Spirit Airlines’ $6 Security Line Skip Option Is a ‘Complete Sham,’ Class Action Lawsuit Says [UPDATE]
Last Updated on March 12, 2020
Roman et al v. Spirit Airlines, Inc.
Filed: June 12, 2019 ◆§ 0:19cv61461
Three consumers claim Spirit Airlines' $6 "Shortcut Security" option to skip the general security line at some major domestic airports is worthless.
Case Updates
Update – March 12, 2020 – Parties Ask to Stay Discovery Pending Ruling on Consolidation
The parties involved in the lawsuit detailed on this page have filed with the court a joint motion to stay discovery. The March 4 motion comes as the court considers whether to consolidate the lawsuit with a related matter, Guzman v. Spirit Airlines, Inc. et al.
According to court papers, Florida’s Southern District Court erased the existing scheduling order for this lawsuit after holding a hearing and “receiving the positions of the parties in this case and the Guzman matter.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit detailed on this page subsequently filed a motion to stay Guzman, while Spirit filed its own motion for judgment on the pleadings.
“To conserve the resources of the parties and this Court, Plaintiffs and Spirit have jointly agreed that discovery should be stayed until such time as the Court adjudicates the pending motions and enters a new scheduling order,” the parties requested.
We’ll keep you posted with any new developments.
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Three Florida residents have sued Spirit Airlines, Inc. over the company’s allegedly fraudulent $6 “Shortcut Security” option, calling the offer that purportedly allows customers to skip the general security line at designated domestic airports “a complete sham.”
“Shortcut Security” is Spirit Airlines’ apparent alternative to the TSA’s PreCheck service, which allows those who pay a fee to skip the general population security line at more than 20 domestic airports, including Orlando International Airport. According to the case, Spirit is the only airline that offers a security line-skip option, and thousands of customers have opted to pay the company’s $6 fee considering how chaotic security lines can be at any given airport.
The plaintiffs argue, however, that the reason no other airline offers such a service—and the reason why Spirit offers theirs for so cheap—is because there is actually no way for travelers to skip the general security line at the Orlando International Airport. According to the plaintiffs, who tried to use their Shortcut Security access at the Spirit Airlines terminal in Orlando International Airport, “the TSA agents at the airport laughed when they tried to ask where the Spirit line was located.” In fact, a Spirit Shortcut Security does not even exist at Orlando Airport, nor at other airports at which the company claims to offer a security line pass, the lawsuit says.
Unlike the TSA, Spirit Airlines, the complaint says, “has no ability or authority to bypass the security line.” Despite its lack of authority to handwave customers through airport security, Spirit nevertheless continues to offer the Shortcut Security option on its website and at airport kiosks as a “uniform and repeated practice” that the lawsuit avers serves only as a “repeated profit center” for the airline.
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