A passenger claims Frontier Airlines denied her boarding, with gate agents telling her that she was not guaranteed a seat because she did not pay for a seat assignment in advance. That’s some serious misinformation, not that you can do much to counter it in the moment.
Denied Boarding On Frontier Airlines For Failing To Purchase Seat In Advance? No, That’s Not The Policy
Like many Frontier customers, a woman decided she was not going to pay in advance to reserve a particular seat. Instead, she would wait for check-in or the gate to assign a seat, saving the money.
When she checked in, she was still not assigned a seat, which is not necessarily cause for concern. Sometimes only premium seats are left (extra legroom seats or emergency exit rows) and those are assigned at the airport.
At the airport, passengers without seat assignments were paged at the gate. She proceeded to the podium, thinking she would receive her seat assignment. But instead, the following conversation ensued:
Agent: “Yeah, we don’t have a seat for you on this plane.”
Passenger: “I literally paid two to three hundred-whatever dollars for this flight. What do you mean I don’t have a seat on this plane?”
Agent: “When you were booking your flight, you didn’t select to pay for a seat; therefore, you’re not guaranteed a seat on the plane.”
She claims that she and two other passengers were booted off. Furthermore, Frontier Airlines refused to provide hotel or meal vouchers, instead simply telling them to return back the following day.
In a video posted to TikTok, below, she wonders if Frontier Airlines was allowed to do deny her boarding for not paying for a seat.
@therealpwizz has this ever happened to anyone before??? #flighttips #frontier #frontierairlines #frontierairlines #traveltok #flighthacks #travelstory
The answer is NO. This sounds like a classic oversell situation and in that case, Frontier Airlines is on the hook for reasonable hotel and meal accommodations, plus cash compensation equal to 400% of the one-way fare (up to $1,550) for an arrival delay of more than two hours.
It’s not too late to collect this.
Those who do not pay for seats may be the first to be booted off in case of an oversell, but the idea that you are not guaranteed a seat on the plane is absurd. If that were the case, what is the point of buying a ticket?
CONCLUSION
Frontier Airlines offers an excellent value proposition when things go right…I enjoyed a very smooth trip last autumn. But when things go sideways like a flight delay or oversell situation, all bets are off.
But if you are bumped off an oversold flight, keep in mind you do have certain rights. That may not help in the moment, but it should ultimately help you collect compensation for the delay.
screenshots: @therealpwizz/TikTok
Overbooked ?
OH! ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! Looks like Frontier just lost MY business for life, plus the business of EVERYBODY i ever come into contact with! I will ensure I spend all my free time in conversations that have anything to do with flight tmake sure NOBODY I know will fly frontier again!
Because of someone on TikTok? lol don’t believe everything you read or see online. There’s 2 sides to every story. Perhaps she was in the wrong or this situation didn’t even happen to begin with. People will do anything for a TikTok like. Perhaps she is being totally truthful , but also perhaps not.
Question, when something like this happens, whether by Frontier or any other airline, how does one go about getting what they’re entitled to as compensation?
That would have been a more useful purpose of the article. I also would love to know.
I’ve worked with gate agents and when there’s an oversold flight they try not to advise you of all of your compensation. They might pay for a hotel for you. But in this case with Frontier they are just liars. They are on the hook and I would contact the DOT if they don’t. If this is true and they told her to just “come back tomorrow” when you still don’t have a seat, then this is horrible customer service.
Same thing almost happened to us. We arrived at our assigned gate and we’re confused as the destination was wrong on the gate. From the time we went through security and made it to the gate, the gate had changed and we ended up having to dash to the other end of the. Rather large airport and barely made our flight that was getting ready to close the gate. You have to check the flight info on the boards.
That’s a IDB. I hope someone helps here smoke Frontier for the comp they owe her.
Haha, Frontier announced a humongous expansion. How can they expand when they piss off all their passengers until they have no more passengers willing to fly them? Insane!
I hope she gets the $1,500 and the vouchers. I’m almost 60 years old and the one thing that hasn’t existed in this country for about the last 30 years is customer service.
Standing room only. The future of air travel.
Frontier Airlines is the absolute worst. They cancelled the rewards flight I bought and refused to immediately refund the unused miles. It was months before they were refunded. No other airline does that.
It is legal to take collateral from the airplanes, such as the smoke detector. It is NOT illegal.
More clickbait drivel.
They’re required to pay compensation but accommodations are NOT required. You even linked to the DOT page and still posted misinformation ♂️
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This is why I always discreetly record conversations with airline personnel, my supervisors, bosses, etc. If nothing bad happens I can just delete it. However, if something bizarre as this happens then I have proof and evidence. We can’t tell if she’s telling the full truth rn, I have seen the oversold card get thrown about when the passenger simply showed up after boarding closed.