I do not normally use this blog to make any kind of social or business commentary, but today I believe I shall.  As many of you know, our son Scotty, a US Marine, was home from last Wednesday until flying back to his duty station this morning.  I believe he has arrived, but that is no thanks to Frontier Airlines.

First of all, let me say Scotty’s flight was at 6:30 am.  He was not checking a bag, and just needed a boarding pass.  I thought I would walk in with him, as I had been up since 3:30 and we left the house at a little after 4.  It is 60 miles.  As we were pulling in, we didn’t rush, as we felt we had plenty of time. As we arrived at the counter, there was an agent there (a guy) and he was helping another customer.  I figured we waited about 3 or 4 minutes.  But after he left, the agent told Scotty that he would need to rebook because he missed there “45 minute” window.  I looked at my iPhone at that point and it was now 9 minutes past 5:45 (and remember we had waited 3-4 minutes).  Scotty tried to explain, and asked him to just give him his boarding pass, but the guy would have none of it.  He left us there and headed for the gate himself.

We started to check the other airlines and they were all pretty nice.  But the people at SOUTHWEST were spectacular.  He was on the phone with them (they are all that I ever fly) and all he could do (afford) was a flight into Los Angeles, quite a bit from base for a little over 200.  He booked it.

But when we walked over to the Southwest counter, and told them what happened, they said this actually happens A LOT with Frontier.  And after seeing his Marine ID asked, “where do you need to go hun?”  And in a blink of an eye he was booked to San Diego for NO ADDITIONAL COST. The Frontier flight would be $100 just to rebook.

After getting this handled, I bought Scotty some McDonald’s and sat with him a bit.  Yes, he could have handled it all by printing out his pass at home before going to the airport and not even having to stop, but that is my fault.  Scotty had never booked his own flight before and did it through Travelocity. I have ALWAYS booked the kids and bought the “Early-Bird Check-in” so they wouldn’t have to worry about it.

But after making sure Scotty was okay, I told him not to go back to the counter as I was going there to talk to the guy.  He wasn’t there, but a woman was who insisted how nice he was.  She also said that she left the counter herself at the 45 minute mark and we were not there, which is true as we probably got there a minute or two after her, but the implication that I was a liar was a bit much for me to endure. I told her that the guy was cold and showed no compassion or concern, and that he did not explain a thing to us and left us there.  She looked up Scotty’s ticket and saw it was a “third party vendor” and said had we booked it with them then it would be just $50 to change.   And to me, that may be a part of the problem.  If you do not want people to save their hard-earned money, oh I don’t know like perhaps someone who fights for your freedom, then perhaps you should not allow your fares to post on their sites.  Southwest doesn’t, but they treated him like a person.  Frontier could have cared less….even on the phone.

But I am writing this because I gave the woman my personal cell number and just asked her to give it to him, if he is the manager, or to the manager to ask him to call and talk about this.  It is now 15 hours later and no call.  They really don’t care.

So I also called my dad, who used to have a condo in Colorado, and has flown Frontier a lot…….but not anymore.  Tomorrow I will call their corporate and speak with them.  It had nothing to do with him being a Marine, it had to do with rudeness, lack of compassion, and just dismissing us as if we were peons.  I told the woman that the agent was very rude, and I told her to her face that I felt she was being rude and disrespectful to me as well.

Maybe he couldn’t have changed it, I don’t know, but he never explained as we were not important enough for his time.  Of course they flew and got paid for an empty seat, but with customer service and compassion like this I am guessing they lose people all the time.  And quite honestly, if this guy could have printed a pass for an active duty Marine heading back to base and just didn’t, he should be fired.

Of course those things are not my choice.  They are in the hands of far more important people than I……..like the people that work at Frontier.

Never again.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+