Spirit Airlines continues to cancel flights | What passengers should know
The airline has stranded passengers as it battles bad weather, system outages and worker shortages.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- After hundreds of passengers made the trek to Philadelphia International Airport on Friday morning, many received an unwelcome notification.
"They canceled the flight 20 minutes ago," said Jimmy, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"I looked at my phone and went to Spirit and I saw canceled all in red," said Kenny McDowell of Bensalem. "Canceled."
RELATED: Spirit cancels more than 100 of its flights on 4th consecutive day
Spirit Airlines nixed yet another flight, blaming a perfect storm of weather, system outages and staffing shortages for widespread and ongoing cancellations.
"We're taking off work and everything else to go see family in a difficult time down there," said Scott McDowell, of Bensalem. "To have Spirit drop us like this is beyond frustrating."
Through noon Friday, airlines canceled 20 flights coming in and out of Philadelphia. Fourteen of those flights were Spirit Airlines, two were Frontier Airlines and four were American Airlines.
"You are entitled under federal law to a cash refund and you need to make sure the airline knows you know that because they will often try to give you a voucher or something else in place of that cash refund," said Willis Orlando, a member operations specialist with Scott's Cheap Flights.
Southwest Philadelphia resident Daniel Faulkner was stranded in Puerto Rico for an extra three days after Spirit canceled his flight. He said all the hotels were booked so he had no option but to sleep in the airport.
RELATED: Spirit Airlines, American Airlines cancel more than 800 flights
"It made me scared to travel, even internationally, at this point," said Faulkner. "Because to even get stuck in the U.S. but in an island that's in the U.S., it's scary."
Orlando said if your flight is canceled, you should approach the desk agent and ask if they can book you on another flight, even if it's with a different airline.
"If you come prepared, for example, say, 'Hey, I found this flight from Philadelphia to Cancun, can you book me on that flight?' Oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes the airlines will make that concession."
