[Blindtlk] Fw: [Travelandtourism] Spirit Airlines is no longeraccessible using speech [Incident: 120307-000422]

Fri Mar 30 20:54:51 UTC 2012

Reese,

Great advocacy on your part!! Good for you!! It appears as though 
Spirit Airlines is trying to make some kind of excuse for their 
inaccessible Web site, and are politely dismissing the complaints 
which you have filed with them as having no real legal backing.  
After all, blind people can't possibly know the law, right? 
Spirit Airlines has people to investigate this; just trust them! 
But the problem is that these legal "experts" work for the very 
company which is the subject of your complaints.  So it is only 
natural that they will try to find some law or regulation to 
cover their you-know-what's.  Maybe the DOT doesn't require them 
to make their Web site accessible to us, but a law that 
supercedes any DOT regulation, the ADA (passed by Congress and 
signed into law by the then-President in 1990,) that does.  In 
short, this response by Michelle of Spirit Airlines, in my 
opinion, boils down to this: "The DOT doesn't require us to make 
our Web site accessible, and therefore your complaint has no 
legal precedent.  As far as we can tell, we're following the law, 
so screw all you blind people!"

Chris Nusbaum

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 5:7

Sent from my BrailleNote

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Reese" <atlanticstar1 at gmail.com
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
 sent: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:55:57 -0400
Subject: [Blindtlk] Fw: [Travelandtourism] Spirit Airlines is no 
longeraccessible using speech [Incident: 120307-000422]

Please circulate this message where ever you feel its 
appropriate.

----- Original Message -----

Hello list:

Here's the final word from Spirit Airlines regarding there 
inaccessible
website.  It will follow my final reply to them.  Again the US 
Department of
Transportation has dropped the ball on this one just like they 
did with the
accessible airport boarding.

Reese

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peachtreetravel.net" <reservations at peachtreetravel.net
To: "Spirit Airlines" <spiritair at mailnj.custhelp.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Spirit Airlines is no longer 
accessible
using speech [Incident: 120307-000422]

Dear Michelle:

First I want to thank you for researching this serious matter 
both for me
and all of the members of my Organization.   Regretfully I'll 
have to inform
the 50,000 members of my organization to do business else where 
until Spirit
Airlines website is accessible once again.  For this is the only 
way to
achieve fare and equal access.

I will check back from time to time to see if true access ever 
returns to
spirit Airlines and will keep my members up to date.  It has been 
good doing
business with you and hopefully we
can resume doing business again in the future.

Sincerely yours,

Maurice P Shackelford

----- Original Message -----
From: "Spirit Airlines" <spiritair at mailnj.custhelp.com
To: <reservations at peachtreetravel.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 9:38 AM
Subject: [Travelandtourism] Spirit Airlines is no longer 
accessible using
speech [Incident: 120307-000422]

Subject
---------------------------------------------------------------
[Travelandtourism] Spirit Airlines is no longer accessible using 
speech

Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
 (Michelle 62611) - 03/27/2012 09:38 AM
Dear Mr.  Shackelford,

Thank you for your patience as we investigated this matter 
thoroughly.

We sincerely regret that you are unable to access the check box 
for the $9
Fare Club membership and or the check box at the end of the 
booking.
However, this is not a violation of DOT's disability rule.  
Please be advised
that airlines are governed under the Department of Transportation 
and their
disability rule, 14 CFR 382, and are under no legal obligation to 
provide an
accessible website.  We are required, under 14 CFR 382.31(c), to 
disclose
web-based discount fares to any prospective passenger who 
contacts the
carrier via other normal channels for inquiring about fares, 
making a
reservation, or purchasing transportation (e.g.  telephone 
reservation line,
airport ticket counter) and states that he or she has a visual 
impairment
and is unable to use the website.  The carrier must sell a
web-based discount fare to such a person if his or her itinerary 
qualifies
for the fare as it is offered on the web (e.g., same cities and 
dates).

Our IT Department has reviewed your claim and they have informed 
me that
they changed the boxes on our booking path to styled check boxes 
which don't
work in the browser types you've attempted to use.  The change 
was made
nearly a year ago and this has been the first complaint brought 
to their
attention on the matter.  They are reviewing options to allow 
these types of
browsers to work with the needed functionality for our customers 
with visual
impairments.

I regret that I cannot offer more information on the matter, but 
thank you
for bringing this to our attention.

Please note, if you ever encounter problems when traveling with 
us, feel
free to ask our Spirit Airlines customer service personnel for a 
Complaint
Resolution Official (CRO).  Our CROs have been specially trained 
and are
aware of applicable Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and 
Department of
Transportation (DOT) disability regulations.  Our CROs are 
available at all
airport locations and will be glad to respond to your concerns.

We trust we have addressed you concerns in a satisfactory manner; 
however,
if you choose to pursue enforcement action, you have the right to 
contact
the Department of Transportation, in accordance with ACAA and DOT 
rule 14
CFR Part 382.

Please feel free to contact me if you ever require assistance.  
We know you
have a choice in air travel and are grateful you choose Spirit 
Airlines.

Sincerely,

Michelle 62611
Disability Specialist/
Corporate Escalation Officer
Spirit Airlines

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