Frontier Opinion Blog

How Frontier Airlines Tainted our Honeymoon

This story is full of opinions. Although we have evidence to back up some of our claims, it is your responsibility to review the evidence and come to your own conclusions about the airline.

The Backdrop

My husband and I were married on June 20th of this year, and we were very excited to leave on our honeymoon cruise out of Port Canaveral. We live in the tri-state area, so we booked a flight from Philadelphia (PHL) to Orlando (MCO), leaving the morning of the cruise, and adding a few hours of wiggle room for flight delays. We are NOT entirely blameless in this experience. We have learned our lesson about flying in the morning of a cruise. Please learn from our mistake and fly in a day before (or probably multiple days before if you’re choosing Frontier).

The Way There

This story starts with us boarding the plane, because everything was very typical up until that point. We got on, got our seats, and waited. Once everyone had boarded, the pilot came over the intercom to say that we would be a few minutes delayed because they had experienced a computer anomaly, and they would need to re-boot the computer. We took the opportunity to take a selfie and settle in for our quick flight from Philadelphia to Orlando.

Several minutes later, the pilot came back on the intercom to state that the computer reboot indicated a “no-go” on takeoff. We were asked to deplane in order for maintenance to come take a look. We took off our carry-on bags and waited in the airport.

Now, we are understanding humans. I am a teacher who works with both kindergarteners and middle schoolers, so my tolerance level is annoyingly high (seriously, ask my husband). I understand that maintenance anomalies happen, however when you look at the number of stories shared online that match our experience, you can’t possibly consider it an anomaly. In my opinion, this happens frequently enough to be ingrained in their company culture. To me, this suggests a serious issue with preventative/routine maintenance. These issues should be addressed prior to any flight disruptions, understanding that an occasional disruption is inevitible.

As the hours ticked on, our concern grew that we might miss our cruise, so we contacted our cruise line, MSC, who we very highly recommend. They indicated that if we make it to the ship by 3:00pm, we would still be able to board. We spent our remaining time in PHL anxiously computing the odds of making our cruise, which quickly dwindled as time passed.

At 9:08 a.m. I received an email that our flight had been delayed until 11:30am. This would be the last delay allowable with a possibility of arriving on time remaining. When all were aboard, the pilot came over the intercom to say that our plane needed to be pushed back, and that the people operating those vehicles had not been expecting that because our flight was delayed. So, we waited again. I received another email at 11:55 a.m. stating that our flight had been delayed once more to 12:00. Ultimately, we took off at 12:05 p.m. and landed in Orlando at 2:32 p.m.

During one of our long waits, our pilot took the opportunity to explain how the times are identified for takeoff and landing. It is runway to runway. Getting onto the departure runway is when your takeoff time is recorded, and landing on the arrival runway is when your landing time is recorded. These times do not include taxi time, nor time waiting at the gate.

It takes approximately 45 minutes to get to Port Canaveral from MCO (according to Google Maps). We knew that the odds of making it by this point were extremely unlikely, so when we touched down, I called MSC again. The representative said that they don’t have a way of contacting the port directly, but that sometimes they may wait until 3:30pm to close the boarding doors. With this in mind, we knew that everything would need to go perfectly (an unreasonable expectation at this point), and that we would need to hope for a little more wiggle room from MSC. Then we had one more wait. We were unable to get to the gate because another plane was still there. After waiting several more minutes, it became clear that we would miss the embarkation of our cruise.

The financial breakdown of our flight to Nassau is as follows:
Total of airfare, taxes, and surcharges: $196.50 x 2 passengers = $393.00
Total of seat selection: $16.00 x 2 = $32.00
Total of luggage: $35.00 x 2 = $70.00

Therefore, the total paid to Bahamasair amounts to $495.00.

Additionally, we paid a total of $237.83 for a hotel room in Nassau.

We also paid $50 for a taxi from the Nassau airport to the hotel, however we didn’t get a receipt, so you’ll just have to take our word for it. Or not – It’s up to you. We won’t be asking for a reimbursement for that since we don’t have documentation.

One cost that falls into the “wasted” category is that we pre-paid for transportation from MCO to Port Canaveral on Go Port. We recommend this service to anyone looking for this type of transportation, however we didn’t purchase the refundable option. We do not blame Go Port for this, however we feel that Frontier should be responsible for half the cost of our round-trip transportation since we were ultimately able to use the service on our return to the airport. The non-refundable, round-trip cost was $119.96. Half of this cost is 59.98.

All in all, we spent $792.81 making up for and or wasted due to (in our opinion) Frontier’s mistakes for the trip to Orlando. We were disappointed, but hopeful that the company would work with us on that, and that the remainder of our honeymoon would go splendidly. We were privileged enough to cover this cost at the time, even though it greatly reduced the funds available for our vacation. We saw many in the airport who were temporarily stranded because they couldn’t afford a Plan B.

The Cruise

We joined our cruise the next morning, and had an absolutely fabulous time. I can speak more about that in another blog post if people are interested, but none of it really pertains to what became our issue with Frontier Airlines.

The Way Back

Our experience after our cruise is what ultimately pushed me beyond what I can tolerate from a company. I go out of my way to avoid conflict, but the trip back, combined with the frustration of our trip down, has lit a fire inside me to get what we feel we deserve. The story continues…

Because we missed the boat at Port Canaveral, we had to get off first upon our return on 7/5 to meet with immigration. We were a little worried because we were advised by MSC to expect to be questioned about why we missed the boat, but it ended up being no big deal. We had all of the documentation they required, and we were on our way. We met with Go Port and arrived at the airport several hours prior to our departure, but not with enough time to explore Orlando, so we spent the day at MCO. We really came to enjoy MCO, as there were several shops and restaurants before security.

Frontier customer service agents made it very clear that no one was allowed to check their bags more than three hours prior to takeoff by (in our opinion) shouting this at customers who tried to check their bags early. Heeding this as a warning, we went to Hold My Bags on Floor 1 of Terminal B. Our flight was scheduled to takeoff at 4:30, so we went to pick them up at 1:30. After a slight issue with luggage (nothing too big, but it added to our frustration with the airline), we finally checked our bags.

We boarded the plane on time, and we sat there for approximately 1.5 hours. A thunderstorm came and went while we were sitting on the tarmac, and we were asked to deplane due to an electrical anomaly – again. Experiencing deja vu, we grabbed our belongings while the flight attendant came over the intercom to say, “Make sure you grab all of your belongings because you won’t be back anytime s- I mean, until we board again.” And boy, was her first instinct correct. We sat in the airport for hours. I received emails delaying the flight to 5:30, 6:00, 6:20, 6:05, 7:00, 8:00, 8:30, and 11:00, before the flight was ultimately cancelled. In the several hours that we were sitting there, the pilot came out to address customer complaints, while the gate agent sat there laughing at every question that was asked. He started by announcing that our plane had been struck by lightning. He mentioned that he would be timing out at 10:00, so if it was delayed beyond that point, the flight would ultimately be cancelled.

I did not ask any questions at the time, but just sat listening to everyone else, and looking up the odds of our plane actually being struck by lightning. I am nowhere near qualified to report on the odds or scientific factors, but I was given the impression that while it is possible, it is very improbable that our plane was struck by lightning while stationary on the tarmac, surrounded by taller structures. And if it were struck by lightning while sitting on the tarmac, that would certainly make the news, right? A plane struck by lightning while flying is not uncommon, but I’m led to understand that it is extremely uncommon on the ground.

When our flight was finally cancelled, we knew that we would need to act fast to try to beat the crowd, so I quickly rebooked our flights leaving the following day at 3pm, and stopping in Charlotte before going on to Philadelphia. My husband ran down to baggage claim, and I went to the customer service counter to see about getting a hotel voucher. We had spent so much of our spending money on the way down and just finished a cruise, so we were short on funds and determined to not spend any more as a result of this airline.

I was one of the first three passengers to make it to customer service, but chaos quickly developed around me. The customer service counter was manned by two new hires, two more experienced employees, and a supervisor. First, a new hire told me that I would need to call a number on a card. I told her that I would prefer to speak with someone in-person, and she put me through the line. When I reached the front, I was put with the other new-hire. After asking his coworker for help figuring out the cause of the cancellation, he reported that the cancellation was due to weather, therefore it was not their fault, and they would not be providing vouchers. I mentioned how much I had spent so far due to cancellations, and that I would like to speak with someone who can do something for me. He sent me over to the supervisor. She initially told me the same thing, but when I told her about our experience so far with the airline, she took my name and confirmation code and went to her office to figure something out.

I stood there for an hour watching customers being given bad news after bad news. In my opinion, these workers are not permitted to help out in any way, and are consistently tasked with giving bad news. At the end of the hour, I heard one of the more experienced workers shouting at this kind, yet firm Latina woman. “I ALREADY TOLD YOU, SHE ISN’T COMING BACK OUT AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU! YOU NEED TO LEAVE OR WE’LL CALL THE POLICE.” The woman said, “I will leave, but I will sue.” The worker stormed out, flagging down one of the police officers with a long gun who came over to where me and the few remaining customers were. The police officer said to the new hire remaining, “Why did you call me?” The new hire said, “I guess we were having a problem with a customer.” The police officer responded, “These people aren’t breaking the law. They’re mad about their flight.”

Finally, I asked the new hire, “She’s [the supervisor] not coming back out, is she?” He said, “I don’t think so, but you can call this number.” She was waiting me out. So, I took the card, went down to baggage claim to find my husband, and called the phone number on the card. After waiting on hold for twelve minutes, I was given the opportunity to explain the whole situation to a customer service agent. I pride myself on my ability to speak with kindness, firmness, and dignity. When I finished explaining the situation, the customer service agent hung up on me.

At this point, my husband decided to just book a hotel room. It was after midnight, and we were both exhausted. I had trouble sleeping, so I decided to see if I could get somewhere with Frontier’s Whatsapp customer service. Here are the screenshots of that conversation:

This conversation helped me to understand that these workers (even the one who flagged over the police) are also victims of this company, in my opinion. They’re just doing the best they can. I want to echo an opinion I heard another customer tell one of the new hires: “Don’t quit your job just yet, but maybe put your resume out there.” If you’re working in customer service, you have to have something you can do for the customer, right? Otherwise it would be called “customer shafting” or “customer assimilation.”

The next day, we returned to MCO. It was way less interesting the second day there, but still pretty great for an airport. We paid a second visit to each of the shops, and heard nothing but horror stories about Frontier from the employees. The employee at the Universal Orlando store offered us free park tickets if we were stuck there another day!

Ultimately, our flights to Charlotte then to Philadelphia were both delayed, but finally got us to where we needed to be. 100% of the flights we took on this vacation through Frontier were delayed or cancelled.

In reflection, we have of course decided to avoid Frontier Airlines at all cost. If we can’t afford a ticket on a better airline, we can’t afford to fly. We’ve also looked into the lightning strike incident. In looking it up online, we found that the reason reported for the cancellation is that the plane was delayed for more than six hours. We’ve sent the receipt for $110.88 for that last hotel we booked to the airline, requesting that they provide evidence substantiating their claim that the plane was struck by lightning.

All in all, we feel that booking on Frontier Airlines cost us an additional $903.69. We have filed formal written complaints on their website, and await a response.