A Puerto Rican family who were traveling from Los Angeles to visit relatives on the island were denied from boarding their Spirit Airlines flight because their toddler did not have a U.S. passport – despite the destination being classed as a domestic flight.
The frustrating incident occurred on April 25 at Los Angeles International Airport when Marivi Roman Torres, together with her husband Luis, and their two-year-old son Alejandro were hoping to travel to Puerto Rico to visit relatives
Upon reaching the check-in counter, an agent asked to see the family’s passports.
The Torres family explained that Puerto Rico was a U.S. territory for which passports were not required in order to travel there.
The Roman Torres family who are Puerto Rican and hoping to travel from Los Angeles to visit relatives on Puerto Rico were denied boarding after they were told they needed passports
The Puerto Rican family traveling from LA to visit relatives on Puerto Rico were denied boarding after they were told they needed passports and their toddler did not possess one
‘At first she told me this is an international flight,’ Roman Torres said to CBS News. ‘I told her no, Puerto Rico is not another country. It is a U.S. territory.’
Both Luis and Marivi had their passports and handed them over but when asked for their young son’s identification, they explained that the child did not yet have one.
The family were told that they were unable to travel and given the option of either a refund or to reschedule their flight once they had acquired a passport for their youngster.
They asked to speak with a supervisor but their demands were essentially ignored as the trio faced staff who showed a lack of flexibility and empathy with their situation.
The family attempted to explain to check-in staff that Puerto Rico was a U.S. territory and the flight was not international but staff didn’t listen; the family opted to travel JetBlue
‘Is there anyone else I can talk to? Can we call customer service together?’ Torres pleaded with check-in staff.
‘There was no empathy. There was just walls,’ she explained.
Feeling at a loss, the family went to a neighboring JetBlue counter who confirmed that no passport whatsoever was required to travel to the U.S. territory.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and the island Puerto Rico is not an international destination.
Despite tickets at the last minute being a lot more expensive, the family decided to buy a new set of tickets on JetBlue ensuring they were still able to reach the island later that same night.
The family ultimately decided to fly with JetBlue and managed to arrive later that same day despite having to pay more for their tickets
Spirit Airlines, which operates about 25 daily flights to three destinations in Puerto Rico, has since apologized to the family acknowledging that a new agent at LAX had misunderstood the identification requirements.
‘In this specific case, an agent at LAX who is new to the position misunderstood the identification requirements. We are providing the agent with additional coaching and reiterating proper procedure,’ the airline wrote in a statement.
‘We sincerely apologize to our Guest and their family for the inconvenience, and we issued a refund for the tickets and provided them with future travel vouchers.’
The airline refunded their original tickets and provided them with travel vouchers for the future although the family say they have no intention in attempting to travel with the carrier again.
‘I do not feel like I’m going to book with Spirit anymore. I think that my trust was broken there on something that should not have happened,’ she said.
Ben Schlappig who pens the OneMileAtATime blog said Spirit’s conduct does not shock him.
‘I’m not surprised that a single Spirit Airlines agent might have not known that Puerto Rico is in the United States. I mean, they should know, given how many flights Spirit has to Puerto Rico, but people make mistakes, and you’ll always find some frontline agents who are misinformed.
‘What’s much more shocking and puzzling to me is how a supervisor was called, and how they doubled down on what the initial agent said. It’s understandable if one person is just horribly misinformed, but it’s inexcusable that at a station as large as LAX, not a single person could get involved and solve this situation.
‘Unfortunately I often find this to be the case, where one agent seemingly covers for another. You get wrong information from one person, and then another person doesn’t want to correct their colleague. It’s especially bad in this situation, since the agent was allegedly new,’ Schlappig said.