For the 13 of you that read my blog, sorry for the absence recently.  I’ve been traveling for work, and after a couple of 80 hour work weeks, getting back to normal.

There’s some stories I have my eye on, I’ll be back to blogging soon!  
Right now, I have to vent…

 

I have, for a long time, been a fan of Midwest Airlines, even got their miles card.

They were the common budget airline for out trips out east to visit Kirstie’s family.

They would bake fresh cookies in the air, roomy seats, had GREAT customer care, and I never had any trouble on dozens of flights.

 

The new “Frontier”

In the summer of 2009, Midwest Airlines, and Frontier Airlines were bought by Republic Airways.  Frontier was chosen as the brand for the newly merged carriers.

I had never flown on Frontier at that point.  I had hoped that the same great experiences I had with Midwest, would be shared on Frontier…

Was I sorely mistaken.

I had an opportunity to fly Frontier to Las Vegas for work last year.  I was traveling a day early to hike and camp in Vegas.  The flight was connecting through Denver.  While in Denver, they had announced that the flight was over-booked, and were asking for takers in a switching to a later flight, in exchange for a $400 travel voucher.
As Denver is certainly full of places to camp and hike, I agreed that I would give up my seat, IF and ONLY IF, I would be insured that I would have my checked bag.  The gate agent assured me that since I was not getting on the plane, my bag wouldn’t be.  (Lie #1)

After the flight was fully boarded, I was handed a note, and told to go stand in the “Customer Care” line.
This line was about 45 people deep.  And took almost 2 hours to reach an agent.  I received my voucher, and asked about my bag, and the agent told me I would have to go to baggage claim to get it. (Lie #2)

When I got to baggage claim, I was informed that my bag was “On it’s way to Vegas”.  I was infuriated… (not at Charles the baggage guy… not his fault).  So I had an option of either going back through security, waiting 2 hours again just to vent, or accept that my hiking and camping plans were scrapped, and trudge my way over to the hotel.

The next day, had it’s own share of customer service follies.  I almost missed my flight because the ticket agents decided to allow a group of 45 to cut the line, despite their flight leaving 45 mins after mine.

I finally got to Vegas, and went to claim my bag.  And there it was… in their office… locked.  Not a soul in sight.
I picked up the courtesy phone to have an agent paged.  6 times.  6 times over the course of an hour, and no one bothered to come.   So I pick up the phone, and call the corporate line (which had just open at this point)  They tell me I need to take a tram over to the other terminal to talk to someone at the check-in counter.  ”Couldn’t you just call the desk, and send someone over?” I asked?  The “customer service” agent, sighed, and said yes…  I heard him talk to the counter, and the said they would send someone.  38 mins later, someone shows up, and greets me with “Don’t say anything, It’s not my fault we’re understaffed”  my only reply… “So it’s mine?”  I grabbed my bag and left.

THAT was only my trip down.  My return trip had it’s share of frustrations, but the worst of which being a flight attendant taking my carry-on bag from me while trying to find a space for it, and checking it, without my permission.  
His carelessness destroyed a couple souvenirs I got for the kids, and filled my bag with glass shards and snow-globe water.

I made several attempts to complain.  If you ever have to call Frontier’s customer relations line, plan on about 30-40 mins of your life to be on hold.  
If you try sending them an email… Be prepared to send it 3-4 times before getting a response days or weeks later, with them claiming they never got the message.  (Though you may see the original message “they never got” in the reply).

 

Second Chances?

So now we come to this last trip.  Orlando.  I had a show to go to for work.  Kirstie had told me a while ago, no matter what, if I ever have to travel to Orlando for work, she’s taking the Kids to Disney, even if she doesn’t see me all week.

She called me on it.

We needed 2 tickets… 1 for Kriste, 1 for Bela (Teo is still young enough to be a lap infant).  I did some poking, and found round-trip Frontier flights for about $200-$250.  ”Awesome” I thought,  ”I have this $400 voucher, so I can get away with these tickets for under $100″.  That is until I spoke to Frontier…

“We’re sorry… you can only use the voucher on 1 flight”

I hung up, and began investigating.  Nowhere on the $400 credit did it say for one flight.  just for “Future Travel”… I poked around on their website, could not find anything to substantiate that policy:

From Frontier’s Website (emphasis added by me)

How do I redeem my paper voucher?
Vouchers are valid for one year from the date they’re issued. You can use your voucher to purchase a ticket for yourself or another, but only you can redeem the voucher. We’re sorry, but we can’t replace a voucher if it is lost or stolen. You’ll need to redeem your voucher with your travel agent, at our ticket counter or by calling us at 800-4321-FLY (800-432-1359). We can’t redeem vouchers on our website. If you redeem your voucher via our Reservations Department, please remember that we require at least three weeks lead time to process them. Please be sure to let our Reservations agent know that you’re using a voucher.

So this phantom policy was quite a game changer.  After 187 mins of collective hold time, and 2 different managers, they would not budge on the “policy”.  Do I decided to get my daughter a “fully loaded” Classic-Plus seat.  Free DirecTv, free checked bags, in flight meal, the works.  Then I planned on using my frequent flier miles to get Kirstie’s seat.
I should have known better.

The flight that Bela and I were on was not a “Miles Approved” flight.  In stead… Kirstie and Mateo would have to be routed through Denver, Colorado (Yes, to go to Orlando) and would be  arriving 12 hours later at 11pm.

I HAD to be there in the early afternoon, so we had no choice to go with the tickets as forced by Frontier.  They did not care that they were greatly inconveniencing us, or breaking up a family. Completely apathetic.

THEN, The next day, I’m looking over Bela’s itinerary they emailed me, and they has Bela on the wrong flight.  Despite giving them the flight number I was on, and verifying she was on the flight, she somehow got moved onto a different flight.

I contact Frontier, and they say it was my mistake.  I asked why I would book my 3 year old on a separate flight than me?..  Their reply was that I would have to pay a $20 fare difference to get her on my flight.  Given my past experience, talking with managers at Frontier is an exercise in futility, so I simply pay the difference.

Finally, we had tickets, and hoped we could just travel be happy.  But Frontier just can’t let that happen.

Since we were on separate flights, and Kirstie had Mateo, she had the stroller.  We’ve traveled plenty with strollers before.  It’s a simple process…  walk down the jet-way, fold the stroller, they put it under the plane, and then it’s ready when you get off.

Frontier manages to break the handle off our stroller.

It’s 11:30 PM.  Kirstie is at Orlando Airport, with Teo in her hands, waiting for 20 mins for the gate agent to hand her a business card, and say she has to call “this number” in the morning.”  (Customer Care number circled, which happens to be closed the next day – Sunday)

Now Kirstie is too sweet, trusting, and naive to see they were just basically telling her to piss off, and making the problem go away.

Baggage claims need to be reported at the airport… so they can see the damage, and file a report.  The agent knew this, and just wanted to make Kirstie go away the easiest way possible… and that was to lie to her.

Monday, we call Customer Care, and they direct us back to the airport.  We call the airport, and they say, that because Kirstie didn’t make a claim, there was nothing they could do.  (Boy did I call it)…  I talk to the manager, who says Kirstie would have signed a release of liability in order to have the stroller gate checked.  Kirstie happened to have the gate check receipt.  No signature.  She did not release them from any liability.  The manager said she would call me back… Still waiting.  Bad customer service is one thing, but destroying my property is quite another.

Needless to say, this will be the last time I fly Frontier.  I would rather connect through Phoenix, Honolulu, then Tokyo to get to Milwaukee than ride Frontier again.

I would complain about the latest volley of terrible customer service to them, but I am terrified that they might give me another travel voucher, and I would be dumb enough to give them another chance.
I will miss you Midwest.