Frontier Airlines denied boarding to my family. How much are we owed?

A Frontier Airlines passenger says his family was wrongly denied boarding their recent flight and he’s demanding compensation. But what really happened and does the airline owe him anything?

Let’s find out.

Last October, Alex Zhizitskiy, his wife and child planned to go to Las Vegas for a short getaway. They snagged a non-stop flight from New York City to Sin City for just $55 each on Frontier Airlines. Bizarrely, the passenger seats were priced lower than the checked-luggage on the flight. 

“I also paid $65 so that we could check one bag,” Zhizitskiy told me. “For some reason, the Frontier Airlines system would only let me pick seats for two of us. So I figured we would check in at the airport and get all of our seats together.” 

That decision would turn out to be the genesis of the problems for this family.

A car accident on the way to the airport leads to delays

The family’s flight to Las Vegas was scheduled to depart JFK International Airport at 6:59 a.m. The Zhizitskiys live 11 miles from the airport, so Alex calculated that they should leave home by 5 a.m.

“I called a Lyft and it arrived at our home at 5:06 a.m.,” Alex explained. “We figured there wouldn’t be much traffic at that time of the day going in that direction.”

As an ex-New Yorker myself, I agree that there shouldn’t have been a lot of traffic at that time of day. However, anyone who has ever lived in New York City knows traffic is highly unpredictable, especially around the airports. 

Related: How did a cruise consultant make this type of mistake?

A car accident, construction zones, police activity and more can cause unexpected delays. A short 11-mile trip through New York City’s “highways” can end up taking an hour or more, if it’s your unlucky day. 

And on the day of the Zhizitskiys’ flight, it was their unlucky day. A terrible car accident along their route caused a significant delay. They pulled up at the terminal with no time to spare. 

The receipt from their Lyft ride shows a 5:46 a.m. arrival time at Terminal 7 the location of Frontier Airlines. The family was already pressing their luck and they hadn’t even made it to Las Vegas yet.   

Frontier Airlines: You’re too late and can’t board this flight 

Zhizitskiy quickly paid the Lyft bill and the family raced inside the terminal. 

JFK International is a giant airport, which is almost always filled with hordes of passengers, long lines, and confusion. That’s true even early in the morning. Making your way through the chaos to find your check-in area can be a challenge.

Zhizitskiy says they raced to the Frontier Airlines counter and told the agent they needed to check in for the Las Vegas flight. She shook her head “no” and told him it was too late.

“I argued with [The Frontier Airlines agent] and told her we had plenty of time,” Zhizitskiy recalled. “She said if we had arrived earlier we could have paid her $25 each and been on the flight.”

With this employee not willing to budge, Zhizitskiy asked to speak to a Frontier Airlines supervisor. However, with the clock ticking, no additional help arrived. Then he asked the agent in front of him for a customer support number.

Frontier Airlines agent: Call our phone support 1-801-401-9000

Unfortunately, Frontier is well-known to lack meaningful customer service phone support. But the agent gave Zhizitskiy a number she said he could use to contact Frontier Airlines customer support: 1-801-401-9000. 

At the same time, she reiterated that the family wasn’t getting on the flight.

Zhizitskiy’s Verizon records show that he began calling that number at 5:56 a.m.

“No one picked up. It was basically advertising deals on Frontier Airlines,” Zhizitskiy told me. “I hung up and called again with the same results.”

It rapidly became apparent to Zhizitskiy that they weren’t going to be boarding their $55 Frontier flight to Las Vegas. But he wasn’t willing to give up on their vacation. His next call was to Delta Air Lines. Suddenly their bargain trip to Vegas had morphed into a very expensive misadventure.

“The Delta Air Lines flight we took instead cost $1,345 for all of us, plus $35 for the checked bag. I figured I would get Frontier Airlines to pay for the Delta flights later. That agent made a mistake and refused to allow us to board the flight I paid for.” 

Convinced of that eventual resolution, Zhizitskiy, his wife and daughter flew to Las Vegas on Delta and enjoyed their trip.

Asking Consumer Rescue for help

After the family returned from Las Vegas, Zhizitskiy began his mission to get Frontier Airlines to admit its mistake. He was convinced that his family had been erroneously denied boarding their flight and that they were owed compensation. 

By the time he reached out to Consumer Rescue to ask for help, he was more convinced than ever that Frontier Airlines had made a mistake. He wasn’t sure how much the airline owed him, but was confident that Consumer Rescue could figure it out. He came to that determination after speaking to his friend, Yevgeniy ​​Yevtushenko.

Regular readers of Consumer Rescue might remember the case of Yevtushenko and his son. LOT Polish Airlines agents made a mistake and denied boarding to the bewildered father and his boy. That error left the pair stranded in Kazakhstan unless they were willing to pay an additional $2,000 to be rerouted.

Their story had a happy ending after Yevtushenko contacted Consumer Rescue, and Zhizitskiy hoped we could help him too. 

Unfortunately, after looking through the timeline and paper trail that he provided, I suspected that none of that was in the cards. 

What is the 60-minute check-in deadline for Frontier Airlines?

At every airport where Frontier Airlines operates, it has a standard 60-minute prior check-in policy. It requires its customers to have checked their luggage and received a boarding pass for their flight at least 60 minutes prior to the departure time. 

Although Frontier Airlines agents can check customers in at the airport, that assistance comes with a $25 fee per passenger. Unfortunately, if you get to the airport too close to that 60-minute deadline, there may not be time to process the fee and get your boarding pass and luggage checked in. 

Zhizitskiy had not heard of the fee for human assistance at Frontier. He also wasn’t aware of the 60-minute deadline for check-in. So when the agent mentioned the $25 figure, he misinterpreted it as a possible suggested bribe and balked. That confusion wasted precious minutes – time the family didn’t have to spare. 

Zhizitskiy had pushed his luck too far, showing up at the counter with just minutes to spare – without boarding passes. They had left no buffer room for traffic or any other hiccups along the way to and through the airport. 

And time ran out. 

However, it seemed to me that there was at least some question as to whether a determined agent could have rapidly checked in the family that morning. 

Asking Frontier Airlines if this family was denied boarding the flight by mistake

You may have seen the recent viral video of the Frontier Airlines agents berating and taunting a customer at the check-in counter. 

That Frontier passenger also rejected the idea that he should pay $25 for help checking in. He eventually agreed to pay the fee, however by that time, it was too late. Instead this group, in Frontier shirts, filmed themselves and their outrageously unprofessional behavior cheering each other on. (They’ve since been fired from their contracted positions, according to Frontier Airlines.)

To be clear, Zhizitskiy’s experience included none of that type of antics by the Frontier agent. But he was insistent that from the beginning she also seemed uninterested in doing anything to help him make the flight.

I decided to ask our always helpful executive contact at Frontier Airlines to have a look.

I received a request for help from a Frontier passenger, Alexandr Zhizitskiy, who showed up at JFK ready to check in for Flight 3237 on October 2. The flight was scheduled to leave at 6:59 am. Alexandr has taxi records to show that he and his family were dropped off at the terminal at 5:46 a.m. The family went directly to the check-in counter, where a Frontier agent told them that they had missed the cutoff for check-in.  It seems that the cut-off is 60 minutes, but according to Alexandr, they were denied boarding prior to 60 minutes.  As a result,  Frontier called the family no-shows and no refund for the flight or checked bags was provided. 

There does seem to be some question as to whether the agents may have closed check-in just a few minutes early. (He also made an accusation that a male agent told him that if he gave him a $25 tip, he could reopen check-in.)

Best, Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer advocate

Our executive contact at Frontier Airlines quickly responded. 

Frontier Airlines: “We encourage passengers to check in with our mobile app.”

Hi Michelle,

Our records show the passenger never checked in for the flight, which left with 11 open seats.

We encourage customers to check-in faster and easier through the Frontier mobile app, which for most flights is available starting 24 hours before scheduled departure and closes 60 minutes before scheduled departure. Failure to check-in within the required time results in a ticket being deemed a no-show and canceled. More information can be found in our Contract of Carriage. 

I’ve reconnected with our customer care team, and, as a goodwill gesture, we are issuing a credit of $221.94, which will be valid for one year. Our team is sending the customer an email with instructions on redeeming the credit.

For your background information, regarding the “tip” he mentioned—it is likely that he misunderstood the agent assistance fee. Customers who self-serve by checking in for their flight either via the app or online are not charged the fee. However, if you check in at the ticket counter and hence require assistance from an agent for something you could have done on your own, there is a $25 agent assistance fee.  

Hope this helps.

Frontier Airlines spokesperson

This seemed like a fair outcome to me and to my colleague, Dwayne Coward, who also reviewed all the details of Zhizitskiy’s experience and his paper trail. He agreed that the family had arrived too late to complete the check-in process.

Unfortunately, Zhizitskiy disagreed and was less than happy with the goodwill gesture.

Don’t misinterpret a goodwill gesture 

After I informed Zhizitskiy of the resolution from Frontier Airlines, he suggested that I go back and ask for more. 

That’s great news! That means they did some investigation. You’re the best! I understand that they can issue flight credits for the tickets and the bag, but I could easily get my money back through a credit card dispute in 90 days. 

My idea was to have them refund the money we spent on the Delta flight ($1,345 + $35 for the bag) a couple of hours later that same morning (which could be in the form of Frontier flight credits).

In that case, they wouldn’t need to negotiate the $221 for Frontier’s tickets. Do you think we could try it this way?

My answer was “no.” This future flight credit was the final resolution from Frontier Airlines. The family arrived at the airport with no time to spare, and time ran out. And to file a credit card dispute in this circumstance would likely end in banishment from the airline and would be considered “Friendly Fraud.”

Alex,

Please do not misunderstand what that $221 is… it is purely a goodwill gesture from Frontier because I asked if they would consider it given that you were waylaid by traffic and missed check in by only a few minutes. You missed your flight because you showed up at the counter too late to check in. You must be fully checked in by 5:58 am and you were not. In your case that would have meant paying that $25 fee and there was no time to process that and check you in before the computers shut down.”

The last time I spoke to Alex, he was still confident that his family had arrived in time to check in for their flight that early morning and that Frontier had denied boarding to them by mistake. He said he was considering a lawsuit.

Whether or not Zhizitskiy ultimately accepted my advice or guidance, I don’t know. But I do know that the flight credit Frontier offered the family is the best that they can expect.

The answer to Zhizitshiy’s initial question about how much the airline owed him in this situation is, in reality, nothing. 

Tips: How to avoid getting denied boarding your flight at the airport

Reading through our cases here on Consumer Rescue, you might come to the conclusion that airlines frequently deny boarding to passengers by mistake. 

• British Airlines denied boarding to me by mistake. Help!
• Swiss Air refused to allow me to board. Who will pay for this?

But the truth is getting denied boarding because of an airline mistake is rare. The majority of travelers who contact our team under the impression they were refused boarding in error, actually showed up too late or had incorrect documentation to fly.  

Here’s what you can do to make sure you don’t get denied boarding your next flight.

1. Understand your airline’s check-in deadlines 

In this case, Frontier Airlines has a specific deadline in its contract of carriage that applies to every flight. Had Zhizitskiy been aware of that cut-off, he likely would have arranged for an earlier Lyft. Passengers should keep in mind, there is no universal check in time that covers all airlines and airports. It is up to the travelers to do their own research and learn not only the suggested check-in time of the airport but of the airline as well. 

Be aware that computers often lock a flight down for check-in at a specific time. After that, no amount of pleading or fees paid will reopen the flight. 

2. Check in before you get to the airport

The simplest thing you can do to avoid getting denied boarding at the airport because of late check-in is to complete the process at home. Every major airline has their own mobile app which can make air travel easier than ever. In fact, Zhizitskiy could have used the mobile app in the Lyft on the way to the airport and checked the family in. They may have not received the hoped-for seat, but they would not have missed the flight.

Whenever possible, check in 24 hours before your flight. If something is preventing you from checking in at that time, take that as a warning that you better arrive early to the airport. 

3. Get to the airport with plenty of time to spare

All passengers, checked-in or not, should aim to arrive at the airport with a bit of time to spare. Security lines, TSA surprises (Think finding the dreaded SSSS stamped on your boarding pass) and other unexpected calamities can cause delays on your way to and at the airport. It’s always best to arrive too early than even a minute too late. 

The bottom line

If you acquaint yourself with the check in deadlines, download your airline’s app and head to the airport with time to spare, you’re unlikely to ever be denied boarding because you’ve missed the cut-off.

However, if you think that an airline has made a mistake by refusing to allow you to check in or board your flight, you can file a complaint with the Department of Transportation.   

Of course, your other option is to send your request for help to the Consumer Rescue advocacy team, and we’ll investigate. Our assistance is always fast, friendly, and free to all consumers.  (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer advocate)