Fliers say Spirit wouldn't refund Hurricane Irma flights

DETROIT (WJBK) - Flights to and from Florida have been cancelled in anticipation of Hurricane Irma but at least one airline refused to give refunds to paying customers - until angry customers got on social media.

Floridians and tourists alike are getting out of Florida by any means necessary. Blake Wright, originally from Ann Arbor, goes to college in Lake County whish is about 40 minutes from Orlando. He didn't have any issues getting back - aside from the rush of people.

"I've never seen traffic in this town. There was traffic Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, didn't reach it. I can only imagine, where we're at, you can go north and kind of head out. But from what I hear, I think it's I75 out of Florida, is just packed," Wrights aid.  "It's the busiest I've ever seen the Orlando airport."

Wright's out of Hurricane Irma's path and out of harms way, but he has family members who are not.

"I actually talked to my aunt who lives in Miami, and she says she is sticking it out. She's crazy - she has hurricane shutters - I talked to her last night, she said it's the calm before the storm, so she's just preparing, doing whatever she can," he said.

Wright caught one of the last flights out on Spirit Airlines home. Other customers say they've spent the past few days trying to cancel their flight only to be told they wouldn't be refunded.

Amanda Mariani had a trip to Fort Lauderdale planned for this weekend but the St. Clair Shores woman was unhappy when she tried to cancel her flight and get a refund.

"I'm very frustrated, I shouldn't have to go through all of that just to get refunded for a flight that I wasn't on, and no one should be on, that's an unsafe situation," she said.

She said Spirit would only cancel her flight home to Detroit but not the one that flew into Fort Lauderdale. She said the airline also would not give her a full refund.

"So I said to them logically, that doesn't make any sense. Because you're giving me a flight there, but you can't give us a flight back, and you're flying into an evacuation zone - Fort Lauderdale. That's not safe and I don't think anyone went on that flight," she said.

Mariani said the airline eventually did refund her ticket but credited her connection to a Spirit employee.

A spokesperson from the airline told FOX 2 that the airline is giving customers all options including a full refund.