Spirit's first flight to Philly from Dallas landed in A.C.
The first group of passengers on a new Dallas-to-Philly Spirit Airlines route didn't get to meet the mayor as planned on Thursday. They didn't even land in Philadelphia.
City leadership and airlines executives had planned on welcoming travelers at Philadelphia International Airport before delayed Federal Aviation Administration paperwork axed the flight Thursday. Instead, passengers were flown to Atlantic City and bussed to Philly.
"The Philadelphia authorization has taken longer than expected and today marks the first time that an inaugural flight has not operated as scheduled," said Spirit spokeswomen Misty Pinson, adding the airline followed the same procedures with FAA paperwork as it had in adding service to dozens of new airports over the past 14 months.
Spirit informed passengers of the change in Dallas and issued refunds.
"We're very pleased with how they accommodated the customers," said PHL spokeswoman Victoria Lupica, noting that the airport doesn't deal with the FAA paperwork in question.
A message left last night with the FAA was not returned.
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