Spirit Airlines to offer roomier seats

Spirit Airlines is pressing ahead with a customerservice campaign by planning the installation of new seats with more legroom and better fits for the backs of passengers.

The Miramar-based discount airline, which says it is making better service a top priority, says each seat aboard its fleet of 135 Airbus jetliners will have thicker padding and better support. Middle seats will gain an inch of width.

The airline’s so-called “Big Front Seats” at the front of each plane — which are compared with other carriers’ business travel seating — also will get an upgrade with the installation of headrests and memory foam cushions.

The company said it will dispose of its small tray tables for bigger ones and will switch the colors of its cabins from navy to the black-and-yellow scheme that appears on its planes’ exteriors.

Bobby Schroeter, vice president of sales and marketing for the airline, said in an interview Tuesday the new seating scheme will start with the arrival of newly purchased planes in November. Through 2020, Spirit expects to take delivery of two planes per month.

The company also intends to retrofit the planes now in its fleet, he said.

“We’ve identified 40 of those that will happen in the near term,” he said. “We anticipate moving fairly quickly over the next year

or two.”

One of the busiest airlines at Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport, Spirit operates 135 Airbus jetliners.

The new seating program is part of a broader campaign begun last year when senior management, amid fanfare that involved a party atmosphere at company headquarters, signed a public pledge to upgrade the airline’s customer service.

One key objective: improve on-time performance. The airline says it now ranks fourth in the industry, citing U.S. Department of Transportation data.

For years, the discount carrier’s service was widely panned by customers and travel critics. They cited indifferent agents, poor ontime performance and the sale of services a la carte that critics felt negated the company’s discount fares. Spirit charges fees for printed boarding passes at the airport, customer requested assigned seating, on-board beverages including water, large carry-on bags and checked luggage.

In a federal court lawsuit, 22 passengers alleged Spirit knew that online travel agents such as Cheapoair, Priceline and Travelocity hid bag fees customers would have to pay at the airport. Spirit countered that its tickets spelled out the provision that passengers could take a carry-on aboard its planes for a fee.

The suit was dismissed by a New York federal judge last November. But Tuesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan revived the suit, ruling that there was no evidence Spirit notified the passengers of the bag fees.

Schroeter declined comment, saying the airline does not discuss litigation.

But as an overall proposition, he said, the airline is paying close to attention to customer comments and preferences.

“We continue to listen to our guests,” he said. “We send surveys to them and we’re trying to improve our product.”

Earlier this summer, Spirit announced a new app that allows customers, via text message, to book flights, ask questions and troubleshoot problems with live agents.

And Schroeter said Spirit is testing a “self-bag drop” service that would allow passengers to check in their bags without the assistance of an agent. The system is currently available in Las Vegas, NV., and will soon make an appearance at LaGuardia Airport in New York.