Let's Fix It: Why I'll Never Fly Frontier Again

Please read: I did not write what follows. This is a repost of a Facebook note written by my dear friend, Emily. She felt needed to share her terrible experience with Frontier Airlines. I'm re-posting it here because social media is the consumer's first (and, in many ways, only) defense against corporations that really don't care. Frontier, I'm calling upon you to #FixIt. Give those passengers a full refund.

I know not everyone wants to hear our whole sordid saga with Frontier Airlines, but I had to write it up for our formal complaint anyway. So, for those who are actually interested, I thought I would publish it here, as well. Needless to say, neither Frontier nor Cleveland Airport comes out looking very good. But, I'll let you judge for yourselves. I've removed employees names to protect their privacy online, but be assured that they were included in the complaint to Frontier. I'm sorry for the length, but it was an almost 36 hour experience. Here's my account of what happened:

Ronnie, Althea, and I were on Flight #523 from CLE to DEN, October 14-15, 2014. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 2:05pm and we arrivedthe customary two hours ahead of time. When it came time to board the plane, the gate attendant announced that our flight was going to be delayed due to a “mechanical difficulty.” Although she was seen going back and forth between the gate and plane many times, we didn’t receive another update on our progress until almost4pm. At that time, she said that we would be boarding. We boarded the plane andthen sat at the gate for an hour. The pilot “re-started” the plane (“just like restarting your laptop computer,” he said) to attempt to fix the mechanical problem, to no avail. Then, they had us exit the plane once again and wait some more. Just before 6pm, we were told that the plane needed a new part, which was going to have to be driven from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. It could not be flown in because Frontier has no spare planes to make such a delivery. As a result, we would have to wait until 11pm that evening to make our departure.

Of course, after waiting at the airport since 12pm to depart, many passengers were visibly upset. Rather than say, “I’m sorry,” and show sympathy and regret for the situation, the gate crew at A7 were defensive, sarcastic, and rude. Moreover, they didn’t bother to announce publicly that Frontier would be handing out food vouchers until well after dinner time. As a result, some people got meals at the airport food court, while others, who found out about the vouchers too late, weren’t able to go to get food until after 8:30pm, when the restaurants at CLE had already closed. In addition, the gate crew informed passengers who were seeking other options for flights out of CLE that it would have to be at the passengers’ cost because the flight had not been officially cancelled. They were unapologetic about the situation and complained audibly about our inquiries when we were still within earshot. Most of the passengers waited until 11pm, trusting that the information we were receiving was accurate and we would make our departure at that time.

Most of us waited patiently and good-naturedly for the plane to be ready. Still, understandably, there were a number of folks who were frustrated and angry. But, rather than use communication, practical wisdom, and good hospitality to diffuse the situation, the gate crew contacted the police and we were confronted with two uniformed police officers with holstered guns at the A7 ticket desk. This was clearly an attempt to intimidate passengers into staying away from Frontier personnel. And, this move inflamed the frustrations of passengers rather than ease them. What kind of airlines staff-members would call the police on the very customers they are supposed to be serving? It was incredible.

Eventually, the police officers left the gate, but they were only gone for a short time. Around 11pm, the time when we were told that a decision would be made regarding the flight, Ronnie lined up quietly in front of the counter, leaving about ten feet between himself and the counter. When an employee asked him what he was doing, he replied, “I’m waiting here for the decision on our plane. If the flight is cancelled, I want to be first in line for a hotel voucher. I have a 17 month old daughter that I need to get to bed as soon as possible.” She responded, “The plane is still being worked on.” He said, “It’s almost 11, how much longer is it going to take? When will they make a decision?” She replied irritably, “It’s being worked on, sir. That’s a good thing.” He found this response pretty incredible given how long we had been strung along and responded, frustrated, “Are you serious? You think that’s a good thing? How possibly could us being here since noon, and now it’s almost midnight, be a good thing?” The employee replied loudly, “Here we go again! I guess I need to call the police back here. Sir, I suggest you go sit down.” Ronnie told her, “Absolutely not. I will stand right here and be first in line, either to get a hotel voucher or hear that we are flying home.”

I find it absurd and offensive that his presence waiting for an answer (after three hours had gone by with no communication from the gates taff) was received with such defiance and disrespect rather than understanding and sympathy. Ronnie is almost 40 years old and he’s never had the police department called on him before. The Frontier staff members, who were supposed to be dealing with customers they care about and have been hired to serve, treated him like a criminal in front of his family and fellow passengers. They made a difficult situation 100 times worse by being unwilling to take responsibility for their lack of communication and incompetent response to passengers. They used the police as protective “muscle” to compensate for their incompetence. I was deeply offended by this, especially during a time when US citizens are hearing many stories in the media of police overreach and abuse. It was a completely inappropriate move.

While waiting for the police officers to arrive, the five staff members at the gate were chuckling, murmuring, and giggling audibly about the situation within earshot of customers. At one point, another employee madea comment to a co-worker about Ronnie, which he couldn’t quite hear. He asked her, “Excuse me?” And her response was to dismiss him with her hand and refuse to repeat what she said. At another time, it was clear the employees were making personal comments about Ronnie to each other, joking and laughing just soft enough that he couldn’t hear them. I have never seen customer service personnel treat a customer with such disrespect in my entire life.

Finally, a police officer arrived and addressed the counter, asking them what the problem is. The employee who called the police refused totalk to them and made another employee voice their complaint against Ronnie. He couldn’t hear what the employee said to the officer. The officer then turned to him and said, “Sir, what seems to be the problem?” He replied, “We’ve been here since noon. It’s now almost 11:30. I’m standing here waiting for a decision from Frontier about what they’re going to do. I have a 17 month-old daughter that I would really like to put to bed. I just want answers.” The officer turned around and said something to the gate crew. The employee responded by asking him to stay at the counter: “We had two other police officers here but they left. And then this started up again,” gesturing in Ronnie’s direction, like his presence was a disturbance.

By that time, other passengers began to line up behind him because they too realized that they needed to be in line if the flight was cancelled. In time, the line filled with about 60 people, all of them waiting for information. As we continued to wait, I gave Althea a water bottle to take to Ronnie at his request. When he greeted Althea and had some interaction with her, one of the employees said to a co-worker, “I feel sorry for that girl having him as a daddy,” loud enough for Ronnie and other passengers to hear. When he replied, “Excuse me, what did you say?” No response was given. Later, when I came to the counter to write down the names of the gate employees to include in our complaint, a supervising employee threatened me: “Ma’am, we don’t have to let you board the plane. We don’t have to let any of these passengers board the plane if we don’t want to.” Her co-worker pointed at Ronnie and said, “Like him.” And the supervisor replied, “Right. You don’t want him to board? We can do that.” Not only were they trying to intimidate us with the police presence, they were also threatening to keep us off the plane just because Ronnie was waiting in line for some kind of answer.

Finally, at 11:35pm, the gate crew announced what we already expected: they were going to officially cancel the flight. We would have to stay overnight in Cleveland and return the next day. Instead of spending the previous several hours trying to find out what hotels they could put us in, only then did they proceed to prepare a list of passengers who needed a place to stay. It was almost 1am before we had our voucher and were able to collect our bags from baggage claim. It was 2am before we were finally in our hotel room. It was a really inadequate room at the Days Inn with rock hard mattresses, a bathtub that wouldn’t drain, and a ring of black mold around the tub.

In addition, Frontier Airlines did absolutely nothing for passengers with disabilities or small children. We had to help an elderly man with a wife in a wheelchair to push her across the airport because no one else was there to help. We had to help him get her in and out of the shuttle to the Days Inn. We had to help an elderly deaf woman get to the hotel and then make arrangements with her to use her room key to come in and wake her up in the morning, so that she wouldn’t miss the shuttle to the airport. We had to offer baby food and diapers to a young couple travelling with a toddler and baby who were running out after being stranded at the airport all day. The Frontier employees just left us to fend for ourselves. No hospitality or basic decencywas extended at all.

The next day, our family got up at 6am in order to catch the 7:30 shuttle to the airport to catch our 10am flight to DEN. When we arrived at the Frontier ticket counter, we were told that the plane was still being repaired and the flight was already delayed until 12:00pm. I couldn’t believe that Frontier Airlines didn’t send us any communication letting us know thatour flight would be delayed again. No text update. No email. No phone call. Nothing. We woke Althea up at 7am after only five hours of sleep in order to make it in time. She was exhausted and hysterical and Frontier could have helped avoid that. Having discovered the plane was still not fixed, Ronnie told the counter attendant that we wanted to switch to another flight. There were five seats open in the 2:05pm flight and the attendant switched us over at no additional charge. *This was the only time in our entire ordeal that a Frontier employee treated us with kindness and respect.* Unfortunately, the rest of the passengers who were not able to change their flight ended up waiting until 7:56pm to leave CLE. Even our 2:05pm flight was delayed, however, and we waited until 3pm to leave the terminal.

During our wait in the terminal, the news about Frontier’s involvement in the new Ebola story broke nationwide. There was obvious anxiety and fear throughout the terminal. Even though the new gate staff was respectful, they did nothing to address these concerns with passengers. I actually heard the woman who seemed to be in charge of gate A7 say to employees, “Do not comment on this situation,” in reference to the developing Ebola story. Really, the major theme of our time dealing with Frontier was lack of communication. Even if they had to say that they knew nothing, they could at least have assured us that they are aware of our concerns. But, they said nothing at all. And the fear and anxiety was palpable in the terminal. It didn’t help that six more police officers were present that afternoon, along with occasional visits by homeland security personnel. Many of our fellow passengers canceled their flights and chose to drive to their destination rather than take a plane that might have carried a person infected with Ebola. If Frontier staff had simply answered questions about the matter, such major costs and inconveniences would have been avoided.

Upon our arrival in DEN, we received by email a $150 voucher for our troubles for use on a future flight with Frontier. But, there will be no future flight with Frontier. They have lost us as customers for life, as well as our extended family (and I’m sure, many of the passengers aboard flight #523). We have never encountered such incompetence, disrespect, and disregard for passengers from an airline before. Not only have they stooped in recent months to charging passengers for every little thing they can (including carry on bags that no crew member ever touches and crappy coffee for $1.99), but they have shown through this experience that the airlines is not equipped to handle mechanical failures, nor has the airport staff been trained to deal with customers properly in such scenarios. Clearly, Frontier would rather save a buck than treat their customers, who put their lives in their hands every day, with care and respect. We will never fly Frontier again.