DETROIT — Unionized flight attendants with Spirit Airlines Inc. on Tuesday picketed outside Detroit Metropolitan Airport, demanding the Florida-based low-cost carrier uphold its end of their contract by providing hotel accommodations and better communications in the event of cancelled flights.
Spirit Airlines canceled more than 30% of their flights nationally earlier this month along with other major airlines amid severe weather in the southeast United States, airspace congestion and technology issues. It was Spirit's fourth mass cancellation since August, according to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which leaves both passengers and crew members stranded, even for days.
"It's very frustrating," said Deb Crowley, a flight attendant for 24 years and president of the Spirit AFA Local 76 representing Detroit and Atlantic City, New Jersey. "They have nowhere to go, no hotel to stay in. We've had flight attendants sleeping on floors being stranded for 20 to 30 hours."
