An unhinged Frontier Airlines passenger lost all control at the check-in counter in Chicago O’Hare, stepping behind the podium desk to assault airline staff and hurling heavy objects like a computer monitor and keyboard at them.
Frontier Airlines Passenger Attacks Staff At Chicago O’Hare, Using Frontier’s Equipment As A Weapon
This story has made headlines around the world over the last 24 hours, though I saw it first on View From The Wing almost two weeks ago…sometimes it takes a while for these incidents to catch fire.
I chose not to cover it at the time because there was no info about this woman available. No name. No routing. Nothing at all really except the short video clip below:
11 days have passed and there’s still little that has come out, though I don’t expect much more at this point. Frontier Airlines has refused to comment, referring any questions to the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago PD shared:
- The woman was 31-year-old
- She also threw a cell phone, which struck a 40-year-old victim
- During the incident, she also hit a 24-year-old woman in the leg
- She then fled the airport
- No arrests have been made (yet)
Judging by the specific age, it appears the police have her identity, but explicitly stated they have not arrested her. Perhaps she lives out of state, fled out of state by car, and is laying low?
There’s no doubt it stinks to miss your flight, especially on a carrier like Frontier. If I were a betting man, I’d guess she missed Frontier’s strict check-in cutoff (as I predicted). Even so, there is no excuse for this. And what’s up with her husband(?) getting upset that people were recording the incident? What do you expect?!
> Read More: Frontier Airlines Check-In Cutoff Will Not End Well…
Perhaps she has been hospitalized for the time being and hence no arrest. This story has popped up so much, I was worried that a computer beat down was the next trend in air rage.
Many years ago when I was Station Manager for my airline at London Gatwick, I was assaulted by a taxi driver whose passenger missed their flight because he took her to the wrong terminal initially. The lady was screaming at him, I was trying to explain she had to rebook, he was getting flustered and just took a swing at me – helpfully caught on at least 2 CCTV cameras. We rolled around on the floor for a few seconds until we were separated and the police showed up to haul him away.
He eventually pleaded out and got community service and probation – I was asked for a victim impact statement if I wanted to object to this sentence but I was fine with it. I kept getting calls from counsellors asking if I needed any mental health assistance to deal with being a “victim of violent crime” but I passed on that as well. Just another day in the airline business!
If you miss your flight, being polite and courteous while admitting fault will increase the chances of airline agents willing to help you out.
When I first started flying for work, I got caught up in bad traffic going to JFK and ended up missing the cut-off time for check-in by a few minutes. Instead of throwing a fit when hearing this, I was polite and plainly asked if it was possible to rebook me to a later flight. The agent was surprised at my demeanor where she expected me to throw a fit (“Wall Street W*nkers” she called folks from my field who act this way) but I didn’t, and managed to get me on a flight the next day in W instead of in Y.