A Frontier Airlines passenger flying from Philadelphia to St. Louis via Orlando showed up at the gate but she had no seat assignment, and the flight was overbooked. Three gate agents announced they were oversold by 10 and – despite offers of vouchers up to $800 – didn’t get any volunteers.
Passengers without seat assignments included: an African American family/group of 8–10, ~5 Hispanic passengers, a White male, a single African American man, an Asian woman traveling with a child accompanied by a White female, and another woman of Indian descent.
The gate agents got seats for an Asian woman and her child and an African American group of “8-10” passengers. However, Kusmin Amarsingh says she didn’t get one, and was told to sit and wait, because she’s obviously Indian.
After the flight department, she says that gate agents became “irate” and ordered people to sit, even half an hour later. She says the lead agent mocked an Indian accent while yelling at the other Indian woman that didn’t make it on.
- Everyone was promised a refund plus $400, she says
- But when she was processed her only option was a refund or rebooking
- And she never received any compensation.
She’s suing for $15 million, because she was out $1,000 and had to travel a day later, missing a family reunion and because she alleges this was the result of racial discrimination rather than Frontier utilizing the cheapest possible contract ground agents. I’d dismiss damages for arriving a day late. She was connecting on Frontier.
The passenger is an attorney and she represented herself. Her case was dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim. According to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals,
- Even if she was ‘mocked’ by the gate agents, she didn’t demonstrate that she would have been boarded but-for the discrimination. She lacked an assigned seat, so she was one of the last ones accommodated. And the agents tried to keep a large group together. Furthermore, the agents boarded passengers who weren’t the same race as them (plus, they bumped someone that was).
- Her appellate brief contained seven fabricated case citations. She blamed ChatGPT.
- She was ordered to pay Frontier $1,000 and was ordered referred to her state’s attorney for discipline.
The incident occurred June 13, 2023, but this week she asked the Tenth Circuit to reinstate her case against Frontier, saying they simply misunderstood her and didn’t get that the gate agents mocked her Indian accent and denied her boarding.
Airlines generally go by who checked in last. Considerations would be a child(ren) and a family, an UM, someone that is disabled, etc. If she had checked in at T-24 she likely would have gotten a seat and no problem. You should not be compensated for being dumb.
Yet another example of the US needing real air passenger rights regulations, so that when passengers are overbooked, significantly delayed, or canceled by the airline, they get refunds or rebooking and baseline compensation. $400 does seem reasonable. Why they didn’t pay is odd.
As for the using AI to be your lawyers, that’s not great way to win your case, but it’s something.
@George Romey — Nice speculating based on nothing, and anti-consumer sentiments, like usual.
Uh oh. View from the Wing hacked?
@ Joshua K
Haha right! Does Gary write porn on the side?
Caught my attention 😀
It sounds like she created the situation to make some money. She is a lawyer so she cannot claim low IQ. Maybe last minute booking on an airline known to overbook. No attempt to check in as early as possible online. Refused a voucher for probably a lot more than the seat cost. No described attempt to get to her reunion using another airline. Carefully put together story about being made fun of because of being Indian. Using an AI program to make up fake citations when AI is known to fake what it presents. Personally I think the whole situation was fabricated.
The good old FAA Rule 240 referred to an old, pre-deregulation federal regulation (FAA Rule 240) that required airlines to rebook passengers on any carrier’s faster flight if their original flight was delayed or canceled due to the airline’s fault Note: “airline’s fault”. Weather, force majeure and the like were NOT covered. However, lack of crew, maintenance issues, etc. were covered. It has been replaced by the airline’s “contract of carriage”. How many have actually read it?? Read it and weep. I love the fact that her license to practice law has now been referred back to her state’s licensing board. I didn’t know that “Cracker Jacks” had law licenses in the box. That’ll teach her!
@jns “She is a lawyer so she cannot claim low IQ.”
Uhhhhhh………. That’s an unsupported statement.
Also, I feel she shouldn’t have had any further punishment. Folks, she was headed from Philly….. To St Louis….. via ORLANDO……on Frontier.
Seems to me like having to live the life she made for herself is punishment enough. Might even reach the threshold for “cruel and unusual”
Why do I feel like she went Karen on them when she didn’t get on the flight and perhaps doesn’t even understand all of what happened? I’m thinking the money was likely offered but she was still demanding the impossible and knew that accepting it precluded other solutions.
I don’t know the schedule that day, but 52 weeks later there are 5 nonstops between PHL and STL. Or you could connect in DTW or ORD, but MCO?
@Win Whitmire — We really need Rule 240 back, and a true air passenger rights scheme that’ll compensate affected passengers properly. Travel insurance helps but it isn’t enough sometimes. Currently, we’re mostly getting screwed with little recourse these days. *sigh*
@L737, @OtherSteve, @Joshua K, @paul — Uh oh. What’d I miss?!