While I had a seamless and positive experience on Frontier Airlines, my wife and children just endured the opposite: customer service so bad that I was almost in shock. Did you miss your flight due to bad weather? Oh, you can buy a new ticket according to Frontier…
Horrible Customer Service On Frontier Airlines
The concept of “you get what you pay for” is not lost on me, but neither is a reasonable expectation of a minimum level of service that includes safe transport to your destination. No, I don’t expect a comfortable seat or great service on Frontier, but I do expect to fly from Chicago to Los Angeles if I book a ticket from Chicago to Los Angeles.
My wife Heidi and the kids were flying from Chicago (ORD) to Burbank (BUR) via Denver (DEN) this week (the day before the fires…). The tickets were 60 USD each…1/4 of the cost of flying nonstop to LA and Burbank is closer to our house than Los Angeles International.
It was snowing in Chicago and that delayed the departure of their first flight, a creeping delay that grew in 15-minute increments eventually to 2.5 hours.
By the time they took off from Chicago, it was 8:30 am. They were due into Denver at 9:47 am with a connection to Burbank departing at 10:00 am. I knew it would be tight, but thought there might be a chance if the flight made up some time in the air.
Nope. The flight touched down at 9:45 am in Denver, but by the time it reached the gate, the Burbank flight had pushed four minutes early.
It happens…so far, so good. The weather delay was certainly not the fault of Frontier.
But what came next…
The Frontier app offered no rebooking options (it essentially showed them as being onboard the Burbank flight) and the customer service line was three hours long.
I directed them to the nearby Capital One Lounge and told them I would take care of the rebooking.
Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
After the app failed, I reached out to Frontier via X. Take a look:
(TLDR: only the airport can rebook you)
I’ll address the phone issue in another post.
How is it possible, in 2025, that an airline cannot rebook you?
That online support and the reservation number are totally impotent to help?
Next, I reached out to Orbitz. I buy Frontier tickets through Orbitz because tickets booked on that online travel agency often have a courtesy cancellation period to void the ticket beyond 24 hours.
Wait till you see this:
So according to Frontier, if I miss a connecting flight due to a weather delay, I have to buy a new ticket.
Asking my wife to stand in line with a four-year-old and eight-year-old to rebook is truly absurd. One customer support desk (This customer support desk). One agent. Hundreds of stranded travelers.
I told Heidi that I could buy three walk-up tickets on United for $484 each or she could wait in line.
My analytical wife crunched the numbers and said she would wait in line.
She did and by this time (after a couple of hours in the lounge), the line was only about an hour long.
I told her to ask to be booked on the flight to Orange County, which departed in about an hour later and had seats available.
After finally reaching the front of the line, the agent said, “That flight is full. There are no seats available.”
Heidi laughed out loud (oh, how I love her).
And then she said, “It’s not full. I can buy a ticket on it right now.”
Without another word, the agent rebooked them on that flight and handed them boarding passes…
There you have it…customer service on Frontier.
Smooth sailing from here, right?
CONCLUSION
The weather delay was not Frontier’s fault but talk about a disgusting and needlessly complicated ordeal to get rebooked that included misdirection, lying, and incompetency.
Caveat emptor: when things go sideways on Frontier, they really go sideways…
Predictable . Better to have bought the original tickets on a regular airline such as UA .
Sounds like a frustrating travel day. Glad they made it back in the end.
I’ve flown Frontier quite a bit, and personally I wouldn’t book a connection unless absolutely necessary (actually, have never booked a connection). In some ways, the most remarkable part of the story is that there were reasonable rebooking options to work with after the misconnect.
FWIW, I’m not sure I see any misdirection or lying… just a system that is completely unable to handle misconnects other than with an airport (or phone?) agent’s help, and even then they often need hand holding to get the desired outcome.
I’m just flabbergasted that reservation agents cannot re-book.
Did you reach out through social media? In all likelihood, you got customer relations or similar and that’s not reservations (not excusing that – they should be able to then work internally to get a resolution).
For what it’s worth, I’ve been rebooked over the telephone by Frontier. Twice last year (both times I flew Frontier). I just called 1-801-401-9000 (which comes up in my phone address book as F9 Reservations) and got a “Thank you for calling Frontier Airlines…” automated voice. If you go to Frontier.com and click Customer Service, it’s also right there on the page. You do have to put in your PNR and info before it lets you speak to an agent because it verifies if you are a.) traveling within 24 hours or b.) an elite.
I’m familiar with the reservations system that Frontier uses (several others use it too). Once the first leg has boarded, there is only one way to change the city pair routing and that’s the IROP tool. I would not be surprised if Frontier has it locked down to only certain user profiles because it will let you literally move a flight to any city pair on any date without collecting any fees or difference in fare. This is how some F9 agents got arrested for theft/fraud – sell someone a $20 ticket for a flight in a month, pocket $40, and move their flight to one today going somewhere else. It’s a quirk of the system and it even goes back to AirTran using it… but there were audits for exceptions.
Not sure what you got on that number but I got Frontier.
I called 1-801-401-9000….what a joke that was. I’ll do a separate post on this tomorrow.
That said, your explanation makes sense…it doesn’t excuse it…but it makes sense.
Ah, okay. Yes, doesn’t excuse, I agree. But was curious on the phone number as you said in the messages in your post it wasn’t Frontier. I’ve gotten someone likely in India on that line, but with Frontier. Not the most helpful and usually reading from a ridiculous script I don’t care to hear (about how they understand people travel for many reasons and it can be disappointing when things do not go as planned blah blah blah) but they’ll take specific instructions. “This flight is late because of your fault. Put me on this alternative flight.” They also aren’t flexible until you hit the exact timings for their parameters. Like no refund once when it was a 2 hr 57 min delay because the script says 3 hours.
They are lying to you. They were able to do it for me last year. They are trying to get business travelers. Good luck with that. The only reason I fly them is I fly out of Denver.
Where’s Mayor Pete when you need him?
Secretary Pete runs the Department of Transportation and not Frontier Airlines.
But don’t worry, Trump will fix this mess with Frontier after he ends the war in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, slashes the grocery prices that his administration caused to go up so high, cuts everybody’s taxes, and balances the budget.
All of which will happen within the first 100 days of his final term.
Yeah, and Ukraine within 24 hours… x_x
“The flight touched down at 9:45 am in Denver, but by the time it reached the gate, the Burbank flight had pushed four minutes early.”This infuriates me and it is typical of Denver. They know your wife and kids were coming from a delayed flight. They knew that flight had landed. They knew they should be on their way to the connecting gate. Why not wait a few minutes, make an announcement on the airport speaker system, call her phone? Disgusting.
Now, as for saving money by flying Frontier, I get it. But I also don’t want to gamble. My son who is in College asked me to book his flights for upcoming Spring Break to come home. Options were Delta or Southwest for $100 cheaper. He wanted to book Southwest. I booked Delta since I am the one paying. He asked why? I will tell him to read your post above. No matter how bad the big 3 are, at the end of the day, they are still better than any budget airline when it comes to customer service (at least in the case of my son that has status with Delta).
“In some ways, the most remarkable part of the story is that there were reasonable rebooking options to work with after the misconnect.”
and Santastico’s comment I agree with 100%.
We are travelling with another family for vacation this spring and much to their annoyance, I refused to fly Frontier as my vacation time is more important to me than the $500 total savining. (AA with multiple direct flights daily versus Frontier’s once a day) They were free to fly Frontier and meet us at the destination. They choose AA.
@Heather: I never book budget airlines in the US but have been tempted to book them in Europe since sometimes they fly to smaller airpots that are more convenient. But some of the reasons you brought up are simply way too risk much for me to handle. For example, Ryanair and EasyJet sometimes have 1 single flight every other day to the destination. Once small problem and the flight is cancelled or delayed and you ruin weeks of vacation since I usually visit different cities and have hotels confirmed and paid. I have seen horror stories of flights being cancelled and suddenly you are stuck for days without a way out. So like you, I will always pay up to fly a decent airline with more than one flight a day to the destination and usually more resources.
Frontier closes the gate at 15 minutes to departure. Unfortunately landing at that moment, not knowing what time would get into the gate, how long to deplane, etc., doesn’t give many options. Frontier’s weight and balance system requires everyone on board and they have to physically verify seats (they are changing it from what I hear, but that’s another must-be-approved-by-FAA thing so has been “in progress” for some time) – the flight attendant has to walk from back to front tapping on each occupied seat on a map of the plane in an app.
It’s never quite as simple as the plane left 4 minutes early. A minute later they could have had a plane behind or told to hold for inbound traffic and push 2 minutes late. When it comes down to those sort of margins, saying “if this minute weren’t used for this, then it would have been used for this” isn’t a fruitful exercise. If they’d pushed 10-15 year then they’d have clearly closed the gate ahead of the contract of carriage time (pulled a Delta by moving up the departure time).
That’s another reason to not fly them mainly if you have a connection.
Maybe its just me wondering, but what were you trying to achieve by continuing to ask questions once the agent told you that they were unable to assist you online?
Because I did not believe the agent. Just like the DEN agent told my wife the flight was sold out until she pushed back…
I look forward to an update on your lawsuit against Frontier. Please keep us informed.
That became unnecessary when Frontier agreed to rebook my wife and kids to SNA, muttonhead.
Fly United to Burbank from Chicago–end of story
I wish Breeze or Avelo or someone would start a nonstop flight.
Funny that F9 has the opposite approach from UA, which has boarded up its airport rebooking centers and tries to force you onto the app during IRROPS.
Also, “Ken, Dwight, and Clark?” It’s like they hand their offshore agents a 1950s comic book and ask them to pick a pen name.
For sure … all Indians doing customer service.
On January 4, 2025 I had a flight booked on frontier.
Due to the snow expected in the Northeast, I booked a flight to NJ prior to the storm. I have Platinum status with Delta and travel with a trained service animal. (Belgium Tervuren) I booked the flight under the 48 hr time frame, therefore I would need to bring the DOT form to the ticket counter to add WSD to my ticket. This is uneventful at the major airlines when I’ve had to do this before. However, I was a bit concerned about how Frontier would handle it due to their customer service is more like hunting dogs – that can smell blood. What I mean by that is- Frontier Airlines agents have a history of withholding customer service whenever they get the opportunity to do so. The last thing you want to do is ask for their assistance regardless of what it is. Even something that is protected by federal law – yes, they can willingly screw that up too.
I enter the Mco airport. I walked over to the right where one agent was working with a couple. I assume this was their “Special Services” line. I waited in line. My dog waited with me as she normally does. She stands next to me. She was previously owned by member of the armed services. She has some Special Operations training. I say this because when she stands in line it’s from her previous training that she will face backwards instead of forward. This is her protection training kicking in. She is guarding me from behind as I face forward. Yes, it does look odd to people that are not aware of the type of training she has had.
Anyway, when it was my turn to see the agent, I greeted him with a hello and handed him the DOT form that needed to be added to my reservation. The agent waved the form away and said he would not be able to help me and that he is only handling rebooking of flights. There was no one in the line behind me, I was the only person standing there that needed assistance and the agent still refused and and said I had to go to the other lines. I then said that all I needed was a note in my reservation that I was traveling with a WSD so that the crew are notified… I had the DOT form which I’m required to have with me. There wasn’t much to my request and the agent still refused. ( all Frontier Airlines employees working ticketing and gates are CRO … this agent should have added the WSD to my reservation, yet they chose not to)
So, I walk over to the entrance to the other two lines. I speak to an agent standing at the entrance and I asked which line I should enter. The response I received was “ what ever one you want” I said thank you and entered the line on the right side. I moved through the line with my WSD as it moved pretty quickly. Once I was to the front of the line I told my son to pay attention to the agents. I told him that he will see them all become busy with the customer they are currently helping so that they won’t have to be the agent to help me. Sure enough, one agent picked up their phone. The agent that did become available- he shut down his computer and walked away. I told my son that is typical behavior when having to check in with agents because they don’t want to check in a WSD. As we were waiting we saw an agent become available. He didn’t pull from the line I was standing in. He called the customer standing in the line next of me to the left. When another agent became available, this agent did the same as to avoid calling on me. Finally, after three agents avoided calling on me, the woman all the way down on the end of the ticket counter yelled NEXT. When we arrived down to her position she waved me away and said to go to the agent that was next to her. I found this interesting that this agent was available yet they didn’t call us over. Once in front of the agent I gave him the DOT form and asked for my WSD to be added to my reservation. The agent looked at the paper and asked what it was. I said, it was the required DOT form that I needed to have added to my reservation. I was then handed back the form and told that I needed to send it to reservation in advance and that they don’t add it at the ticket counter. At this time I could see the agent wasn’t aware of what the form was and they didn’t know the particulars of how it works. I explained that when a reservation is made under the 48 hour timeframe that a customer may have the form added at the ticket counter prior to the flight. I explained that the form is a federal requirement to fly with a WSD and is from the DOT. That I am required to have it signed and provide a copy to the airline. The agent then told me I had to do it at the gate – just go to the gate and get it done there. This is when I explained that I would like to take care of adding the form here at the ticket counter prior to arrival at the gate. The flight was full and the gate agent will be busy handling gate functions. Since the agents work all areas it shouldn’t be an issue adding the WSD at the ticket counter.
The agent again refused my request and said that they couldn’t do it. This is when I said I really don’t want to go to security and then to the gate only to be sent back to the counter. The agent again refused and said that they wouldn’t add my WSD to my reservation and to go to the gate and ask the gate agent to do it. Since I was getting no where with the agent at the ticket counter… and now this is two ticket counter agents that refused to add my WSD to my reservation. I advised the agent that I would be following up with what has occurred because having the ticket counter agents refuse to add the WSD is a Bree h of their own policy. As I left the ticket counter and was walking towards security… I was called back by someone that waved me back and said the ticket counter agent wants to see me again. I was relieved that I was being called back because I was hopeful that there was now an agent that will add my WSD to my reservation.
When I returned to the counter I wasn’t greeted kindly.
I was greeted rudely by a female agent who asked me what my problem was. I told her ai wanted to have this required DOT form acknowledged and my WSD added to my reservation. The woman didn’t take the form from me. She kept her hands in her pockets. She then asked me the two questions: is this a service dog- I said yes. What kind of service dog is your dog- I said she is a medical service dog. The woman agent then said “ok well I am denying your dog”
I was stunned. I then asked to speak to a supervisor. She replied, “ I am the supervisor “ and she laughed. I then shared with her that my WSD flies frequently on Delta, United, JetBlue and she has a clearance till July 2027. The woman said she didn’t care and she was denying me. I asked for what reason? She stated because she can and she laughed again. She asked again why kind of service dog. I reconfirmed medical alert dog. The agent laughed and said yeah well you’re denied. I asked for what reason again? The agent stated because of her behavior the dog isn’t behaving. Now, this is when I realized that this woman was being unfairly targeting me because my dog was perfectly behaved while we were waiting in line. This woman was discriminating against me because as she said “she could”
I asked to speak to a CRO. She laughed again and said she was the supervisor AND she is a CRO. She also said that all the agents are CRO. I asked to speak to the LEAD CRO and she wouldn’t let me speak to anyone else. My son then asked if it was possible for us to speak to another agent. The woman said no. That when my son said that I would file a complaint with the DOT. The agent laughed and said that fine and I will just say you cursed me out. I was shocked when she said that because she said it with such confidence. I then asked her if she knew what the DOT complaint was. Again, the agent laughed and said she didn’t care and that she is still denying my WSD. Then she quipped “ I’m a GSC also”
Now when she said that …. I thought that was really odd. Most customers would not know what a GSC is.
I’m not sure why this supposed supervisor would be offering up that information. What she should be more concerned with is she was breaking federal law and she was jovial about it. The GSC I’m aware of what that is. That’s not something that she should be sharing with me. Adding my WSD is not a security breach therefore her being a GSC didn’t apply in this situation.
I decided to walk away knowing that I could follow up with a DOT complaint. The agent I initially was working with handed the 800 number (the one you called to try and resolve your wife’s travel issue) to my son. I also attempted to contact Frontier via the text chat. Completely a form of self abuse for anyone who attempts to call the 800 number or use the chat.
I was told they couldn’t refund my ticket because the Supervisor On Duty denied my WSD. Even though she did it as a Cover their A@@
I have multiple photos and videos of my WSD traveling with me. I have videos of her in the Delta Sky club of all places laying in a corner of the club in order to be respectful to other guests that may have allergies or are afraid of dogs.
What that frontier agent did is unacceptable. I ended up with a flare up of my medical condition and suffered for two days of pain that was avoidable.
Frontier could be the best in the business if they would train their staff to achieve customer service. It’s not that hard of a job to be kind and helpful.
As I said, they smell any type of blood (you needing their help) and they will go in for the kill because no one hold them accountable.
I’m holding them accountable with the formal DOT complaint and a demand letter from my attorney advising them they’ll be sued for this experience.
This was a controllable situation. They had their fun at my expense and now they will see how the law works .
MCO have cameras that record everything. It’s all on camera and it’s possible the audio at the ticket counter was recorded as well. This is a property of GOAA.
Thanks for sharing.
OMG did you actually read that? Not enough time in the day…..
@Michael: +1. Not reading that much, I will wait until it becomes a Netflix series. LOL
“I told Heidi that I could buy three walk-up tickets on United for $484 each or she could wait in line.”
Seems kinda scheissy to put her in that position when she’s juggling the kids,
Matthew, Frontier is an ULCC as you know, and operates its IT systems along that vein. They are TICKETLESS 100%, even in the case of their codeshare with Volaris. That is the key point you have to remember here. It does not work the way a legacy system does where the flight segment and ticket are detached from one another and associated later on. A legacy system can rebook a flight segment without issuing payment (I.e. ticket), ticketless systems do not work that way,
The revenue follows the flights, so when a flight segment is checked in, Role settings prevent reservations agents from modifying segments in the PNR. The revenue is attached to the journey, and the complete journey can only be modified/broken up by the DCS (check in system) with a move transaction to a new flight. That is the short condensed answer to your situation, but needless to say there are more complicated reasons behind the scenes of why this is the case.
But I sympathize, I don’t fly Frontier since their switch to text/chat only customer service. It’s absolutely atrocious.
How likely is it that the online “agents” were even human beings? This is exactly why I don’t engage in conversations with AI.
Have to ask… you fly first class domestically quite a bit but booked wife and kids on 6am departure with a stopover in Denver on frontier?
My wife would kill me (noting she just flew Singapore economy in the middle seat from Singapore to Sydney after I’ve taken a million business class seats on points)
Ha. You forget I married a German. I gave her the choice and she chose Frontier…
Bet that won’t happen again! 😉
She did love the CapOne Lounge in DEN, though.
Let us know if Frontier responds with a “mea culpa” based on your web posting. I’m sure they monitor more than X . Standard protocol is to throw points or miles at these situations to soften the blow.