One pilot claimed that Spirit's cancellations were due to insufficient infrastructure.One Spirit worker stated that flight attendants were left at base for several days.According to some reports, workers drove food to the airports and allowed employees who were left behind to stay at home.Loading... Click to sign up for Insider marketing emails. You also agree to receive partner offers.Spirit Airlines cancelled over 2,000 flights last Wednesday due to bad weather, system outages and staffing problems.According to two Spirit staffers, some pilots had to fly empty planes throughout the country, while others were left with flight attendants for days."If you don't have the ability to track and see where your crew members are in the IT system, how can you plan to get them moved anywhere?" Insider spoke to a flight attendant who had been stranded for four days in a major Northeastern metropolis.She said, "It was like being lost"One pilot claimed that Spirit's operational problems were due to the airline's inability to invest in infrastructure. He said this was evidenced by staff shortages, old phone lines and crashed computer systems.He said, "They're trying run an airline with 167 planes on an infrastructure designed for 50."The employees requested anonymity in order to talk freely about the situation. However, Insider verified their employment and identities.Pilots claim that some Spirit crew members flew longer than the maximum flight time allowed by their employment contracts. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), requires that pilots have at least 8 hours rest in a 24-hour period. Union negotiations have resulted in stricter policies for most airlines.He stated that Spirit's irregular operations allowed pilots to waive contractual restrictions to avoid additional flight cancellations or delays.Insider was told by he that most pilots he spoke to were willing to waive to keep the planes moving and flight from being cancelled.The spokesperson for the pilots union stated that they cannot support the claim crew members flew beyond their contractual time limits because they do not have access to scheduling software.Insider did not reach Spirit to request comment on this article.Many staff were left stranded at airport hotels after crew members' flights were canceled. The technical glitch that affected Spirit's crew scheduling system was partly responsible for this.Insider was told by a flight attendant that around 30 Spirit employees, including her, were left outside the base for several days. She said that one employee drove for over an hour to deliver food to the crew, while local flight attendants offered their homes to workers so they could stay the night.Insider was told by the pilot that two of his flight attendants disappeared while he was flying a plane to Boston. The flight was canceled. He was soon greeted by six flight attendants at an airport restaurant, who informed him that they were stuck and had no idea where to go. After contacting the company for several hours, they received no guidance as to what to do next.The pilot then flew the empty aircraft to Boston.The pilot stated, "From my perspective as a human being I walked through the gate area and I observed people there with their children, they're leaving beach vacation, they have sunburns, their little ones, their luggage, and their strollers,""It is 10 o'clock in the night, and we're cancelling a flight because two flight attendants are missing. Spirit did not manage their staff properly for the flight, and the engine didn't fall off.Spirit CEO Ted Christie apologized last week for the cancellations and stated that he would fix scheduling and staffing issues. Only 1% of Spirit's flights were cancelled on Wednesday, a decrease from the 60% cancellation last week.Christie said to CNBC that there were "certainly some angry people" last Thursday. "Right now all I can do is say that we are very sorry for the events."
