( CNN ) -- Spirit Airlines gets slammed for charging fees for almost everything except the air we breathe . ( Although that fee could be coming soon . ) The airline revels in its reputation as a super-low-cost carrier willing to take its lumps , so much that it launched an air travel State of Hate survey over the summer to share the hate air travelers feel about airlines as a whole . Almost 30,000 travelers filled out the survey in just a few days , in exchange for 8,000 Spirit reward miles . It turns out that travelers ' hate was n't only directed at Spirit , according to the airline 's own survey . Passengers are mad at most U.S. airlines . `` I think if any organization asks for feedback , you would expect the vast majority of responses would be directed at the company that seeks it , '' Ben Baldanza , Spirit 's president and CEO , said in a statement . `` But in this case , we were surprised that most consumers chose to share their frustrations about other airlines . '' World 's worst airport in 2014 is ... What do customers hate ? Air travelers are most upset about airline seats ( 20 % ) , followed by lost bags ( 16 % ) , delays ( 15 % ) and service ( 15 % ) , Spirit 's survey found . Fees came in fifth place ( 12 % ) . Spirit does n't get most of the blame in its own survey . Southwest Airlines gets the most complaints about seats ( 36 % ) , followed by United Airlines ' service ( 22 % ) , American Airlines-owned US Airways ' delays ( 22 % ) , Spirit 's fees ( 18 % ) and Delta Air Lines ' costs ( 11 % ) . `` Airlines mess up , and air travelers get frustrated , '' Baldanza said . `` The feedback we received makes it clear no airline is immune from upsetting their customers , and at Spirit , we can do a better job of explaining how flying with us is different . '' Spirit 's cheerful defense : Pay for what you want on your flight , and do n't pay for what you do n't want . The airline 's new This is Spirit 101 campaign shares the details of how to reduce those fees , including paying for checked luggage from home and printing your boarding pass at home . It 's true that passengers from the Americas ( including the United States ) are unhappiest in the world , according to a recent passenger survey from the air transport communications company SITA . About 28 % of travelers from the Americas report major levels of dissatisfaction with their travel experiences , compared with a global average of 22 % . But really , it 's about Spirit . It 's a good effort by Spirit to lump complaints about its fees into the conversation about Americans ' growing resentment of most U.S. airlines . But really , most customers blame Spirit by a wide margin . Spirit ranked No . 1 in customer complaints about U.S. airlines filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation every year from 2009 to 2013 , according to `` the Unfriendly Skies , '' a U.S. PIRG Education Fund study of five years of government data . Spirit received nearly three times as many complaints as the next airline during the study period , the report found . And Spirit has been hit with $ 565,000 in fines for violations of consumer protection laws involving deceptive advertising , baggage and oversales .
Spirit Airlines finds travelers hate something about most airlines . Comment: Spirit ranks No . 1 in a recent study of airline passenger complaints .