Transportation

Spirit Air survey: Passengers hate cramped seats most

Airline passengers are most upset about cramped seats on passenger jets, according to a survey that was conducted by Spirit Airlines. 

Spirit found that 20 percent of respondents to its “Hug The Hate” campaign said they hate airline seats.

{mosads}“They hate everything about them: size, shape, getting to them, leg room, and reclining,” the company said. 

Another 16 percent of the survey’s respondents said they were frustrated with lost baggage, and 15 percent said they were unhappy with flight delays. 

Spirit said it expected most of the complaints to be about its own no-frills service, because customers have complained in the past about the company’s a la carte fees for things like carry-on luggage. 

“I think if any organization asks for feedback, you would expect the vast majority of responses would be directed at the company that seeks it,” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza said in a statement. “But in this case we were surprised that most consumers chose to share their frustrations about other airlines.”

Baldanza defended Spirit’s fee structure, saying the company’s business model was based on the idea of empowering customers. 

“We don’t look at them as fees, they are options that our customers can choose, or not depending on how much money they wish to save,” he said. “But this clearly shows we need to continue educating our customers about our business model. Our experience shows once customers understand how much money they save with our model, they like it a lot.”