Spirit Airlines bedlam, day five: Airline cancels half of Thursday flights, bringing weekly total to 1,700+

Spirit Airlines apologized to passengers Wednesday after days of staggering flight cancellations and said cancellations should ease in the days to come as it reboots its operation. Help didn't arrive on Thursday. The Florida-based carrier, which has blamed its operational meltdown on a series of issues, including weather, technology outages and staffing shortages, has already canceled 402 Thursday flights or 51% of its scheduled flights, as of 11:30 a.m. EDT, according to flight tracker… (www.usatoday.com) More...