A Frontier Airlines passenger says she was removed from a flight after flight attendants assumed she was ignoring instructions…but she was deaf. Frontier strongly disputes this occurred and says the passenger consumed alcohol onboard and may not have even been deaf. I’ve updated this story with a detailed statement from Frontier.
“Deaf” Woman Says She Was Thrown Off Frontier Airlines Flight For “Not Listening”
A Georgia woman says she was kicked off a Frontier Airlines flight after a misunderstanding over her hearing disability, with crew allegedly interpreting her inability to respond as non-compliance.
According to the passenger, who shared her experience on TikTok, a flight attendant approached her prior to departure and began speaking to her, but she could not hear what was being said.
The situation quickly escalated.
The woman claims the crew assumed she was refusing to follow instructions rather than recognizing that she is deaf, even though her ticket reportedly indicated her condition.
Passengers seated nearby appear to have tried to intervene. In the video, multiple travelers can be heard explaining to flight attendants that the woman is deaf and not intentionally ignoring instructions.
It didn’t matter.
She was told to leave the aircraft.
“It’s embarrassing to walk up the aisle when I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The woman complied, gathering her belongings and deplaning while other passengers questioned the decision.
@legallyswiftie13 I was removed from a flight because I am deaf. When I went to rebook, the gate agents apologized for the flight attendant’s behavior. @Frontier Airlines please train your flight attendants on disability accommodations, specifically when somebody is deaf/hard of hearing. #deaf #disability #discriminationawareness
In her post, she directly called out the airline:
“I was removed from a flight because I am deaf… please train your flight attendants on disability accommodations.”
The incident has now gone viral, prompting widespread criticism and raising questions about how Frontier and other airlines handle passengers with disabilities.
UPDATE: Frontier Disputes “Deaf Passenger” Claim, Says Removal Was For Alcohol Violation
Frontier Airlines has responded to this incident with a sharply different account of what happened, disputing the claim that the passenger was removed for failing to respond to instructions due to deafness.
According to the flight attendant involved, the passenger boarded the aircraft with an open container of alcohol, which she allegedly acknowledged when questioned. Bringing an open container of alcohol onboard violates both airline policy and federal law.
The flight attendant claims that when the passenger was informed of the violation, she quickly consumed the remaining alcohol before handing over the cup. The container was also reportedly labeled with a sticker warning that federal law prohibits bringing that alcoholic beverage onto an aircraft.
Based on this, the crew made the decision to remove the passenger from the flight. She was later rebooked on a subsequent departure.
Frontier also disputes that the incident involved a communication barrier, stating that there was no indication in the passenger’s reservation that she is deaf or has a disability. The airline further claims that multiple employees were able to communicate effectively with her during the interaction.
For the avoidance of doubt, Frontier Airlines provided the following statement to Live And Let’s Fly:
According to the flight attendant directly involved in the matter, the passenger boarded with an open container which she admitted contained alcohol when questioned. Bringing an open container of alcohol on board violates both Frontier policy and federal law. When the flight attendant informed the passenger of the violation, the passenger rapidly consumed the remaining alcohol in the cup before handing it over.
Flight attendants further noted that the cup the passenger brought on board was affixed with a sticker advising that federal law prohibits carrying this alcoholic beverage on board an aircraft. The flight crew made the decision to remove the customer from the aircraft, and she was rebooked on a later flight.
There was no indication on the passenger’s reservation that she is deaf or has any form of disability and, according to various personnel who interacted with the passenger, she was clearly and effectively conversing with them during interactions.
If true, this paints a very different picture of what transpired aboard.
CONCLUSION
This story is now far less straightforward than it first appeared.
The passenger’s account and viral video sparked understandable outrage, but Frontier’s response introduces a completely different explanation, one that has nothing to do with disability and everything to do with an alleged policy and legal violation.
Both versions cannot be true as presented.
What is clear is that the incident escalated quickly and ended with a passenger being removed in full view of other travelers. Whether this was a serious failure to accommodate a disability or a justified removal over an onboard violation depends entirely on which account proves accurate.
For now, we are left with two sharply conflicting narratives and a reminder that viral clips rarely capture the full story…
Unfortunately, air travel in the U.S. seems to be getting more and more stressful every day.
FA and captain should be immediately fired
a captain who blindly accepts the word of the FAs is responsible for the FAs lack of judgement
Seems there is another side to this story!
If she really committed a safety violation, why did Frontier allow her to board a later flight instead of refusing transport entirely and banning her from the airline?
If she really had an open container of alcohol, why was she allowed to her seat at all? And all of the passengers were on her side. Seems like Frontier is making shit up to try and cover their ableist staff members.
you are goving far too mich credit to the airline. its frontier they lie about seat changes lost luggage basically anything that gets them out of a lawsuit. this is still a very clear story and we all can see with our eyes
In the video, the ticket agent acknowledged the disability accommodation on the ticket. That the airline is now claiming did not exist??? And you are siding with the airline? Their story isnt even consistent with their representatives in the video.
How disappointing of you to defend the airline while claiming two stories.
Why can’t these people learn how to de-escalate situations? Don’t the airlines train them on de-escalation, and make it a job requirement?
Carriers don’t want to deescalate because that would imply a loss of status. They want to be the state police instead of a company providing customer service. The only thing those workers want is to exercise a little bit of power even if it hurts the passenger, and they will do so at the drop of a hat.
LOL. (Someone’s afraid of the workers rising up…)
Hey Matthew. How much did frontier pay yo to put this out there?? Alcohol never once came up in the video. I hope she sues you too. The flight attendant and captain should be fired immediately and you should too honestly. What a gross thing to blindly accuse someone of
@Dave: It’s a she-said, they-said at this point. I’m just passing on what Frontier told me…
Videos can be edited too…
Lol, corporate shill
Has *that* Dave returned? Uh oh…
Damn, frontier must be paying you well.
“stating that there was no indication in the passenger’s reservation that she is deaf or has a disability.”
You can literally hear the gate agent acknowledging it was marked in the video
Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either. – Aesop –
Deaf or not deaf, if the airline would have just thrown the cup away and refused to serve her any further alcohol in-flight, the plane would have made it to its destination without incident. I understand it’s illegal to bring alcohol on board, but unless there’s an actual problem, why create one?
I question how long frontier has asked for disability reporting for ticketing. Relative had Duchenne muscular dystrophy and I don’t think that was an option to note for the reservation from Madison to MCO. It might have helped in his case as GA made unkind remarks to another passenger he was unable to follow.
Her ticket had a disability endorsement on it. So that kind of calls BS on Frontier. “She might not even be deaf” yet she made the point of putting it on her reservation well before the flight…. Okay guys
We may be getting to the point in the near-distant future (what a term, eh?) when body cams will be normalized even for normie people but also for situations such as this. A recording of what happened so that there’s no more he-said-she-said sides of a story.
The airline’s explanation requires a lot of steps to fail. TSA, the gate agent, the boarding process all had to miss it before anyone noticed an open drink. And multiple passengers defended her, which tends to happen when a situation is being misread, not when someone is clearly breaking the rules. Something about this doesn’t line up.
This incident does not help Frontier fight the class-action ADA lawsuit they are up against. I could tell by the look in the flight attendant’s face that she was not understanding. Unfortunately, this is a cultural problem; some Blacks are raised with the idea that you should respect authority and comply with whatever you are told, or you will have to pay the consequences. In the White community, we are used to expressing our needs and expect people to be “understanding” when we are unaware of the rules. We try to smooth over interactions by being nice and attempting to connect with the other person while some Blacks try to mitigate problems by being blunt and expecting compliance in an attempt to avoid submitting to the will of a White person. However, we must set aside our differences in situations like this and find a way to be accommodating to those with disabilities. It’s the law.
Oof. “Some Blacks” and “the White community” …not even thinly veiled these days… *facepalm*
Yikes. I was with you until “some Blacks” and “the white community”. Like what the hell. Might as well just say the word you wanna say instead of “Blacks”
Frontier sucks. Anyone that flies on that airline deserves what they get.
Why would we believe a sky waiter over our lying eyes?
Clearly, the “there for our safety” waiter must be right even if the video contradicts her!
I’m fascinated with this from a corporate response standpoint. The typical approach for an airline is to provide a “canned” response that “we take customer issues seriously, respect passengers with disabilities, and we are looking into it blah blah blah”. Frontier chose to attack this head on. To the point they even challenged her disability in citing that she was communicating fine with other staff.
I’m not sure what’s better? The canned response will deflate this from viral very quickly: It will be forgotten in a day or two. The attack back response seems to just escalate it and invite lots of debate and more attention. As well, if they are lying, Frontier opens themselves up to even more legal issues. Claiming she wasn’t disabled is a pretty serious allegation that they better be able to back up.
Do you even fly, dude? Ain’t nobody getting on the flight with an open container of alcohol. No video of the alcohol, no witnesses saying anything about the alcohol, all the passengers looking down in shame at what is happening. Frontier is lying through their teeth. Shameful.
Let’s see what comes out – I don’t know one way or the other. I’ve certainly seen people bring booze onboard planes.
I’ve seen this very commonly as well. It’s almost never a problem and I strongly doubt it was here either. It seems as though the airline messed up and used that/her as a scapegoat. The burden of proof is on the airline here and blindly defending them isn’t right
I’m not blindly defending anyone – I have not idea what happened at this point.
Consultants walking out of the Sky Club to catch their 8PM flight on Thursday evening aren’t carrying coffee in that cup.
if you watch closely you can see the hearing aid in the right ear. I am legally deaf but i can speak as well as her. Frontier is trying to save their own butts
We’ll, it is very possible that both a sides is the story is true. Is she is deaf, but able to keep read, she could have communicated with the FA when they addressed her directly, and might not have been aware that they were speaking (is she wasn’t looking at them) later in v
I am flabbergasted by this situation. I will never fly frontier again. I had a booked trip at the end of the month that I changed to American because of this video. Alcohol is the scape goat for this unfortunate situation involving a women who was FIRST told she don’t listen then when this snowballed they say alcohol. Fire that flight attendant, do your job and stand up for what is right. This is a disgrace. Frontier failed entirely.
Even if she bought an alcoholic drink after going through security & boarded the plane and there was a sticker on the cup how frequently do you read all the writing on drinks you purchase? When flight attendant told her she couldn’t come on the plane with the drink she quickly drank it trying to get rid of it to comply many people would do that. Or maybe she was just drinking her drink quickly because she’s a nervous flyer and didnt hear a word the flight attendant said or see sticker…. meanwhile you can buy alcohol on a flight and they still let her fly on another flight wtf was point of kicking her off just to flex write her a ticket or something else completely unnecessary even if it was over alcohol, she was not belligerent, bothering other passengers, or abusing staff.
Mr. KUNT: You’re incorporate shill POS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I don’t believe Frontier for one second. If any of what they said was true, there’s no evidence of it in the video. She wouldn’t have even been allowed to be seated if it were true. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
The author of this article is an idiot and a corporate shill.
I’m not picking sides, just reporting both sides…
Matt: “I’m not picking sides”
Also, Matt: *Adds square quotes around ‘deaf’ to support his corporate sponsors’ narrative*
Shill.
I very much enjoying how posters KNOW which side is right in a they said/they said senario. Alas, I never get the definitive evidence I’d like. Other pax apparently supporting her doesn’t settle it if she was playing b them just like she may have been trying to play us with the video. A female pickpocket knows very well she only has to start yelling about assualt if a male target catches her innthe act if she wants spectators to intervene on her behalf.
Read the article response and they claimed the person committed alcohol violation and
“may not even be deaf”. So accusing someone of not being deaf to win a public opinion argument is a very risky strategy. They literally accused this person of Faking a disability- this will cause public shame, an animosity- if they are wrong about that, I would believe this woman has a massive lawsuit now for that claim alone. Having had experience with the Deaf community, the airline attendants failure to recognize, understand or comprehend this person was Deaf does not mean she was faking it. Second- what in the world is the difference between finishing your beer sold in the airport before you get on the plane (they sell alcholol) and just drinking it. the point of the rule/law to avoid people drinking on the plane and being able to cut them off? Was the person visibly intoxicated? I did not hear that. She likely interpreted the law as you cannot bring it to your seat. the difficult y in communication again being due to a hearing impairment. If this lady is deaf, I hope she sues and wins a lot.
And so do I…if Frontier lied about her, then by all means hold them to account.