Warren travels quite a bit for his work, and I think he's a pretty savvy traveller. Today he had an experience that was just horrendous! He was supposed to fly out of Midway airport at 8:00 p.m. on FRONTIER AIRLINES. He arrived and attempted to check-in. Apparently, though, he was only 38 minutes early for his flight. FRONTIER's policy is that you must check in 45 minutes prior to your scheduled departure time. Warren was not checking any bags and there was no line for security (and the recording over the airport intercom kept telling travellers to be sure to arrive at their gate at least 20 minutes prior to departure........). He was plenty early - I'm not sure he ever arrives any earlier, but he usually doesn't fly FRONTIER. To top it off, they wouldn't book him on a flight tomorrow unless he paid a $150 change fee plus the difference in the cost of the ticket tomorrow - and there were no flights in the morning. He was treated rudely at the desk by a girl who kept insisting that he should arrive at least 2 hours early for any flight. Then he called them and was even more horrified at how rude they were on the telephone. Apparently, to fly stand-by, you must fly on the same day your ticket is scheduled........ and since Warren was on the last flight of the day they won't let him fly stand-by tomorrow. So, he finally found a flight with Southwest that leaves early tomorrow morning. For only $400, he gets to come home! Lastly, the hotels at Midway airport are all completely booked. He even called the travel agent associated with his firm and they confirmed that there are no hotels at Midway tonight. Apparently, they are full of travellers who attempted, and failed, to fly FRONTIER. I guess he's going to tuck in for the night at the airport. It doesn't seem worth it for him to go all the way back into the city (to sleep on the floor of his office), only to turn around and come back at 4:30 tomorrow morning.
We flew FRONTIER on our last trip to Chicago and had a 4 hour delay (getting us into the airport at 2:00 a.m......... with 5 children), but that was weather related, so I guess understandable (even though other airlines were flying into Denver). Then, on the way back, we tried to change our tickets to extend our trip a day with no success that cost less than $1800.
Between these two experiences, I don't think we will be booking with FRONTIER ever again, even if they are the cheapest!
My apologies to Janiel and Steve for this rant! Steve is our neighbor and a Frontier pilot, but we hear he has nothing to do with the policies or procedures, so we hope he won't be offended!
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5 comments:
That is crazy! Lindsay Wolfe posted on her blog just a month ago about a terrible experience with AirTran. Guess I'm starting a list of those not to fly - luckily we've never flown Frontier!
Ugh, that sounds horrible. Things like that make me so angry. I mean, they're in the business of serving customers, are they not? I don't get it. We had many a bad flight through the Des Moines airport, but not with 5 kids! I was usually pregnant and/or nursing, but 5 kids would have truly done me in. I think I would have called Ira and made him contact that "Jewish mafia" he's always joking about. Need me to hook you up? :)
I am so sorry. What is with airlines these days? Did customer service suddenly fly out the window? Like Polly said, I had a horrible experience with Air Tran last month. But that same thing happened to me on United last year when we moved to Seattle. I did arrive early enough but their lines were so long that I didn't get up to the counter until 42 minutes before the scheduled departure. They told me I couldn't board. I was able to get a later flight but not until much later in the day so I had to return to my in-laws house. The airline wouldn't even keep my bags. I was flying alone with my toddler and seven months pregnant so naturally I was upset. The ticket agent told me that since I was pregnant I was being irrational. I was horrified. In the same note, I do LOVE Southwest Airlines. They have always been good to me.
The inconsistency kills me here, Lindsay! When I dropped Warren off in SLC (with United!), he checked in with no hassle 25 minutes before his flight was leaving. He actually didn't arrive at his gate until they were boarding. Is this just some random whim of the girl at the desk, or is it a FAA regulation? What's the deal?!?
And, Jess, you can pass along some 'mafia' names any time now! FRONTIER has also made Warren's 'list'....... remind me to tell you of the terrible things that happen when someone has the misfourtune of ending up on his 'list'! :-)
-Allison
I'm not a huge fan of Frontier, either. It's probably a good thing all the hotels around Midway were booked - I'm sure Warren was much safer staying in the airport.
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