Spirit Airlines recently flew into a big public relations disaster. Sticking to a no-refunds policy, the airline refused to refund the airfare of a passenger who had to cancel his trip after finding out he has terminal cancer. Then social media took off with Spirit’s reputation at its mercy. The incident unearthed earlier cases of Spirit’s difficulty handling customer complaints. A couple of years ago, CEO Ben Baldanza hit “Reply All” on an email from two customers who had missed a concert due to a delayed flight. Essentially, he told his employees and (accidentally) the customers themselves that Spirit Airlines didn’t owe the customers anything and the customers would be back the next time they wanted low airfare.

 These examples are proof of just how tricky it can be to properly navigate customer complaints.

 …