Spirit Airlines loses Ypsilanti man's wheelchair, customer service experience goes viral

Nour Rahal, Detroit Free Press
·4 min read

Spirit Airlines lost an Ypsilanti man's wheelchair during his flight home from Las Vegas, and the process of getting it back was frustrating, to say the least.

"It's about the most absurd thing I thought would happen, and it happened," said Soloman James, 54, who suffers from spinal fusions and has been using a wheelchair for six years now. "It's just a nightmare being disabled and knowing that when you start going onto an airplane, you're acquiescing to a loss of independence. And by the airlines not having a real system in place to protect my wheelchair, I'm also continually in fear that I won't have a wheelchair at the end of the event."

Solomon James, 54, has been in a wheelchair for six years. On May 2, Spirit Airlines lost his wheelchair during a flight from Las Vegas to DTW. His customer service experience with the airline, trying to get his wheelchair back, went viral on Reddit.
Solomon James, 54, has been in a wheelchair for six years. On May 2, Spirit Airlines lost his wheelchair during a flight from Las Vegas to DTW. His customer service experience with the airline, trying to get his wheelchair back, went viral on Reddit.

Family trip turns sour, trends on Reddit

James, his wife and two kids were visiting his mother in Oregon and penciled in day in Las Vegas on both sides of the trip to attend the Omega Mart exhibit his son has been wanting to see.

Before each flight, James took his wheelchair down the skybridge that leads to the airplane door, got into a transport wheelchair that is small enough for the plane, and was pushed to his seat while Spirit Airlines workers stored his wheelchair. When the family of four landed back at Detroit Metro Airport on May 2, James was told his wheelchair was not there for him to be transported back into.

"Not only is it humiliating to not be able to leave an airplane and be the last one waiting while everyone says you can't find my wheelchair, but also physically uncomfortable and an amazing loss of my independence," James posted on Reddit, documenting the lengthy experience of recovering his lost wheelchair. "It doesn't just affect me, but my whole family … that was with me and had to basically turn me into a piece of luggage and wheel me from place to place. I couldn't even wheel myself! Your transport wheelchairs don't allow for that."

Each message in the Reddit thread was sent through Spirit Airlines' customer service chat feature, which James was recommended to use. But the workers James came in contact with did not know how to help him find his wheelchair, he said. Instead, he was asked to call multiple different numbers and was redirected or put on hold for hours at a time.

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The thread has more than 2.3 thousand points and 224 comments as of Tuesday morning. Many wheelchair users and family of wheelchair users related to James' situation — stating that they also worry about flying for this exact reason.

Although the incident caused a great deal of discomfort and ruined his family trip, James said it will not deter him from flying and being adventurous.

Solomon James of Ypsilanti with his wife and two children. Solomon has been in a wheelchair for six years. Spirit Airlines lost his wheelchair during a flight on May 2. His customer service experience with the airline went viral on Reddit.
Solomon James of Ypsilanti with his wife and two children. Solomon has been in a wheelchair for six years. Spirit Airlines lost his wheelchair during a flight on May 2. His customer service experience with the airline went viral on Reddit.

After not receiving help from any of the Spirit Airlines resources, James submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection division, formally starting a complaint against Spirit Airlines.

"All airlines don't suffer this," James said. "It seems obvious that you can make a system where you won't lose a wheelchair mid-flight. It seems like that's not an impossibility if you stop treating the wheelchair as if it's just a suitcase, and I want that to happen."

Wheelchair appears without any communication

James spent two days unable to leave his home and hours on hold with Spirit Airlines before his wheelchair was suddenly dropped off at his side door on May 4. A person who had multiple wheelchairs in the back of their car pulled out James' missing wheelchair, knocked on his door, and left it there, James said. No signature or verification was needed.

Even after receiving his wheelchair, James and his wife continued to receive automated messages for four days from Spirit Airlines, stating that they are still searching for it.

James said Spirit Airlines' corporate disability specialist supervisor finally reached out to him on Monday to apologize for the mishandling of his wheelchair while it was in their care. All automated messages have stopped since.

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According to James, the supervisor said the department is currently investigating his recent experience by gathering reports from various management teams — he will receive a thorough response on why Spirit Airlines' current system failed him, and what will be done to improve wheelchair users' experience, once the investigation is complete.

Spirit Airlines also offered James and each family member a $300 future travel voucher that is applicable to any Spirit flight.

Spirit Airlines did not respond to the Free Press for comment. View your rights as an airline passenger with a disability here. Information on Spirit Airlines' accessibility services can be found here.

Contact Nour Rahal: nrahal@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Spirit Airlines loses Ypsilanti man's wheelchair, goes viral on Reddit