Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Many Western New York passengers head to Rochester to fly Spirit, but could their spirits be dampened with the low cost airline's bankruptcy filing?
AAA's Elizabeth Carey says Spirit Airlines does not fly out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport or Niagara Falls International Airport, but does fly out of Rochester.
"We do see some people that are enticed to head over to Rochester, very nice airport there take advantage of these low cost flights that Spirit does offer to places like Orlando and Fort Lauderdale," said Carey in an interview with WBEN.
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Spirit's bankruptcy should not affect upcoming flights, according to Carey.
"It's business as usual, so the traveler shouldn't notice a thing," she said. "Things will be happening on the back end, where they're trying to restructure and take care of all these financial problems."
But one of those problems could be a delayed or canceled flight.
"If a flight is canceled, the government says the traveler entitled to a refund, but it might be more difficult to obtain a refund with the company filing for Chapter 11 and being in bankruptcy court. They might say, 'Oh, they try to give you a voucher in place.' You might use your credit card company to try and get a refund that way," Carey advised.
Carey says it's a tough time for low cost carriers like Spirit.
"They were trying to merge with Frontier Airlines, and Frontier backed out of the deal left them struggling with these financial issues. They had also tried to merge with JetBlue a few years back, and that didn't go over," Carey said.
She adds a lot of travelers do take advantage of the low cost fares, and want to use these low cost carriers, but it's hard for a small airline to get up and off the ground.
Carey anticipates other airlines to pick up Spirit's slack, if it does go out of business. She says about 6 million people are expected to fly for Thanksgiving.