ROMULUS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Spirit Airlines employees who just got the ax are trying to navigate a new reality after the company shut down abruptly this weekend.
Many are in the process of filing for unemployment and wondering what comes next.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
The Spirit ticket and check-in counter at Detroit Metro Airport is a ghost town.
Dayneen Daniels and Latasha Green spent their Monday afternoon at Michigan Works in Wayne. They weren’t checking in for a shift. They were filing for unemployment benefits. Both are former Spirit ticket and gate agents.
While the airline has faced financial turbulence before, they said this final descent caught them completely off guard.
“I thought of it as nothing. I’m thinking we’ll be fine. I go to work Friday, Saturday no work,” Daniels said.
They said the realization didn’t come from a manager or a memo, but it came from watching the news.
The pair said they didn’t receive an official notification until just before noon on Saturday, well after the headlines had already broken the news.
“I’m just thinking how am I going to take care of my son. That’s mainly what was on my mind," Green said.
While their source of income has disappeared, the bills haven't. Daniels said she's turned to crowdfunding and started a GoFundMe while she works to land a new job.
“I did start applying for other jobs. Aviation jobs, customer service jobs, secretarial skills job, different jobs like that," Green explained.
Daniels said, “We actually loved our job. We loved working for Spirit. We loved dealing with all the different customers, people from all walks of life.”
Previous coverage: Spirit Airlines shuts down, leaving Metro Detroit travelers stranded and employees jobless
“I loved it. Honestly, I was ready to go to work every morning,” Green added. "And I’m really affected by this. Like that really hurt my heart."
The heartbreak is shared by those who spent their careers in the cabin. Sherri Mercier was also at Michigan Works trying to navigate a complex unemployment system while processing the loss of a 12-year career.
“We had some of the best passengers. We had some of the most amazing people,” she said. “I had gotten in from working 12 hours, a red-eye and I couldn’t take my uniform off. I cried all day, and it wasn’t until about 8 o’clock that I finally took it off because I knew that was the last time."
For flight attendants, the "start over" is particularly daunting. Decades of seniority and pay scales effectively evaporated overnight.
“My friends that are now family, they’ve been here 20, 25, 28 years and it’s just, we’re flight attendants and starting over, you start over at the bottom," Mercier said.
As employees fight to be paid for accrued paid time off, she said they've been told they will only receive pay for time worked.
