Everyone knows how Spirit is. If you choose to fly with them, you get what exactly what they say - nothing. If that's not what you want then book with another airline. My DH had a flight booked with them on Sunday - a short jump to Tampa. The weather was crappy and our plans got changed. He could now fly out earlier. Spirit said 'too bad' and wanted to charge more than his ticket to cancel the flight. So DH paid for another ticket on a different airline, didn't pay to cancel the flight, and that was that. He knew what the deal was going in.
I feel bad for the guy, don't get me wrong, and it would have been nice for Spirit to compromise a bit, but that's not what they sell. And it is true - once an exception is made, everyone one wants one.