Spirit Airlines Won’t Refund Dying Veteran’s Ticket

Florida resident and 76 year-old Vietnam war veteran Jerry Meekins recently purchased a ticket from Spirit Airlines to visit his daughter in New Jersey. But soon after he bought the ticket, his doctors informed him that he is dying from esophageal cancer and that he shouldn’t fly. Meekins thought he’d ask Spirit if he could get his money back: “I said, ‘What’s the possibility of getting a refund?’ They said, ‘We don’t do that.’” Meekins added that he “offered them all of the confirmation from my oncologist, from hospice, even my pre-paid funeral package. They didn’t want to look at any of it or hear about it. They just wanted to keep the money.”

A spokesperson for the airline told the local NBC affiliate that they won’t be refunding Meekins’ ticket:

“Our reservations are non-refundable, which means we don’t do refunds and we are not going to issue Mr. Meekins a refund. We offer our customers affordable travel insurance to cover a variety of unexpected circumstances that may arise and many of our customers choose to take advantage of this option.

“We receive many requests for refunds every day for similar situations. It wouldn’t be fair to bend policy for one and not all. We will not make customers who follow the rules pay for those who don’t. It’s just not fair.”

Watch the report:

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Meekins said that now it’s not about getting his money back. “My primary goal is to have them change their policy of a blanket coverage of no refund,” he said.