines delaying and canceling hundreds of flights.
New Yorkers Desmond Waul, 22, Janice Waul, 23, and Devante Garrett, 22, each face charges of encouraging a riot, disorderly conduct, resisting of an officer and trespassing.
The incident erupted after Miramar-based Spirit Airlines abruptly canceled nine different flights Monday. But problems had been building at the carrier for the past week, with CNN saying nearly 300 Spirit flights have been canceled during that period.
Videos posted by passengers depicted the chaos, with authorities stepping in to separate angry airport-goers.
Although rumors have been flying around that pilot strikes are causing the backups and cancellations, the airline says the Airline Pilots Association (ALPS) is "purposely and unlawfully disrupting the airline's operations." For Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport may only be the beginning of Spirit's troubles.
In its claim, Spirit accuses ALPA of being "engaged in a pervasive illegal work slowdown that has caused approximately 300 flight cancellations and has disrupted the travel plans of over 20,000 customers. ... The Spirit pilots’ concerted refusal to accept junior assignments or pick up open time flying has dramatically impacted Spirit’s operations leading to cancellations throughout its system, and most particularly for flights departing from Fort Lauderdale, Chicago-O’Hare, Detroit, and Las Vegas."
ALPA has denied the allegations, saying that Spirit's suit is "unwarranted and counterproductive."
WIOD met with Spirit's Director of Corporate Communications, Advertising, and Brand Paul Berry to get the latest on the debacle, including next steps for impacted passengers to take:
With the suit under investigation, Spirit is now left to deal with a public relations debacle that's resulted from social media rants stemming from their many flight disruptions.