Frightened Passenger Diverts Flight To Houston [VIDEO]

Usually, when I hear a horrific story about an escapade aboard an airliner, I'm on the front line of bashing the carrier until it limps away in shame, but in light of the shananigans that recently happened aboard a flight that was diverted to Houston, in addition to the airline offering recompense to to its passengers, this time I am defending the carrier's position.

Check out this video, then I'll explain my intriguing stance in standing up for Spirit Airlines.

When you fly a low cost (discount) carrier, you need to be knowledgeable on the routes they fly, along with the timetables in the cities they serve.  For example, if you're going to Las Vegas, while a carrier like Spirit may allow you to keep more gambling dough, if there is a pre-flight, or in-flight issue keeping the plane from departing or diverting, then your life may be drastically uprooted.

In the case of the people aboard the Spirit jet going from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale, a diversion in destination, along with FAA mandates for crew working hours, plus landing in a market not serviced by the airline, added up to a nearly full day of going across the country.  In this case, not the airline's fault.

The airline industry will always have its share of upheaval, so do your own due diligence when making travel arrangements.  Let me put it another way.  Once I was in Dallas on an American flight with equipment problems forcing a last minute change in aircraft.  Although the delay was two hours, it could have been an all day affair if I was holding a Spirit ticket.  Simply, not enough planes in the fleet, and not enough employees to cover emergencies.

By the way, this does not imply that I would not fly Spirit Airlines.  I have flown them twice, and was pleased both times (not an endorsement, simply a statement of fact).  While a considerable inconvenience occurred, Spirit did make good on future air accommodations.  That's commendable , considering they were not required to do so, because the situation was considered an air safety issue.