I’ve been waiting a while to write this blog. I lost my temper today and I don’t like it when that happens. But I am like a slow simmering pot. It takes a while—and for the most part I am pretty patient—but when I come to a boil, watch out.

The problem is Frontier Airlines. Remember that name: F-R-O-N-T-I-E-R. Even if things are resolved amicably in the end, I will never, ever take their airline again. The other lesson I learned is to avoid connecting flights, especially ones that connect at night. If I hadn’t connected in Denver, none of this would have happened.

Here’s the story:

DAY 1: I catch a flight out of DFW at 7:30 p.m. my eventual destination is Sacramento, California. Our flight is delayed, but they reassure us that we will make our connecting flights. We arrive in Denver 15 minutes before my plane to Sacramento is scheduled to board. It’s at the gate right next door. When I deboard, I discover that it has been delayed from 9 p.m. until 12:09 a.m. due to fog in Denver. Others tell me they have been camped out in Denver all day. Two elderly ladies I talk got up at 3 a.m. and left Cleveland only to sit in Denver all day. Finally, at 1:30 a.m., my flight is cancelled. I go to the desk at the gate and the agent gets me onto a flight to San Francisco at 8 the next morning. If I want to go to Sacramento, she tells me, I will have to wait until 9:30 the next evening to leave. I catch a shuttle to a hotel 15 miles away and catch 4 hours of sleep, get up at 5:45 and return to the airport.

DAY 2: I check in at the gate for the San Francisco flight and ask them, “Are you sure my bag will be on this flight?” They reassure me that yes, my bag will be on our flight. I arrive in San Francisco around 10 a.m. and my sister meets me. Unfortunately, my bag does not. I check with the baggage office for Frontier Airlines. I anticipate the clerk using her computer to enter the number for my bag and locate it, but instead she refers to a handwritten list of phone numbers on a sheet of paper on the wall. She calls Sacramento Airport, who say, yes, my bag is in Sacramento. How did it get there when I couldn’t? I don’t know. They ask if I want it delivered or if we want to pick it up. Since we are driving from San Jose to Oroville the next day via Sacramento, I tell her we will pick it up on that day.

DAY 3: We drive from San Jose to Fresno, where I visit my nephew and his family. His baby boy is in the hospital. We leave there and head for Sacramento. At 3:30 I get a call from Frontier Airlines telling me they close in 30 minutes. At that point, we are two hours away. I got a shower and a toothbrush, but am wearing the same clothes for three days and haven’t shaved. This is getting old. Frontier tells me that the next shift will arrive at 7 p.m. We arrive at Sacramento Airport at 6 p.m. and wait until way after 7. No one from Frontier ever arrives. We continue on to Oroville.

DAY 4: Nearing the end of my patience, I call Frontier Airlines in the morning and ask to have my bag delivered to Oroville, 1 ½ hours north of Sacramento. They tell me that because I didn’t “declare” my bag and ask to have it delivered initially, Frontier Airlines is not responsible for delivering it. I lose it at that point, and my sister takes the phone away from me. She learns that it will cost $76 to have it delivered to Oroville. We continue to complain, and they say that we are free to file a complaint to the airlines, which we promptly do.

So I am sitting in my sister’s living room in the same clothes for the past four days, spending the day waiting for my suitcase to be delivered. I understand that traveling is hectic at Thanksgiving, that weather cancellations happen. What I don’t accept is being told things that aren’t true, or not being told vital policy information that I need to know. And finally, being told that it is my fault. I have filed a complaint with Frontier Airlines, but I am not too optimistic about their response.

This adventure is not over. I will keep you posted.

 

ROUND TWO EDIT: Today I got a form letter email from Frontier apologizing in polite computer-generated way with an offer of $75 off the next time I fly Frontier Airlines. Fat chance.