A reader was refused check-in by Frontier Airlines in Raleigh when they were trying to fly to Boston. They report showing up at the airport counter 50 minutes prior to departure, thinking that’s plenty since they have CLEAR for security and didn’t expect more than 5 minutes to the gate.
There were three things they weren’t expecting.
- Frontier’s check-in rules that require you to arrive at least one hour before departure (they booked through an online travel agency and didn’t know to look for this)
- That Frontier charges extra for a printed boarding pass at the airport
- And that Frontier staff are… a little different than what you find at most airlines. They don’t exude the usual professionalism other airlines expect.
The couldn’t use a kiosk and were told they had to check in at the counter. Initially the agents were happy to help – for a $25 fee. He pushed back, “I’ve never experienced that and they said it’s on their website. I said I wouldn’t have known to look at the website.”
Reaching for his credit card, he mutters under his breath that he’s “never flying this shitty airline again.” Big mistake. The agent helping him shut down, and refused to print a boarding pass. They even threatened to ban him from the airline, to help him keep his promise not to fly Frontier again. Police were called.
Ultimately the airport police arrived and they were extremely polite and professional. I ask them In private if I am being ridiculous And they both nodded their heads empathetically that I was not.
Most interesting to me is that they said this is not going to be the last incident – probably not even the last incident today with Frontier Airlines.
Now he’s stuck with a Frontier ticket he wasn’t allowed to use, and a new $500 charge for a flight on JetBlue 90 minutes later.
It’s interesting they were initially willing to check him in, since officially their policy is to cut off check-in 60 minutes prior to departure. So things started off well! I suspect these agents are so used to customer behavior going off the rails that they are a bit hair-trigger themselves. And Frontier staff do seem more informal anyway!
The passenger reports that he called Indigo Partners which owns Frontier Airlines: “They had a customer service person who works on higher level issues Call me. that person Was incredibly empathetic and professional, and he is looking into this and trying to resolve it.”
How could any passenger be expected to put up with this head-bobbing ghetto attitude. Frontier should have minimum requirements for courtesy and intelligence.
lol frontiers rule is 60 minutes agent was nice enough to make an exception for more than this cheapskate paid for airfare – it sucks. You want full service pay for it! Dont expect special treatment casue you white or jewish or black or orange.
One and only Frontier flight was late night to Vegas. They decided to save money by not having motion-sickness bags(!) Got to enjoy an unpleasant smell from the row behind, and saw one poor woman run to the front of the plane where Frontier apparently stashed the bags! One and done for me, despite the “low” cost!