Over the weekend, severe winter weather in Denver disrupted flights in and out of Denver International Airport, having largest effect on Frontier Airlines, which is based there. Frontier canceled 275 flights across the country, which has led to a lot of frustrated customers. Some of whom were still in the airport as of this morning.
Making things even worse, the flight cancellations left crews who were supposed to staff later flights out of Denver stranded outside the city.
The Denver Post spoke to one couple visting from Alabama who were scheduled to fly home on Monday, but their flight was canceled. The best Frontier could do to reschedule them was a flight on Thursday. They took a refund and booked tickets for twice the cost on Southwest instead.
Remember, airlines aren’t obligated to pay for a hotel or any meals when a delay is caused by the weather, though passengers with flights delayed for non-weather reasons have learned that vouchers from Frontier aren’t always that useful. The situation in the airport was reportedly pretty miserable.
“Weather-related delays do not require compensation or rooms overnight,” a Frontier spokesman reminded the Denver Post, noting that other airlines have similar policies. “When it is weather-related, we are not required, nor is it in the contract, to provide food.”
The airline says that it’s making progress and has sent along the majority of stranded people and bags. However, the pilots’ union took even bad weather as an opportunity to criticize the company and its priorities and policies. While the weather is not under the airline’s control, every other aspect of running an airline is.
“This most recent meltdown by Frontier Airlines is due to the same executive mismanagement and misplaced focus on cost-cutting that has placed Frontier near the very bottom of the industry In operational performance and customer satisfaction,” the chairman of the Frontier Airline Pilots Association said in a statement, noting that the “meltdown” meant that even crew members were stranded away from home with little information, just like their passengers. Passengers even gossiped that the weather delay was a secret walkout.
For the latest outrage, check out the #dontflyfrontier hashtag on Twitter.
@FlyFrontier 4 hour delay 3 gate changes & 2 hour wait on plane because you "just realized our bags haven't been loaded"
#dontflyfrontier
— K a t i e (@KTLBerg) December 20, 2016
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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