Talk about a rough landing.
A Frontier Airlines passenger claims a booking glitch cost them their pre-assigned seat, their flight and — eventually — a promised refund and $250 voucher.
The disgruntled traveler took to Reddit’s r/frontierairlines, alleging they were marked as a no-show after being denied boarding on their Oct. 4 flight.
Despite checking in online and securing seat 12D, the passenger said they arrived at the gate to find their boarding pass displaying a seat number of “0” — with their spot allegedly handed to someone else in an overbooking fiasco that left roughly 20 customers stranded.
“We weren’t even allowed to board,” the Reddit user wrote. “We were literally kicked off a flight we paid for because of their incompetence.”
After waiting about 30 minutes to speak with a gate manager, the passenger claimed they were offered a choice: rebooking or a full refund plus a $250 flight voucher.
“Do you want to be rebooked, or do you want a full refund plus a $250 flight voucher?” the passenger recalled the manager asking.
They opted for the refund and voucher, which the manager allegedly assured them had been processed.
But that happy landing never arrived.
Two weeks later, the passenger said neither the money nor the voucher had materialized, prompting a call to customer service for answers.
“THEY MARKED ME AS A NO-SHOW,” they fumed in the post, questioning how they could have missed a flight when they claimed they had been standing at the gate trying to board.
They alleged that the gate manager had misrepresented the status of their refund and accused the airline of using the no-show designation to avoid providing the compensation they had been promised.
“NEVER FLY FRONTIER,” the user concluded.
The turbulent tale struck a nerve with fellow users in the comments, several of whom claimed to have experienced similar seat-switching snafus aboard Frontier Airlines.
One alleged that virtually the same ordeal had happened to them just a month earlier.
Another claimed to have witnessed a passenger being removed from a flight that weekend, while also describing their own seating headache after an aircraft change bumped them from a “paid exit-row seat into regular economy.”
Unlike the original poster, however, that traveler said a gate agent managed to issue a refund on the spot.
“Honestly this sounds like it all started due to an aircraft swap. If that’s the case, there should be ample proof and that will help with a DOT complaint,” an additional commenter suggested.
Another claimed they had also been “bumped” after their assigned seat “disappeared,” but said they successfully received compensation at the gate.
They urged the original poster to “file a complaint with the US Department of Transportation” if the airline continued to refuse reimbursement.
Other Redditors are preparing for their next flight with receipts — literally.
“Thank you for letting me know to take screenshots of my boarding pass and record my conversations with Frontier if sh-t like this happens to me cuz yikes!” one exclaimed.
Others were less forgiving.
“Frontier is literally the new Spirit Airlines and has taken over as THE worst airline ever. Their only saving grace? The cheap flights,” someone griped.
As previously reported by The Post, Frontier Airlines revealed in its latest earnings call that the average amount it collected per passenger for airfare surged 71% in the third quarter — jumping to $67.82 from $39.74 a year earlier.
Frontier collected an additional $28.08 per passenger from airfare alone, while revenue from ancillary fees and other sources — including charges for checked and carry-on bags — increased by a comparatively modest $3.70 per passenger.
All told, the carrier raked in an average of $138.22 per passenger, up from $106.44 during the same period last year.
But don’t assume every Frontier ticket suddenly costs 71% more. The figure reflects the average airfare revenue collected per passenger, not a across-the-board hike in ticket prices.
And despite collecting more from travelers, the airline isn’t exactly flying high financially. Soaring fuel costs helped push its quarterly net loss to $104 million.
