Spirit Airlines played a big part in the brawl

Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled during the past week after Spirit Airlines sued its pilot union for being “engaged in a pervasive illegal work slowdown.” Frustrations boiled over for passengers in Fort Lauderdale, and a brawl ensued.

For years, airlines have underpaid pilots. Going beyond that, these pilots didn’t cause the chaos. They weren’t even there. And to blame a union as a negotiating tactic is just wrong. William Worsham

Well, it’s totally wrong for frustrated passengers to take it out on Spirit’s employees who had nothing to do with the cancellation. Mark Grudt

The airline unions have been using these delay tactics for years to enhance their bargaining power. They inconvenience the customer to advance their own agenda. Henry Huckaby

I feel bad for the employees. Airlines are terrible at communicating problems to passengers, and the customer service employees catch the brunt of it.

Even if I accept Spirit’s statement that the pilots are causing the problem, that doesn’t absolve it of the responsibility to keep passengers informed in a timely manner. David Smith

You buy a ticket from the worst airline, you might just experience the worst.

Every time I look for airfare, Spirit and Frontier are immediately eliminated from my consideration. Charles Wallace

Unions’ ability to disrupt business is the main reason why most non-union people dislike and do not support unions. Don’t pretend that the pilots have nothing to do with this. John Lowry

Good for the pilot union. Carriers using passengers as leverage to get the pilots to keep working no matter how badly they are treated is ridiculous. Steve Daniel