While Kyle and his family may have had a good experience on Frontier Airlines, I’m not touching the airline with a 10-foot pole. First they throw off a senior citizen for complaining to his daughter about a long delay. Now they throw off a 12-year-old after failing to collect the unaccompanied minor fee until the child had boarded the flight and it was too late.
A 12-year old was returning from Tampa to Cleveland after visiting his grandmother. The trip out to Florida went smoothly, but the return trip turned into a nightmare because of a mistake Frontier Airlines made.
The ticket was booked through a third-party website and the boy’s parents thought they had pre-paid the unaccompanied minor fee. Apparently Frontier did as well, because they issued his boarding pass, allowed him to board and sent his grandmother home.
But during the final flight reconciliation Frontier discovered that the fee had not been collected. Rather than take personal responsibility for its mistake, it removed the boy from its flight after failing to reach his parents.
Offensive Statement from Frontier Airlines
Frontier responded with an offensive non-apology:
We apologize to the parents for the inconvenience and confusion they encountered while their son was traveling with us last week. There was a customer service failure during this child’s travel experience with us in Tampa. At the time Frontier made every effort to contact the parents to notify them of this issue regarding fee collection in the absence of a guardian with the child at the airport. We have coached airport team members and ensured compliance with Frontier policy regarding unaccompanied minor travel.
Here’s the problem: a guardian was at the airport and was sent home. Furthermore, what kind of non-logic is this: oh, we forgot to collect the fee but now we’ll strand a minor at an airport because he doesn’t have a credit card on him?
It’s shameful insanity.
CONCLUSION
Scott Kirby counted up many reasons why he believes United can beat Frontier at Denver. What he failed to mention was the absolutely atrocious service Frontier offers. United may win the most egregious customer service award for 2017, but is at least penitent and has modified its customer service policies. Frontier, on the other hand, shows a total lack of common sense in both recent stories that has me skeptical of my own onboard safety…
Image: Frontier
(H/T: VFTW)
This…. would never happened in air koryo!!!
Oh man! I can hardly breathe from laughing! Best comment of the year! Well done, sir….well done! LOL!
This airline is a perfect investment opportunity for QR. It would serve as a perfect example of what customer service behaviors would get the employee instantly dismissed.
The times I’ve put my son on an airplane as an unaccompanied minor, they required the guardian at the departure airport to stay on the premises until confirming the plane was airborne. I assumed this was in case the plane didn’t leave for whatever reason, so I could take him back home rather than him being stranded at the airport. Does Frontier not have that policy?
(In fact, at my little podunk airport, there’s a lull in the middle of the day in which there are no flights, and they shut down the one coffee shop and one restaurant and apparently secure the secure area. They kicked me out even though the plane hadn’t taken off yet. So I went outside and watched it take off and turn toward the destination before actually leaving the parking lot, just to be safe. I’m a rule follower. 🙂