Why don't you get anything when the airline cancels your flight and puts you on another airline? On the way home from my business trips, I used to volunteer to get bumped when planes were overbooked- I always got something out of it.
If the airlines compensated people for that sort of thing, they would have to charge more for the tickets in the first place. At which point, another player would come in, not compensate people, and offer lower air fares. Most customers buy airline tickets based on price, and would choose the airline which did not offer cancellation compensation. Thus, the "nice" airline is undercut out of the marketplace.
They do compensate people for that. I was just on an overbooked flight that was offering volunteers, who would drop out, $400+ in credit and a hotel room if they couldn't be placed on another flight that night.
EDIT: I was referring to the overbooking policy, not cancellation :)
That's been my experience. This winter the weather has been horrible in the northwest, and so several of my flights have been cancelled. And the airlines wouldn't give me anything since it was weather related. Whereas recently I volunteered to skip an overbooked flight, and ended up getting a free roundtrip ticket, meal vouchers, and a ticket on the next flight out.
Yeah, but why would Spirit's flight have been cancelled? It wasn't weather. I think they cancel due to underbooking. I guess they figure they'll pay for your ticket on a nicer airline, which should be worth something.
I wonder how long they can continue to do that. With all of the varying fees for baggage, 2 extra inches of legroom, early boarding, a sandwich, excessive fatness, excessive flatulence, etc.-- it's getting difficult to figure out how much the fare is going to be.
