Frontier Airlines - Deceptive practice

Frontier Airlines is your worst nightmare, I can not say strongly enough CHECK ANOTHER Airline, even Spirit is better, and I will site why later in this. Better yet, Drive.

My flight was but 2 hours and 20 minutes one way. I was in the airport for BOTH flights a total of 33 hours!!!

So yes in my case, it would have been better to drive from Orlando to Cincinnati. If I count my drive to and from the airport, getting luggage and all the other things It was a total of 37 hours. Google Maps has the drive at 9 hours and 14 minutes, so I would have cut my time vested in half!

First off, at Frontier, you cannot drop your bag off at Frontier prior to 2 hours before boarding.

This is very important, as you still have to make your way through TSA. Think busy weekends or peak times. You have to do 2 lines if checking a bag BEFORE you even hit the TSA Line. This horror story makes TSA look SUPER FAST, as they are handling ALL Airlines at once.

This baggage check system is designed for complete failure!

Who ever thought of it is a complete idiot! Needs to have another line of work and those above him as well as it still continues. However, it is designed to make more money this way. I will be following up with both Air Travel Complaints | US Department of Transportation and U.S.

Department of Transportation (DOT) about this method of operation. It is not earth shattering money, but this must stop, as it is earth shattering over a year to every passenger.

For the simple fact if a TSA line is long, and many of us have waited well over an hour in one of those you WILL miss your flight. This particular day it was well over an hour. For decades, we have been told get there 2, 3-4 hours before our flights.

That is for the TSA lines problems, it does not factor in crap airlines like Frontier. Who will not let you check your bag any earlier than 2 hours prior?

My Story:

I arrived at MCO (Orlando) at 2:45 am Easter Sunday (3/31/24) for a 5:01 am flight. I get in line to check my bag. Someone notices after a couple of minutes I do not have a sticker on my bag and tells me I have to go first to another Kiosk to print the sticker for my luggage.

I leave this line for another.

I get my sticker at 3:07 am, now back to the line to check my bag. This line is the longest line to check a bag I have ever seen now. I have a video showing the distance I took after I returned, it was insane. You had the complete maze, then around to the right and then add another 200, no not a typo.

How is this possible? If every person from the plane was in this line all at once, it could not possibly be this long. But I did not factor in the OVERBOOKING, which clearly after I missed this flight, appeared to be over by at minimum 60 as that is at LEAST how many missed this plane.

I also found out this flight was drastically overbooked and an employee (on the plane) tells me later that this particular daily flight has been having issues all week. Once is too many nevermind all week and you can see who is making the problem, it is the people taking the bags.

I also later find out that all these people right up to the plane are just contractors, not Frontier Employees. So they dont care, and from what I witnessed must have an incentive to drive costs up to customers. The attitude you could see clearly. Moving at a snails pace uphill on a greasy road.

This line took another 1 hour and 18 minutes to reach the bag drop.

The ONLY thing these people do are weighing it and move it to the transport system to load to the plane. That takes less than 10 seconds to do. That is all that was required of mine. However, what they also do is make a problem which resulted in this line taking close to 1 ½ hrs.

The ones that did not know of the Kiosk like me (but I was alerted) they charge $25 for the bag sticker. Now, even if that was to take place, ALL NORMAL airlines do this and give you a boarding pass, tell you what gate you go to and on your way. This process did none of that and still was MUCH slower.

While I am in line, I then see them charging people $100 a bag for some with 1 pound over 40. Of course, we have to wait for the argument to finish and everyone must wait for that to stop.

One pound, the greed of this airline, stops the process of EVERYONE ELSE so Frontier can make more by ONE POUND! Then I see people taking stuff from one bag to put to another and they let this happen to slow down the line.

These people can see the line, and I am sure already know TSA is backed up big time. Did it change their snails pace? No, let us go slower.

Just an example when I did get there, I picked my own bag up, put it on the scale (28 lbs.) and all they had to do was move it to the tram-taking luggage away. That should have been what 10 seconds?

Nope, it was over 2 minutes and I am now already stressed I am going to miss my flight. This moron was too busy carrying on a conversation with another baggage taker having a good ole time. Flight is in process of boarding in a few minutes and I still have to clear TSA.

If mine was 2 minutes, how long was the average for anyone that was NOT underweight. And yes I was looking at my watch nonstop seeing I am about to miss my flight due to these fools behind the counter.

HINT HINT.

After I get the bag taken I run to TSA, I see they are splitting lines and OMG is it long. I was in that line for well over 30 minutes to get up to a sign that says you are 30-40 minutes away from clearing TSA. I have no chance of making this flight, before I even get to that 30-40 minute marker it is now 5 am.

I press on, as I enter the Maze for TSA, they see it is crazy long (about the longest I have been in ever.) and have a moment and start letting people use the TSA Pre Check as that was empty to speed things up, and it did. Poof I was through after that in 10 minutes. Again running to the gate, I pass by a departure sign and it says mine is delayed. I am thinking great, common sense kicked in as word HAD to reach the gate what baggage was doing (or lack thereof).

I arrive and it is 5:13 am. Flight is gone and I am told no it was not delayed, it went off on time. Then told hurry back to where you did baggage another flight goes off at 830 am. I am a solo so may have a shot you would think.

Again, I am running back and when I get there, the line for passengers that missed that flight is as bad as it was for luggage.

Except I was not around the corner this time but the entire maze was full. They have one elderly woman doing this (booking people on other flights). I see the writing on the wall here; this is so slow I know I have zero chance of that 830 flight plus with so many ahead of me. All these people were from that same flight.

Behind me were 2 guys who were part of a family of TEN that missed the flight, and I know of a few more around me that only had one member of their party in line and I am counting over 60 in front of me. So how many really missed it or how vastly over booked was this flight? At current pace, I wouldnt get a re-book till after the 830 flight goes off.

I then get attention of a person that is like doing traffic guiding people in the lines and suggest for him to get a manager or something as I had just gone 12 feet in 20 minutes and one person is not going to get the job done. He does go somewhere, a second person comes out after 5 minutes, she does her login etc, and after FIFETEEN MINUTES she finally decides to help after yapping it up and doing nothing.

I swear you could see smoke from everyone in line seeing her doing ZERO except laughing. Look at your watch and see how long 15 minutes is while waiting. Again zero sense of urgency and projects clearly of a WE DONT CARE attitude.

I get up to where it is my chance to find another flight. Before I can even say a word the elderly lady snaps at me, I go excuse me, I didnt even say a word to you and you are snapping at me?

Lets check the attitude as the one who should be ticked off is me here.

And they have ONLY one seat left I am told, leaving at 10:49 PM! I am also told it will cost me another $31 to do so. (That is extortion of a problem of their making). I had checked other airlines and could book a flight right now and asked for a refund as it was their system that made me and all the others miss our flights.

She refused and her words on the extorted $31 I cant give it to you free. I paid for my flight, it was the utter incompetence of everyone over there I point out that delayed me to get to my gate. So I am stuck being forced to pay for a flight that I did not want and cant get a refund. This SCREAMS SCAM and no one will ever tell me different.

It was by design.

So I finally get my boarding pass at 7:09 am, now almost 4 1./2 hours after I arrived and over 1 ½ hours being in the line for re-booking.

So I am spending Easter Sunday in MCO (Orlando), every persons dream right. I have some fine dining at BK for my Easter meal of the day.

I get to where my new gate is (and that changed multiple times right up to 2 minutes to boarding). I witness a pattern here. This gate is where all the worst of the worst airlines fly out of Spirt, Allegiant and Frontier only.

I have always heard bad things about Spirt, never flown them, but what I did see was not the case. They also overbook and each flight I would hear I need 5 (number varied but always had one) volunteers to switch planes. We will give you a (started at $300) voucher to be used later and we will get you on another flight. One woman took the $400 voucher and they booked her on United one hour later.

WOW!

I said, that is what I expected Frontier to do at minimum early this morning.

But no, I saw repeatedly from all their flights they did nothing for the people who they could not fit on the flight. Just slammed the door and said we are full.