JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Nearly a week and a half after a flight to Orlando had a fire in an overhead bin, one family is still pushing to but the experience behind them, and behind their wallets.
Joe Fleck is now back home safe in Dallas from his trip to Disney. He said the time at Disney was magical. Getting there, not so much.
Fleck's flight to Orlando made an emergency stop in Jacksonville after an overhead bin caught on fire due to a battery malfunction. Ten passengers were taken to the hospital.
Although Spirit Airlines promised to make it up to him, at least financially, he says he's still waiting for them to follow through.
Spirit promised to cover the tickets and transportation to Orlando, as well as give all passengers meal vouchers for the inconvenience.
Spirit's statement from one day after the emergency landing:
We are providing refunds and meal vouchers, and we’re arranging alternate transportation for our Guests from Jacksonville to Orlando.
Fleck says the tickets cost $500, but he's only received a little over $200 so far.
He was under the impression he'd have his whole round-trip reimbursed, not just the first flight.
After he, his wife and their eight and nine year old kids collected themselves, his first thought was to head to the rental cars, but the rest of the passengers thought the same thing, so he wound up paying for a $200 Uber.
Spirit is yet to pay him back for the Uber he and his family had to take from Jacksonville to Orlando.
Instead, he received a lengthy response, stating in-part:
"I'm afraid that we're unable to uphold your request for a reimbursement."
Fleck is still pushing for a reimbursement:
"It's not about the money, it's about the principal," said Fleck. "You say you're going to do something, so we the customers take action. I would never have spent $200 on an Uber unless they said they were going to reimburse me for it, which it doesn't look like they're going to."
First Coast News reached out to a Spirit spokesperson, but didn't get a response.
Fleck said shortly after our interview that Spirit reached out to say they'll investigate his concerns, but at the moment, he's still out more than $400 after having to land two hours away from his destination, and arriving at Disney five hours later than planned.
He did receive $200 in vouchers for other Spirit flights. After the experience, he doesn't have plans to use those any time soon.