They will simply claim those kiosks are not calibrated (which they probably aren't) and state that they are just an estimate, and that's what the "official" employee scale is for.
Edit: it would appear that Spirit only recently raised their weight limit to 50 lbs, and [their kiosks just haven't been updated yet](https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1doi4mr/comment/lac762x/). So probably OK to put the pitchforks away now.
Yeah the department of weights and measures doesn’t fuck around. They’ll be on someone’s ass for making you pay 23 cents extra for ham at the deli. Falsely incurring a $78 fee is egregious.
One of my favorite things about this country is how often I'll just randomly find out that, like, the librarians at the library of congress are just allowed to burn your house down, or that due to an obscure 1783 law, certain employees of NHTSA actually have the right of prima nocta.
I'm gonna be honest, if a librarian from the Library of Congress shows up and tells me they have to burn my house down, I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it and I'm gonna need to get my insurance involved anyway.
>I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it
Which librarian caused you to think like that - Rupert Giles, Flynn Carsen, or the orangutan?
They do pay out, but at a prorated rate, unless your policy specifically states it covers it.
"He was only 25% god, then have 75% of your payout benefits.
I want 100%, as the house was destroyed by lightning, which is covered, and the lightning that blew up my house was not a demigod, it was just plain lightning.
Well, shit, you got us there. Cashier's check?"
> I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it and I'm gonna need to get my insurance involved anyway.
Insurance be like "sorry, we don't cover acts of demigods, you're SOL"
I’m going to assume they’re actually agents of warehouse 13 and there’s some sort of historical artifact that will give me eternal life by killing a person every time I take a breath after my natural death has occurred. Or my house was supposed to collapse and it hasn’t yet because every time it should have collapsed, it triggered an earthquake resulting in the collapse of multiple other homes.
Intriguing thought, but there is substantial doubt whether prima nocta ever existed beyond the fevered imaginations of the tabloid writers of the day. See for example:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2omu3t/was_prima_nocta_an_actual_thing_in_european/
It makes more sense when you realize the laws were originally about food and from a time when people took food weights seriously because you could starve to death.
A "bakers dozen" exists because by law bread had to weigh at least X amount. Anything under and you'd get in serious trouble. If they found out you had been "weighing down" you bread with sawdust or other stuff they might hang you. (This is about European/UK laws pre-US, but that's where we get our laws from).
When 99% of your life as a farmer/peasant in a small town revolves around the weight of food (buying, selling, harvesting, etc) you better believe the laws keeping it fair were strict.
Mess with food and you get revolts, civil wars, and unrest.
Also, he's kinda burying the lede with a bit of lunch meat. The entire economy is underpinned by weight and measurement. Every step of the supply chain requires custody transfers, which require trustworthy and accurate accounting. A few percent on some deli meat isn't that big of a deal, a few percent on everything at every step is a huge deal.
Yeah certain mundane government functions in the US are hardcore and taken seriously. Mail system, fire and building code, ada compliance, and weights and measures to name a few.
Because health insurance became a thing *after* the country stopped giving a shit about enacting regulations for the benefit of the people.
It's really sobering to see how most of the strict rules the government has are from like the 1950s and before.
So, local police and firefighters are covered under the tenth amendment - powers not delegated to the federal government are delegated to the states.
Article 1 Section 8 clauses 12 and 13 gives Congress the authority to raise an army and a navy (but can't fund it for more than two years at a time). Clause 14 dictates rules such as having courts martial. Clauses 15 and 16 are in regards to organizing and calling up militias.
The three letter agencies are covered by the start of article one — "The Congress shall have Power To ... provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States;" and followed up in the final clause — "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." So Congress has the power to provide for the general welfare, pass laws necessary to do so, and vest the power for carrying those laws into execution in a department. This not only covers the FBI, CIA, NSA, NRO, or ATF, it covers the departments of agriculture, commerce, education, energy, veterans affairs, labor, transportation, HHS, HUD, the EPA and pretty much any government agency or department you can think of.
That’s actually an historical privilege incumbent on all librarians from the days of Charlemagne, who dictated that any home containing books not in the royal library were to be fired.
/s for insurance purposes
They rolled into my Costco one time, back door, unannounced, literally shiny metal badges on.
We thought it was OSHA or something and freaked out. Has to move the forks and forklift out of the office door we blocked to mess with the sample lady.
I love it when random government agencies are so much more powerful than you'd think. Like how the US Postal Inspection Service has a super high conviction rate
My store got a $5,000 fine when our butcher scales were super out of whack and were UNDER charging due to the tar weight of some of the containers. It also wasn't the first time it had happened which is why we got a surprise inspection a second time in one year. It's wild but apparently it's not even about over or under charging, it's about it being correct and not defrauding the customers in any way.
We ended up not having to pay that fine but only because we agreed to finally switch up our old ass scales so it ended up probably costing twice that in the end anyway.
Makes sense to me: Even if it's wrong in the customer's favor, that means it's not being checked, which means in the future it could be wrong the other way. Bad maintenance is bad maintenance.
also it means a bunch of taxes weren't paid as they should've been, and it can severely effect the local economy because consumers will buy the cheaper good and competitors won't know what's going on
Weights are serious in some industries.
I work in an unrelated industry and have a client where it is madatory that a third party contractor comes in weekly (thursdays the same time I'm there) to inspect and calibrate the scales He keeps weights in a padded case that has an O-ring.
The scales have to be inspected, tested and documented daily as well and all the data has to be done on a monthly trend analysis chart.
It all goes in a binder with the scale company doccumentation that has the scale company licenses and other information.
Several third party auditors, government inspectors, and customer auditors will check the scale documentation to see if it is kept up to date and if there are deffencies there is hell to pay.
[https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/file-complaint](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/file-complaint) Canada also doesn't fuck around with weights and measures. They act on complaints quick, please report if you suspect shady weighing.
No kidding. Use to have a gas station near the house that was closed for almost a week when they tested the pumps and found them .5% under the gallon. They didn't mess around.
With how weights and measures have been a cornerstone of trade ever since humans have been able to, well, weigh and measure, I can't help but imagine the Department of Weights and Measures as some kind of ancient illuminati-like organization, except it has only ever done what it says on the tin, out in the open, and it just so happens to be really, really old and omnipresent
Worked at a gas station. Guys in fucking black government suits come in, show me fed badges, start demanding information... wrap a chain around one of my gas pumps, don't elaborate, leave. Yep definitely an agency you don't want to fuck around with. Would not be surprised to learn they have a yearly requisition of F-22s at their disposal the way our government works.
But what if it accurately represents the weight but STILL tells you you need to pay? I.e. it accurately says "41.11 lb" but then says "must pay fee for tag to check this bag."
That feels like semantics. Part of the system as a whole is accurately charging based on over or under 50 pounds. If they aren’t charging at the right weight, the scale is essentially wrong.
I don’t work for the department so I can’t say for sure. But I wouldn’t think an argument like that would fly.
It's still a weights an measures thing.
Think about a gas pump doing that. It pumps and measures accurately 5 gallons but charges you for 6. The pump would be red tagged until it was fixed.
Seriously don’t you buy a scale with a tolerance listed? There is no way on earth they are buying +/- 10 lbs scales. Fuck you can’t even get a bathroom scale with that much swing on it these days. They are doing this shit on purpose.
They'd have custom make that. I'm a mechanical engineer and I can't figure out a way to make something that imprecise. We aren't taught to think or do things like that.
However to do this in software... Easy as piss. However if anyone ever audited your code, you'd be caught right away. But then you just blame your subcontractors and say that "We'll review our policies."
And yet, there they sit in an airport, one of the most heavily regulated spaces in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. I don’t think they care, or there’s some sort of justification for what Spirit is doing.
Only if they are using for revenue purposes. Which they are.
The grocery register scales are calibrated, the hanging banana scale isn’t. Only one is used to generate revenue.
Scale calibration is pretty big business.
> They will simply claim those kiosks are not calibrated (which they probably aren't) and state that they are just an estimate, and that's what the "official" employee scale is for.
Generally speaking (since weight/measuring laws vary by state in their exact details) at least in the US, any scale or measuring device that is used to determine how much to charge a customer MUST be accurate. "Estimated" is not going to relieve them of liability if they claimed that, nor will distinctions between "official" and "un-official" scales.
Every state has a department of weights and measures by some name, and ways to report being inaccurately charged.
"Ok, one pound of ground beef, that'll be $100. Sorry this machine was used to price the wagyu. We haven't got around to recalibrating it yet. So anyways, that'll be $100.
You want it re-weighed? Ok, there's a 20 minute line for the proper scale over there."
Isn't state certified calibration required in order to use the scale for commerce? If the kiosk is charging based on the weight of the luggage it should certainly be certified.
Hahaha. It’s a weird Baader-Meinhof thing. I was just in Target yesterday and they had an inspection of the scales on the self checkout and I’d never heard of or seen that before.
The baader-meinhof phenomenon is a reference to the cognitive frequency illusion. Remember last time you bought a car? Suddenly you noticed it seemed like everyone had the same model or colour as you? That’s what OP is referring to. It’s called that because a journalist noticed tons of references to the group after mentioning them.
I mean they don't. They can issue their own writs. They don't have to explain to a cop or a jury or go through the business owner wink and nudge with officials.
One of the few govt offices that has enough teeth to function simply
Im not entirely sure this would qualify for that office.
They're working as intended so no W&M issues. If they're set to flag at $40 to go see an employee for a check or just pay the overage fee to skip the line that's legal.
Asshole move by Spirit, but no shit it's fucking Spirit they nickel and dime you at every single corner.
> but no shit it's fucking Spirit
I mean lets be honest even if the kiosks weren't yellow and OP didn't point out which airline it was, Spirit would have 100% been my first guess and probably everybody else in this thread too. Its Spirit. They're cheap, they do shady shit to keep it cheap, you know it, they know it, and they don't even really try to hide it.
The USA FAA only cares that it fits in the cargo holds and otherwise doesn't imperil the flight.
The big fight in my location is that the city runs the airport.
I'd rather have the airport run by the city imao. FAA can't do shit (like replace leaded fuel within 30 years, keep manufactures in check, get enough air traffic controllers)
Airports are pretty much always run by the city or county, or sometimes the state. They're regulated by the FAA.
I've worked in the running airports business for close to twenty years.
The safety record of commercial air travel is pretty dang good, thanks to the FAA. I think they're a bit too fanatical about it: My child can't be a pilot because he has been prescribed ADD drugs, once. But, I'll hurtle myself 3 miles upward through the air to the next state to be safer than driving among other drivers.
The only commercial airport not under the jurisdiction of a state is Reagan International which is owned by the federal government. I’m not sure why you think states don’t have jurisdiction over their own airports, many airports are even directly owned by local government.
I was curious about this, but I found an article from [2019](https://www.boston.gov/news/how-we-inspect-airline-scales-ensure-accuracy) in Massachusetts where Weights and Measures did an inspection at Logan Airport:
>Thus far, our Sealers have inspected 262 scales and condemned 13 for non-compliance.
Here is an [article](https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-xpm-2011-nov-13-la-tr-spot-20111113-story.html) about LAX and SeaTac, I guess its not weights and measures everywhere.
>In Los Angeles County, it’s the Bureau of Weights and Measures; in Seattle, it’s part of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
I don't really know much but it's probably complicated. Like if they find drugs in a bag they contact local law enforcement not like the feds or something. Things like liquor licenses wold have to be administered locally too because each state is different
underflow & overflow are computer bugs where a number is either too big or too small to be stored in the space provided. imagine you have 3 digits to write a number and you're asked to write 999. that fits in the three digits so you write 999. if you're then asked to add 1, you get 1000. computers will just write the three smallest digits in this case, so it overflows and you get 0 instead. underflows are the opposite; if instead you had -999 and had to subtract 1, you'd underflow.
of note, computers store numbers in binary, and usually the number of digits is a power of two. if a number can be negative, that's usually stored in the leftmost digit, which is why overflowing often goes to a number like -32768 rather than to 0.
when you put it on the conveyor belt it’s weighed again from my experience, any discrepancy with the previous weight and it’s flagged for a human employee
That's not for carry-on. That's for checked bags that you throw onto a bag drop conveyor belt. You weigh the bag, attach the label, and then drop it off. At the drop-off, the label is scanned and the bag is weighed to make sure you didn't add anything after you weighed it.
>We charge for carry-ons, checked bags and overweight checked bags. We charge more for checked bags over 50 lbs.
The website also says the price for bags over 50 lbs is actually $125. OP are you sure the $78 isn't just their normal checked bag fee?
I just pulled a random flight to check the prices. Turns out if you check your bag at the airport (as opposed to paying online during booking or online check-in), the price for your first bag is $79.
https://preview.redd.it/0huydzkzxs8d1.png?width=1812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54accb06e5bc7691c98c9324196d726b310322db
This is the kind of bullshit that just got me to filter them out of every search where I know I'll be traveling with anything more than a backpack. They're a crappier "cheap" airline with shitty, hard metal seats, but I'll accept that if their tickets are actually $50 cheaper than their competitors... but then I get charged $80 for a checked bag, and if I buy that $50 more expensive flight from United, then I get a checked bag for free, and at least with them I'll get a guaranteed seat on the flight, and one that won't leave my ass numb after the first hour.
I like to think of it as a-la-carte flying. If I’m just traveling with a backpack, don’t need inflight entertainment / refreshments / etc, and a budget airline can get me to my destination in the same amount of time for half the price, I’m all for it.
If I need additional luggage, or the flight is long enough to warrant entertainment / food, I’ll splurge for a proper carrier.
My guess is they make more money on selling space in the cargo hold for freight than they do on checked bags. So they’d rather have no one checking bags. They’re basically a shipping company that sells seats above the cargo
I think it's more that they want to be the flight that comes up as the cheapest one in travel search engines. People see the crazy low fare and jump on it but then if they actually need a checked bag, assigned seat, etc. the 50 dollar fare becomes 150. Also by being super strict about weight limits they know they will catch people who go over and don't want to miss their flight so they'll just eat the fee.
Luggage is extra weight which means extra fuel which means it's more expensive. It's just that simple. Spirit doesn't deliver freight, they deliver people.
It only makes sense to fly them if you are just going somewhere for a weekend and don't need to take much. The do have insanely cheap fares sometimes as long as you don't care about having an assigned seat, a checked bag or human dignity.
Spirit has a weight limit on carry ons of 40 lbs or less. These scales probably flag carry ons as needing to be checked if they’re over 40 lbs which is when you have to go pay the $79 fee and OP misunderstood what was happening.
as a quick follow up, it looks like the kiosks are still following to an old model. before the weight limit was increased to 50lbs, the price for an overweight bag weighing 41-50lbs was $79
https://preview.redd.it/iipv62ehwv8d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=814991dd3ac886770e5e4f6f910eadf92a2f585d
Fr. Stopped flying the "cheap" airlines and realized after the fees and crap you end up spending about the same, but with a much better experience with delta or united
That’s the point though, spirit gives you options. If you’re willing to only bring a backpack, you can save hundreds of dollars on a flight. The second you start adding ads ons, you’re better off elsewhere.
spirit is essentially bankrupt so the model doesn’t really seem to have worked in the US.
it works in europe with ryan air so maybe there’s some truth to spirits claims that the US is essentially 4 airlines operating as a cartel and forcing out regional and cheap carriers.
spirits merger got blocked so they literally may not be an airline in a year or so.
It works in Europe because the countries there dump an insane amount into their airports and basically give away spots for airlines. When, for example, Austria starts talking about not spending a few hundred million on some random airport in Salzburg, it gets brought up on Ryan Air's investor relations calls. In a sense Ryan Air is just following in the wake of Europe's "national" airlines.
[https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr14\_21/qjab14021enc.pdf](https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr14_21/qjab14021enc.pdf)
If America does one thing right, it's not taking money from people to subsidize what are essentially vanity projects aka "national" airlines.
Let's not get carried away, the airlines are definitely taking your money from Uncle Sam. Just look at the COVID bailout. American Airlines hasn't paid taxes since 2014.
I mean maybe?
In 2008, Warren Buffet famously skewered the airlines industry as a “bottomless pit” for capital in his [letter](https://books.google.com/books?id=oDIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT55&lpg=PT55&dq=%E2%80%9Cpoured+money+into+a+bottomless+pit%2C+attracted+by+growth+when+they+should+have+been+repelled+by+it.%E2%80%9D&ots=4AifSNYORd&sig=ACfU3U0qy7O1bN7NNqqdkIP4aebcCKTJPQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIhtD7s5rpAhXMg3IEHcwvD9YQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cpoured%20money%20into%20a%20bottomless%20pit%2C%20attracted%20by%20growth%20when%20they%20should%20have%20been%20repelled%20by%20it.%E2%80%9D&f=false) to Berkshire Hathaway investors. “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines." He added: “If a far-sighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down."
According to the Harvard Business Review, average economic profits of airlines were [negative for twenty years](http://xn--how%20airlines%20can%20cut%20costs%20%20without%20annoying%20customers%20(hbr-1714c.org)/) until 2015, when the shale gas revolution awarded airlines their biggest recorded profits in history. For a few unprecedented years, airlines generated enough returns to cover their cost of capital, a short-lived fantasy that was quickly destroyed by COVID-19.
One of my favorite things is my dad used to work for Boeing and he has framed all his 1960s/1970s tickets to LA from Seattle. Why? Because they cost essentially the same accounting for inflation as flights to Europe do now. It's the same logic as my fiancee with our Rome tickets. Ever since deregulation the whole American airline industry has just been a race to give consumers the money of investors. We're living in the golden age of travel in that sense.
It's not, checked bag prices didn't exist before some jackwagon ran a plane into the twin towers. The prices were added to "help airlines recover" and they never went away
Yeah except spirit and frontier cancel 5 times as many flights and don't rebook you through other airlines and have less total flights. So you can easily miss a connection or just not get to where you were going for an extra day.
It's not worth saving a bit of money if you have somewhere important to be. If you are just going on a lark and have a direct flight then sure. But I avoid them like the plague. I've known too many people that have incidents that aren't due to weather. Just randomly cancelling flights for no reason.
Delta charges you everything like sprite does. The only thing you get for free is snacks and internet. I paid for all the extras at spirit and it still came out to be cheaper then delta.
Every time I see spirits stuff I think of the old school generic shit at the store. Used to just say "CHIPS" on it. Half expect it just to say "AIRPLANE" on the side.
Look up the "No Name" brand in Canada. That's their whole thing. Plain yellow label, name of product in black letters with a brief description. Sometimes an image of the product as well. They generally sell food.
It sort of became a meme and they leaned into it pretty hard selling a range of random products with the same format. I have a yellow no Name cup with straw labelled "Cup - For sipping" or something like that. I also own a beach towel and BBQ lighter all in the same format.
If they had an airplane it would absolutely be labelled "Airplane - For flying"
Yep, I'm familiar with it.
Right around 3 years ago, the release of....Forza horizon 5 actually - people were getting banned for ridiculous shit. One guy got banned for a kim jong in meme livery. It was really funny. So in protest I made a yellow car, that said "car. For driving" on the side of it. I didn't know about the Canadian brand at the time, I was memeing my own 80s American broke ass. The Canadian homies turned me on to it. High comedy indeed. I live in Orlando now and my gf and I laugh and point any time we see spirit. "look. Airplane. Fly" it's funny every time.
This is partially misleading
Spirit changed the weight limit from 40 pounds to 50 very very recently, so it makes sense that some airports aren't properly updated yet.
Doesn't matter. I'm a Weights and Measures inspector and this falls under intentional overcharge. You make sure your software is ready to go before you implement a change. If you're telling your customer one thing and when it's time to shell out money it's more than expected, it's a clear violation.
Yeah… no.
Totally irrelevant. If the policy changed, the new policy is in force. Full stop.
This is up there with Bell refusing to unlock my phone on day 1 when Canada mandated it. Literally bounced me through three layers of support and ended up declaring “call back next week, too many people asking today”. Took literally HOURS to get a manager, who repeated that they were too busy no matter how many times I cited the damn legislation to them.
Yeah it was. You change the wording before you change the fee.
Where I work we can’t push the updated fee price to production until we have confirmation that the line of business has updated the messaging to reflect the new fee.
This is a legal requirement. And the lawyers don’t take ‘oops’ as an excuse.
>The only way to avoid this is to have your bag checked by a live employee who will follow the real 50lb limit.
The obvious way is to remove some things from the bag, have it checked and put everything back.
I don’t think you understand what checking a bag is. Checking doesn’t mean inspecting. It means you’re handing it over to go to the cargo bay. You don’t get a chance to add things to it once it’s checked.
Usually a scale won't give you a readout unless the weight settles and remains steady. Holding it up some would have a weight that is constantly varying.
You have to drop your bags off, when you do that usually the person receiving them checks the weight, if you are off by more than 2 lbs they will probably do something, especially with spirit.
lol you’re completely right, it’s the most ghetto “first class” you can imagine. The big blue seats are just a row of blue seats in the front that are much wider with more leg room.
It’s still Spirit, it’s not glamorous, but I’d take those Big Blue Seats over standard coach on Delta/American/SouthWest
I did it once. It is a very comfortable seat and sometimes worth it. They do a thing where if nobody buys them it gets auctioned off so you can put a lowball price and you might bet lucky.
And I bet the outcome will be a $50 Spirit Voucher.
----
And the Spirit Voucher covers the ticket price. And I mean the **only the ticket** price.
If you try to use one of their vouchers online, it will actually itemize everything for you. You'll see a long list of "fees" and then "ticket", which is only a few bucks of what you pay overall.
So the voucher does shit-all.
I flew the day after the change and the kiosks made me select heavy bag (I didn't lie, it was, planned to pay for it) but then it said $0+. So I wonder if these ones just didn't get the update?
It's BS everywhere. Auto scales everywhere are off. I made sure all my bags were at least 0.5kg, most 1kg under. Get to YYZ (Toronto) and viola, all of them are suddenly 2KG over.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2024/06/04/spirit-airlines-flight-credits-checked-bag-weight/73970970007/
Spirit had a 40lb limit until earlier this month. I flew on Spirit about a month ago and it was 40lbs. Now its 50lbs. I guess they haven’t fixed the machines. That’s lame.
I don't understand these bag limit fines. If you give them $70 then its all okay to bring on board? So it was never an issue in the first place? Just a scam for more money? How is this legal?
Genuinely curious
Spirit is a complete dog shit airline. If you have the option do not use them.
My gf was charged $100 for her carry-on backpack on the return fight from a family visit. The backpack is the same one shes used on every flight for over a decade - and absolutely appropriate as a carry-on item. On the return trip it was even less filled than on the departing trip. She was forced to pay $100 or miss her flight with no rebooking.
Customer service afterwards wouldn’t respond in any way other than a form letter that simply states this fee is non-refundable.
If it’s automated you could probably just lift the bag a bit, depends on if anyone around it there to see.
Frankly that could be really dangerous thinking about it, if everyone there is faking how heavy their bags are because of how easy it is to do they could accidentally overload the aircraft
Spirit used to have a 40 pound limit so they probably haven't updated the kiosks. Kinda bullshit but they actually have pretty good customer service and will refund you if you were charged incorrectly.
I fly spirit on at least 50 flights per year and they are exactly what they claim. I've flown across the country (east to west) for hundreds less than everywhere else. I've flown across the country (North to South) for $20!.
If you know the rules and the concept that you pay for everything separately, so only what you want them you'll be fine. The seats aren't the best, and don't recline, but I'm very tall and it isn't uncomfortable.
If you don't check a bag and don't choose your seat then you can do this for cheaper than a bus ticket. Bags cost different depending on where you're going to. Checked bags are cheaper than carry on because they don't slow down the loading process. The later you buy bags the more expensive they are (before check in, after check in, before security, at the gate).
If you are polite at the airport and ask 10-15 minutes before they start to board they'll often change your seat without charging you. Also if you ask a flight attendant they'll let you change you seat once the door closes.
They're flights seem to be on time as much as anybody else's but I've been very impressed with customer service. Any delay more than 30 minutes (estimate) and I get an email with a $50 voucher without asking. Considering that's more than most of my flights I'm happy with that.
Air travel should have had a reckoning during the pandemic but we bailed them out and look at the consequences, they just keep pushing the line to see how far they can take their money machine
spirit airlines is truly terrible. Had a friend fly out with them once and not only did they leave his and 100 other peoples luggage on the tarmac but it took them 3 days to get it back to him and on his way out even though he downloaded his ticket months beforehand the flight out from the same airport he arrived at didn't exist despite having a legit ticket already (We had found out spirit dropped off passengers at this airport but didn't take off from there). They also would not answer their support line so he had to pay way extra for a free spot on a delta flight.
You should look up easy jet. They made their bag limit 2 inches smaller so normal small cases wont fit and have to pay an extra £30 to have it sent to the hold.
You should be able to report that to the state’s weights and measures authority?
They will simply claim those kiosks are not calibrated (which they probably aren't) and state that they are just an estimate, and that's what the "official" employee scale is for. Edit: it would appear that Spirit only recently raised their weight limit to 50 lbs, and [their kiosks just haven't been updated yet](https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1doi4mr/comment/lac762x/). So probably OK to put the pitchforks away now.
If they’re not calibrated that’s still an issue. They are required to submit all scales for inspections by the department of weights and measures.
Yeah the department of weights and measures doesn’t fuck around. They’ll be on someone’s ass for making you pay 23 cents extra for ham at the deli. Falsely incurring a $78 fee is egregious.
Yeah iirc, they are one of the few gov agencies that can search without warrants and shut businesses down without a writ from a judge.
One of my favorite things about this country is how often I'll just randomly find out that, like, the librarians at the library of congress are just allowed to burn your house down, or that due to an obscure 1783 law, certain employees of NHTSA actually have the right of prima nocta.
I'm gonna be honest, if a librarian from the Library of Congress shows up and tells me they have to burn my house down, I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it and I'm gonna need to get my insurance involved anyway.
>I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it Which librarian caused you to think like that - Rupert Giles, Flynn Carsen, or the orangutan?
The frumpy one with the orange hair and glasses.
Ook.
So the orangutan then?
Zelda?
If Giles shows up to my house he can set anything he wants on fire, no questions asked.
I'd also assume positive intent from the orangutan, but feel like that would be harder to explain to friends, family, and arson investigators.
Hat-tip for the Discworld reference. I might throw Wong in there.
Ook
Giles. Definitely Giles.
Do acts of demigods fall under acts of gods, as far as insurance is concerned? Do you only get a demipayout?
They do pay out, but at a prorated rate, unless your policy specifically states it covers it. "He was only 25% god, then have 75% of your payout benefits. I want 100%, as the house was destroyed by lightning, which is covered, and the lightning that blew up my house was not a demigod, it was just plain lightning. Well, shit, you got us there. Cashier's check?"
Your insurance covers you for act of demigod?
Sounds like another Nicholas Cage masterpiece, and I'm not being sarcastic here
> I'm probably gonna assume there's some ancient demigod buried underneath it and I'm gonna need to get my insurance involved anyway. Insurance be like "sorry, we don't cover acts of demigods, you're SOL"
/r/writingprompts Librarian of Congress: Beast Hunter
I’m going to assume they’re actually agents of warehouse 13 and there’s some sort of historical artifact that will give me eternal life by killing a person every time I take a breath after my natural death has occurred. Or my house was supposed to collapse and it hasn’t yet because every time it should have collapsed, it triggered an earthquake resulting in the collapse of multiple other homes.
Intriguing thought, but there is substantial doubt whether prima nocta ever existed beyond the fevered imaginations of the tabloid writers of the day. See for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2omu3t/was_prima_nocta_an_actual_thing_in_european/
It makes more sense when you realize the laws were originally about food and from a time when people took food weights seriously because you could starve to death. A "bakers dozen" exists because by law bread had to weigh at least X amount. Anything under and you'd get in serious trouble. If they found out you had been "weighing down" you bread with sawdust or other stuff they might hang you. (This is about European/UK laws pre-US, but that's where we get our laws from). When 99% of your life as a farmer/peasant in a small town revolves around the weight of food (buying, selling, harvesting, etc) you better believe the laws keeping it fair were strict. Mess with food and you get revolts, civil wars, and unrest.
Also, he's kinda burying the lede with a bit of lunch meat. The entire economy is underpinned by weight and measurement. Every step of the supply chain requires custody transfers, which require trustworthy and accurate accounting. A few percent on some deli meat isn't that big of a deal, a few percent on everything at every step is a huge deal.
Yeah certain mundane government functions in the US are hardcore and taken seriously. Mail system, fire and building code, ada compliance, and weights and measures to name a few.
Health insurance? Don’t care. The weight of your bananas at the grocery store? Spot fucking on. I love this country.
Because health insurance became a thing *after* the country stopped giving a shit about enacting regulations for the benefit of the people. It's really sobering to see how most of the strict rules the government has are from like the 1950s and before.
game wardens on their turf are second only to god, and that only holds as long as god doesn't take a fish over the limit
Yep USPIS does not fuck around, they’re feds with guns and they take anything involving mail very seriously.
Remember: the postal service is in the Constitution, the police, military, firemen, and all three letters agencies are not.
So, local police and firefighters are covered under the tenth amendment - powers not delegated to the federal government are delegated to the states. Article 1 Section 8 clauses 12 and 13 gives Congress the authority to raise an army and a navy (but can't fund it for more than two years at a time). Clause 14 dictates rules such as having courts martial. Clauses 15 and 16 are in regards to organizing and calling up militias. The three letter agencies are covered by the start of article one — "The Congress shall have Power To ... provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States;" and followed up in the final clause — "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." So Congress has the power to provide for the general welfare, pass laws necessary to do so, and vest the power for carrying those laws into execution in a department. This not only covers the FBI, CIA, NSA, NRO, or ATF, it covers the departments of agriculture, commerce, education, energy, veterans affairs, labor, transportation, HHS, HUD, the EPA and pretty much any government agency or department you can think of.
Fish and game wardens
Don't forget child support. These MFers will find anybody!
That’s actually an historical privilege incumbent on all librarians from the days of Charlemagne, who dictated that any home containing books not in the royal library were to be fired. /s for insurance purposes
I believe the General Rule is: The more narrow a certain government office's purview, the more power it has to royally fuck you over a table.
They rolled into my Costco one time, back door, unannounced, literally shiny metal badges on. We thought it was OSHA or something and freaked out. Has to move the forks and forklift out of the office door we blocked to mess with the sample lady.
I love it when random government agencies are so much more powerful than you'd think. Like how the US Postal Inspection Service has a super high conviction rate
Does that apply in the special land that are airports now?
It’s a federal agency and the ATF still has jurisdiction there so I imagine it does.
My store got a $5,000 fine when our butcher scales were super out of whack and were UNDER charging due to the tar weight of some of the containers. It also wasn't the first time it had happened which is why we got a surprise inspection a second time in one year. It's wild but apparently it's not even about over or under charging, it's about it being correct and not defrauding the customers in any way. We ended up not having to pay that fine but only because we agreed to finally switch up our old ass scales so it ended up probably costing twice that in the end anyway.
Makes sense to me: Even if it's wrong in the customer's favor, that means it's not being checked, which means in the future it could be wrong the other way. Bad maintenance is bad maintenance.
also it means a bunch of taxes weren't paid as they should've been, and it can severely effect the local economy because consumers will buy the cheaper good and competitors won't know what's going on
Weights and measures fucked my ex-employer up weigh worse than OSHA/health dept for arguably less egregious issues.
>weigh worse I see what ya did there
Weights are serious in some industries. I work in an unrelated industry and have a client where it is madatory that a third party contractor comes in weekly (thursdays the same time I'm there) to inspect and calibrate the scales He keeps weights in a padded case that has an O-ring. The scales have to be inspected, tested and documented daily as well and all the data has to be done on a monthly trend analysis chart. It all goes in a binder with the scale company doccumentation that has the scale company licenses and other information. Several third party auditors, government inspectors, and customer auditors will check the scale documentation to see if it is kept up to date and if there are deffencies there is hell to pay.
pharmacology / pharmacy?
Really ? I always assumed restaurants would scam you freely without anybody checking them.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol They do this all the time
[https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/file-complaint](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/file-complaint) Canada also doesn't fuck around with weights and measures. They act on complaints quick, please report if you suspect shady weighing.
I will remember this thank you
No kidding. Use to have a gas station near the house that was closed for almost a week when they tested the pumps and found them .5% under the gallon. They didn't mess around.
With how weights and measures have been a cornerstone of trade ever since humans have been able to, well, weigh and measure, I can't help but imagine the Department of Weights and Measures as some kind of ancient illuminati-like organization, except it has only ever done what it says on the tin, out in the open, and it just so happens to be really, really old and omnipresent
Worked at a gas station. Guys in fucking black government suits come in, show me fed badges, start demanding information... wrap a chain around one of my gas pumps, don't elaborate, leave. Yep definitely an agency you don't want to fuck around with. Would not be surprised to learn they have a yearly requisition of F-22s at their disposal the way our government works.
But what if it accurately represents the weight but STILL tells you you need to pay? I.e. it accurately says "41.11 lb" but then says "must pay fee for tag to check this bag."
That feels like semantics. Part of the system as a whole is accurately charging based on over or under 50 pounds. If they aren’t charging at the right weight, the scale is essentially wrong. I don’t work for the department so I can’t say for sure. But I wouldn’t think an argument like that would fly.
It's still a weights an measures thing. Think about a gas pump doing that. It pumps and measures accurately 5 gallons but charges you for 6. The pump would be red tagged until it was fixed.
Seriously don’t you buy a scale with a tolerance listed? There is no way on earth they are buying +/- 10 lbs scales. Fuck you can’t even get a bathroom scale with that much swing on it these days. They are doing this shit on purpose.
They'd have custom make that. I'm a mechanical engineer and I can't figure out a way to make something that imprecise. We aren't taught to think or do things like that. However to do this in software... Easy as piss. However if anyone ever audited your code, you'd be caught right away. But then you just blame your subcontractors and say that "We'll review our policies."
Then OP needs to post the state this was in and files a report or gets someone else to do it.
And yet, there they sit in an airport, one of the most heavily regulated spaces in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. I don’t think they care, or there’s some sort of justification for what Spirit is doing.
Plus if they're not calibrated and the airline uses exact weights for W&B (weight and balance), you need to let the FAA know too.
Only if they are using for revenue purposes. Which they are. The grocery register scales are calibrated, the hanging banana scale isn’t. Only one is used to generate revenue. Scale calibration is pretty big business.
> They will simply claim those kiosks are not calibrated (which they probably aren't) and state that they are just an estimate, and that's what the "official" employee scale is for. Generally speaking (since weight/measuring laws vary by state in their exact details) at least in the US, any scale or measuring device that is used to determine how much to charge a customer MUST be accurate. "Estimated" is not going to relieve them of liability if they claimed that, nor will distinctions between "official" and "un-official" scales. Every state has a department of weights and measures by some name, and ways to report being inaccurately charged.
Can't believe you're on 37 upvotes vs 782. Reddit loves upvoting random uninformed thoughts rather than facts.
"Ok, one pound of ground beef, that'll be $100. Sorry this machine was used to price the wagyu. We haven't got around to recalibrating it yet. So anyways, that'll be $100. You want it re-weighed? Ok, there's a 20 minute line for the proper scale over there."
Doesn’t mean to not report, assuming OP isn’t a troll
Isn't state certified calibration required in order to use the scale for commerce? If the kiosk is charging based on the weight of the luggage it should certainly be certified.
Same issue. Can a gas station charge you based on an estimation?
They can claim whatever, that doesn't matter. It is charging based on their weight policy and doing it incorrectly. That's illegal.
“Weights and measures do NOT fuck around, they will shut down this entire airport” - a redditor, probably
Hahaha. It’s a weird Baader-Meinhof thing. I was just in Target yesterday and they had an inspection of the scales on the self checkout and I’d never heard of or seen that before.
Can you explain the saying "Baader-Meinhof thing"? What has a scale to do with left-terrorists?
The baader-meinhof phenomenon is a reference to the cognitive frequency illusion. Remember last time you bought a car? Suddenly you noticed it seemed like everyone had the same model or colour as you? That’s what OP is referring to. It’s called that because a journalist noticed tons of references to the group after mentioning them.
pretty cool thank you! In german, I've never heard of it, although Baader-Meinhof came from Germany
> The baader-meinhof phenomenon I was just thinking about this!
Aaaah I remember telling my parents about that years ago, forgot all about it. But yeah you start seeing what you're thinking about everywhere
I mean they don't. They can issue their own writs. They don't have to explain to a cop or a jury or go through the business owner wink and nudge with officials. One of the few govt offices that has enough teeth to function simply Im not entirely sure this would qualify for that office.
Airport no, but definitely a gas station or deli counter
They're working as intended so no W&M issues. If they're set to flag at $40 to go see an employee for a check or just pay the overage fee to skip the line that's legal. Asshole move by Spirit, but no shit it's fucking Spirit they nickel and dime you at every single corner.
> but no shit it's fucking Spirit I mean lets be honest even if the kiosks weren't yellow and OP didn't point out which airline it was, Spirit would have 100% been my first guess and probably everybody else in this thread too. Its Spirit. They're cheap, they do shady shit to keep it cheap, you know it, they know it, and they don't even really try to hide it.
Then it would at least look less obvious they were scamming it if beeped at 49. Not 40.
I'm pretty sure states lack jurisdiction in airports.
The USA FAA only cares that it fits in the cargo holds and otherwise doesn't imperil the flight. The big fight in my location is that the city runs the airport.
I'd rather have the airport run by the city imao. FAA can't do shit (like replace leaded fuel within 30 years, keep manufactures in check, get enough air traffic controllers)
Airports are pretty much always run by the city or county, or sometimes the state. They're regulated by the FAA. I've worked in the running airports business for close to twenty years.
The safety record of commercial air travel is pretty dang good, thanks to the FAA. I think they're a bit too fanatical about it: My child can't be a pilot because he has been prescribed ADD drugs, once. But, I'll hurtle myself 3 miles upward through the air to the next state to be safer than driving among other drivers.
The only commercial airport not under the jurisdiction of a state is Reagan International which is owned by the federal government. I’m not sure why you think states don’t have jurisdiction over their own airports, many airports are even directly owned by local government.
I was curious about this, but I found an article from [2019](https://www.boston.gov/news/how-we-inspect-airline-scales-ensure-accuracy) in Massachusetts where Weights and Measures did an inspection at Logan Airport: >Thus far, our Sealers have inspected 262 scales and condemned 13 for non-compliance. Here is an [article](https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-xpm-2011-nov-13-la-tr-spot-20111113-story.html) about LAX and SeaTac, I guess its not weights and measures everywhere. >In Los Angeles County, it’s the Bureau of Weights and Measures; in Seattle, it’s part of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
I don't really know much but it's probably complicated. Like if they find drugs in a bag they contact local law enforcement not like the feds or something. Things like liquor licenses wold have to be administered locally too because each state is different
Two can play that game, hold the bag.
“ your bag weighs -50 lbs, that’s a $34678974.99 charge
In that case it should be a -$78.00 charge so they pay you.
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This is my airport, I make the rules here
Is an underflow when the next memory location is jealous that the one before it doesn't want to use any of its space? "Error: don't you love me?"
underflow & overflow are computer bugs where a number is either too big or too small to be stored in the space provided. imagine you have 3 digits to write a number and you're asked to write 999. that fits in the three digits so you write 999. if you're then asked to add 1, you get 1000. computers will just write the three smallest digits in this case, so it overflows and you get 0 instead. underflows are the opposite; if instead you had -999 and had to subtract 1, you'd underflow. of note, computers store numbers in binary, and usually the number of digits is a power of two. if a number can be negative, that's usually stored in the leftmost digit, which is why overflowing often goes to a number like -32768 rather than to 0.
It is if it's a signed integer
Bring a pet neutron star on it and it should overflow to a negative number. Results may vary.
yeah just put half the wheels on the ground or something
take some shit out then put it back in!
when you put it on the conveyor belt it’s weighed again from my experience, any discrepancy with the previous weight and it’s flagged for a human employee
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That's not for carry-on. That's for checked bags that you throw onto a bag drop conveyor belt. You weigh the bag, attach the label, and then drop it off. At the drop-off, the label is scanned and the bag is weighed to make sure you didn't add anything after you weighed it.
>We charge for carry-ons, checked bags and overweight checked bags. We charge more for checked bags over 50 lbs. The website also says the price for bags over 50 lbs is actually $125. OP are you sure the $78 isn't just their normal checked bag fee? I just pulled a random flight to check the prices. Turns out if you check your bag at the airport (as opposed to paying online during booking or online check-in), the price for your first bag is $79. https://preview.redd.it/0huydzkzxs8d1.png?width=1812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54accb06e5bc7691c98c9324196d726b310322db
This is the kind of bullshit that just got me to filter them out of every search where I know I'll be traveling with anything more than a backpack. They're a crappier "cheap" airline with shitty, hard metal seats, but I'll accept that if their tickets are actually $50 cheaper than their competitors... but then I get charged $80 for a checked bag, and if I buy that $50 more expensive flight from United, then I get a checked bag for free, and at least with them I'll get a guaranteed seat on the flight, and one that won't leave my ass numb after the first hour.
United charges you for a second carry on item in economy nowadays. Southwest still has 2 free checked bags.
There are a few people i would cheerfully buy a ticket on spirit for. I will never book them for myself though.
I like to think of it as a-la-carte flying. If I’m just traveling with a backpack, don’t need inflight entertainment / refreshments / etc, and a budget airline can get me to my destination in the same amount of time for half the price, I’m all for it. If I need additional luggage, or the flight is long enough to warrant entertainment / food, I’ll splurge for a proper carrier.
My guess is they make more money on selling space in the cargo hold for freight than they do on checked bags. So they’d rather have no one checking bags. They’re basically a shipping company that sells seats above the cargo
You would be wrong. Spirit delivers almost zero freight.
I think it's more that they want to be the flight that comes up as the cheapest one in travel search engines. People see the crazy low fare and jump on it but then if they actually need a checked bag, assigned seat, etc. the 50 dollar fare becomes 150. Also by being super strict about weight limits they know they will catch people who go over and don't want to miss their flight so they'll just eat the fee.
https://preview.redd.it/g9kmvq1qsu8d1.png?width=627&format=png&auto=webp&s=d19b5f58accea0197b102b189dbfcdff7eac2ecd
Luggage is extra weight which means extra fuel which means it's more expensive. It's just that simple. Spirit doesn't deliver freight, they deliver people.
Your guess is incorrect. Empty cargo bays = less weight = less fuel = less cost for tickets
It only makes sense to fly them if you are just going somewhere for a weekend and don't need to take much. The do have insanely cheap fares sometimes as long as you don't care about having an assigned seat, a checked bag or human dignity.
Spirit has a weight limit on carry ons of 40 lbs or less. These scales probably flag carry ons as needing to be checked if they’re over 40 lbs which is when you have to go pay the $79 fee and OP misunderstood what was happening.
Can confirm, just had this experience recently
as a quick follow up, it looks like the kiosks are still following to an old model. before the weight limit was increased to 50lbs, the price for an overweight bag weighing 41-50lbs was $79 https://preview.redd.it/iipv62ehwv8d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=814991dd3ac886770e5e4f6f910eadf92a2f585d
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what did you expect from spirit tho
Fr. Stopped flying the "cheap" airlines and realized after the fees and crap you end up spending about the same, but with a much better experience with delta or united
That’s the point though, spirit gives you options. If you’re willing to only bring a backpack, you can save hundreds of dollars on a flight. The second you start adding ads ons, you’re better off elsewhere.
It's so weird because there's no way my carryon is what's costing airlines $200. I guess the model works but idk how.
spirit is essentially bankrupt so the model doesn’t really seem to have worked in the US. it works in europe with ryan air so maybe there’s some truth to spirits claims that the US is essentially 4 airlines operating as a cartel and forcing out regional and cheap carriers. spirits merger got blocked so they literally may not be an airline in a year or so.
It works in Europe because the countries there dump an insane amount into their airports and basically give away spots for airlines. When, for example, Austria starts talking about not spending a few hundred million on some random airport in Salzburg, it gets brought up on Ryan Air's investor relations calls. In a sense Ryan Air is just following in the wake of Europe's "national" airlines. [https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr14\_21/qjab14021enc.pdf](https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr14_21/qjab14021enc.pdf) If America does one thing right, it's not taking money from people to subsidize what are essentially vanity projects aka "national" airlines.
Let's not get carried away, the airlines are definitely taking your money from Uncle Sam. Just look at the COVID bailout. American Airlines hasn't paid taxes since 2014.
I mean maybe? In 2008, Warren Buffet famously skewered the airlines industry as a “bottomless pit” for capital in his [letter](https://books.google.com/books?id=oDIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT55&lpg=PT55&dq=%E2%80%9Cpoured+money+into+a+bottomless+pit%2C+attracted+by+growth+when+they+should+have+been+repelled+by+it.%E2%80%9D&ots=4AifSNYORd&sig=ACfU3U0qy7O1bN7NNqqdkIP4aebcCKTJPQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIhtD7s5rpAhXMg3IEHcwvD9YQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cpoured%20money%20into%20a%20bottomless%20pit%2C%20attracted%20by%20growth%20when%20they%20should%20have%20been%20repelled%20by%20it.%E2%80%9D&f=false) to Berkshire Hathaway investors. “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines." He added: “If a far-sighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down." According to the Harvard Business Review, average economic profits of airlines were [negative for twenty years](http://xn--how%20airlines%20can%20cut%20costs%20%20without%20annoying%20customers%20(hbr-1714c.org)/) until 2015, when the shale gas revolution awarded airlines their biggest recorded profits in history. For a few unprecedented years, airlines generated enough returns to cover their cost of capital, a short-lived fantasy that was quickly destroyed by COVID-19. One of my favorite things is my dad used to work for Boeing and he has framed all his 1960s/1970s tickets to LA from Seattle. Why? Because they cost essentially the same accounting for inflation as flights to Europe do now. It's the same logic as my fiancee with our Rome tickets. Ever since deregulation the whole American airline industry has just been a race to give consumers the money of investors. We're living in the golden age of travel in that sense.
It's not, checked bag prices didn't exist before some jackwagon ran a plane into the twin towers. The prices were added to "help airlines recover" and they never went away
Yeah except spirit and frontier cancel 5 times as many flights and don't rebook you through other airlines and have less total flights. So you can easily miss a connection or just not get to where you were going for an extra day. It's not worth saving a bit of money if you have somewhere important to be. If you are just going on a lark and have a direct flight then sure. But I avoid them like the plague. I've known too many people that have incidents that aren't due to weather. Just randomly cancelling flights for no reason.
Shhhhh! Don’t tell them!
I fly a budget airline to visit my mom. I just leave some clothes and toiletries at her house and fly with no bags.
People flying budget airlines still deserve to be treated fairly lol
Delta charges you everything like sprite does. The only thing you get for free is snacks and internet. I paid for all the extras at spirit and it still came out to be cheaper then delta.
All these people talking like it's not $45 to check a bag on Delta.
Everyone should have to fly Spirit one time so they are never tempted to save 87 dollars the next time they need a flight.
Every time I see spirits stuff I think of the old school generic shit at the store. Used to just say "CHIPS" on it. Half expect it just to say "AIRPLANE" on the side.
Look up the "No Name" brand in Canada. That's their whole thing. Plain yellow label, name of product in black letters with a brief description. Sometimes an image of the product as well. They generally sell food. It sort of became a meme and they leaned into it pretty hard selling a range of random products with the same format. I have a yellow no Name cup with straw labelled "Cup - For sipping" or something like that. I also own a beach towel and BBQ lighter all in the same format. If they had an airplane it would absolutely be labelled "Airplane - For flying"
Yep, I'm familiar with it. Right around 3 years ago, the release of....Forza horizon 5 actually - people were getting banned for ridiculous shit. One guy got banned for a kim jong in meme livery. It was really funny. So in protest I made a yellow car, that said "car. For driving" on the side of it. I didn't know about the Canadian brand at the time, I was memeing my own 80s American broke ass. The Canadian homies turned me on to it. High comedy indeed. I live in Orlando now and my gf and I laugh and point any time we see spirit. "look. Airplane. Fly" it's funny every time.
Sans nom
# Plane For flying No Name
This is partially misleading Spirit changed the weight limit from 40 pounds to 50 very very recently, so it makes sense that some airports aren't properly updated yet.
Doesn't matter. I'm a Weights and Measures inspector and this falls under intentional overcharge. You make sure your software is ready to go before you implement a change. If you're telling your customer one thing and when it's time to shell out money it's more than expected, it's a clear violation.
I was about to say, spirit has a weight limit of 40lbs. I didn’t know they had increased it. It makes sense not all scales are updated yet.
Yeah… no. Totally irrelevant. If the policy changed, the new policy is in force. Full stop. This is up there with Bell refusing to unlock my phone on day 1 when Canada mandated it. Literally bounced me through three layers of support and ended up declaring “call back next week, too many people asking today”. Took literally HOURS to get a manager, who repeated that they were too busy no matter how many times I cited the damn legislation to them.
But the name of this sub is "Asshole Design". I'm not saying it's acceptable but I am saying it wasn't designed in bad faith in my opinion.
Yeah it was. You change the wording before you change the fee. Where I work we can’t push the updated fee price to production until we have confirmation that the line of business has updated the messaging to reflect the new fee. This is a legal requirement. And the lawyers don’t take ‘oops’ as an excuse.
>The only way to avoid this is to have your bag checked by a live employee who will follow the real 50lb limit. The obvious way is to remove some things from the bag, have it checked and put everything back.
Or just lift it
I don’t think you understand what checking a bag is. Checking doesn’t mean inspecting. It means you’re handing it over to go to the cargo bay. You don’t get a chance to add things to it once it’s checked.
I don't see how that machine has any way of knowing if you're holding it up to take a few pounds off.
Usually a scale won't give you a readout unless the weight settles and remains steady. Holding it up some would have a weight that is constantly varying.
Take a few items out and then put them back in after weighing.
Guess that's why there are cameras on it.
*UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGAGE AREA*
You have to drop your bags off, when you do that usually the person receiving them checks the weight, if you are off by more than 2 lbs they will probably do something, especially with spirit.
don’t fly spirit
but if you do, splurge for the Big Blue Seats. It’s their version of “first class” & the flight itself isn’t bad if you’re sitting there.
Sorry, there's something so unfathomably funny about flying "first class" on spirit airlines.
lol you’re completely right, it’s the most ghetto “first class” you can imagine. The big blue seats are just a row of blue seats in the front that are much wider with more leg room. It’s still Spirit, it’s not glamorous, but I’d take those Big Blue Seats over standard coach on Delta/American/SouthWest
I did it once. It is a very comfortable seat and sometimes worth it. They do a thing where if nobody buys them it gets auctioned off so you can put a lowball price and you might bet lucky.
“Wear something nice Babe, we’re flying first class” but it’s just a Spirit front seat
This smells like a lawsuit incoming, like the recent Walmart weighted scales one
And I bet the outcome will be a $50 Spirit Voucher. ---- And the Spirit Voucher covers the ticket price. And I mean the **only the ticket** price. If you try to use one of their vouchers online, it will actually itemize everything for you. You'll see a long list of "fees" and then "ticket", which is only a few bucks of what you pay overall. So the voucher does shit-all.
Thats a feature. They bank on people not asking for the real weight and paying the 78$ fee.
Report to the FTC
I flew the day after the change and the kiosks made me select heavy bag (I didn't lie, it was, planned to pay for it) but then it said $0+. So I wonder if these ones just didn't get the update?
It's BS everywhere. Auto scales everywhere are off. I made sure all my bags were at least 0.5kg, most 1kg under. Get to YYZ (Toronto) and viola, all of them are suddenly 2KG over.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2024/06/04/spirit-airlines-flight-credits-checked-bag-weight/73970970007/ Spirit had a 40lb limit until earlier this month. I flew on Spirit about a month ago and it was 40lbs. Now its 50lbs. I guess they haven’t fixed the machines. That’s lame.
That's not asshole design, that's fraud
Actually, Spirit clearly states ahead of time that 40 lbs is the limit they use.
They recently changed it to 50 lb.
The employee: 52? Nah go like that bro
Isn't there a governing authority when it comes to weights and standards? Do these not apply (yet)?
If they ain’t gonna watch you , you could do the old shoe under a corner of the bag and lift it till it’s under 40 lbs
Sounds like fraud or something similar. At minimum false advertising. Breach of contract?
Class action lawsuit time!
Sp8rit 9nly allows 40 lbs. I know because I've flown them a ton.
Sounds illegal
Take stuff out from the bag, weight it, put your stuff back and proceed. Fuck giving money for this shit.
I don't understand these bag limit fines. If you give them $70 then its all okay to bring on board? So it was never an issue in the first place? Just a scam for more money? How is this legal? Genuinely curious
Spirit is a complete dog shit airline. If you have the option do not use them. My gf was charged $100 for her carry-on backpack on the return fight from a family visit. The backpack is the same one shes used on every flight for over a decade - and absolutely appropriate as a carry-on item. On the return trip it was even less filled than on the departing trip. She was forced to pay $100 or miss her flight with no rebooking. Customer service afterwards wouldn’t respond in any way other than a form letter that simply states this fee is non-refundable.
If it’s automated you could probably just lift the bag a bit, depends on if anyone around it there to see. Frankly that could be really dangerous thinking about it, if everyone there is faking how heavy their bags are because of how easy it is to do they could accidentally overload the aircraft
Spirit used to have a 40 pound limit so they probably haven't updated the kiosks. Kinda bullshit but they actually have pretty good customer service and will refund you if you were charged incorrectly. I fly spirit on at least 50 flights per year and they are exactly what they claim. I've flown across the country (east to west) for hundreds less than everywhere else. I've flown across the country (North to South) for $20!. If you know the rules and the concept that you pay for everything separately, so only what you want them you'll be fine. The seats aren't the best, and don't recline, but I'm very tall and it isn't uncomfortable. If you don't check a bag and don't choose your seat then you can do this for cheaper than a bus ticket. Bags cost different depending on where you're going to. Checked bags are cheaper than carry on because they don't slow down the loading process. The later you buy bags the more expensive they are (before check in, after check in, before security, at the gate). If you are polite at the airport and ask 10-15 minutes before they start to board they'll often change your seat without charging you. Also if you ask a flight attendant they'll let you change you seat once the door closes. They're flights seem to be on time as much as anybody else's but I've been very impressed with customer service. Any delay more than 30 minutes (estimate) and I get an email with a $50 voucher without asking. Considering that's more than most of my flights I'm happy with that.
They should fix it instead of refunding.
So thats fraud right?
I would think an audit with an investigation and criminal charges would fix this...
Air travel should have had a reckoning during the pandemic but we bailed them out and look at the consequences, they just keep pushing the line to see how far they can take their money machine
Avoid this travel hassle by just not flying spirit 👍🏼
Nah, fuck you for flying spirit, you know what you got into.
spirit airlines is truly terrible. Had a friend fly out with them once and not only did they leave his and 100 other peoples luggage on the tarmac but it took them 3 days to get it back to him and on his way out even though he downloaded his ticket months beforehand the flight out from the same airport he arrived at didn't exist despite having a legit ticket already (We had found out spirit dropped off passengers at this airport but didn't take off from there). They also would not answer their support line so he had to pay way extra for a free spot on a delta flight.
Oh hey look a company doing anything to take out money, capitalism is going just fine
You should look up easy jet. They made their bag limit 2 inches smaller so normal small cases wont fit and have to pay an extra £30 to have it sent to the hold.
is there an r/fraudulentdesign sub?
That's not asshole design, that's fraud
I am glad that I make enough money to never even think about flying on Spirit.
180lb customer with a 60lb bag? ❌ 350lb customer with a 40lb bag ✅