But back in 2009, a Denver International Airport spokesman conceded that there's no such thing as an all-weather airport. And this truism was underscored over the weekend, when more than 100 flights were canceled and many more were delayed as a result of a wintry blast that hit the facility hard, and Frontier Airlines even harder.
Some Frontier passengers reportedly spent five hours on the tarmac at DIA, and throngs of others were stuck waiting for flights — and expressing their anger on Twitter.
One of those to chronicle the situation was Martha Obermiller. At 7:58 p.m. on Saturday, December 17, she tweeted: "People are collecting signatures in the customer service of @FlyFrontier because service is actually that bad #frontiersucks."
She quickly followed up by observing, "Worst customer experience I've ever seen #FrontierSucks @frontiercare @FlyFrontier." Minutes later, she added, "Been in line for 3 hours at customer service for no answers... @FlyFrontier @FrontierCare #FrontierSucks."
In a caption affixed to the photo at the top of this post, Obermiller added, "People are now storming & yelling in the #Frontier #customerservice line @FlyFrontier @FrontierCare #FrontierAirlines #FrontierSucks," with a second tweet noting, "People are going out of their minds in the #Frontier #Denver @FlyFrontier @FrontierCare #frontier #frontiersucks."
Obermiller also retweeted Kyle Scheumann's observation — "#frontiersucks waited 8 hours to be told I don't know" — and this video from Isaac Kniss.
All these peoples flights got canceled by frontier at DIA. The video goes on for another 30s but I cant share the whole thing #frontiersucks pic.twitter.com/3ge2UniATF
— Isaac kniss (@Jumpingpanda7) December 18, 2016
Kniss subsequently took to Instagram to share this account: "Officially been 12 hours. They're telling us that it was because of the weather when everyone else was able to leave fine and the pilot told us himself that it wasn't weather. They're also saying that the soonest they can get a flight out is the 26th and they won't give us a refund. They even have a group of cops just waiting for an opportunity to taze someone."
Here's a random sampling of other Twitter responses:
Sam Muenchen: "Lands in Denver at 1 am... Gets bags at 5:30 pm... thank you Frontier."
Kyle Ruger: "Awesome when Frontier decides to just up and cancel your flight back to Denver."
Zim: "@Dame_Lillard bro you guys flying near Denver soon? Frontier screwed up my little sis flight to Denver now she won't be home for Christmas."
Hawaiin Hoss: "Come on #Frontier let us know when we get to leave Las Vegas on Flight 608 to Denver. We have been waiting for several hours on this plane."
John Booth: "Driving to Denver from New Orleans because the next available Frontier flight was Thursday. Thanks @FlyFrontier @FrontierCare #Travel."
Jamie Grey: "Now acting as emotional support animal for my friend whose Denver Frontier flight got canceled. #holidaytravel."
Donald Bolin: "@Lady_TitansBB @FrontierCare Frontier has the worst Customer Care in the planet. I stopped flying them into Denver years ago."
Indeed, Frontier has finished poorly in national rankings of customer complaints during recent years, although a March report showed the airline improving its score, moving up from dead last among major carriers to fourth from the bottom.
Nonetheless, Twitter user Zachary was certainly upset about the airline's reaction to the delays at DIA over the weekend. He tweeted, "Results of Frontier stranding 200 people: 50% refund on flight or wait until Saturday for flight back to Denver, no free hotel no flights."
The most recent tweet from Frontier itself was sent out yesterday — a link to a refund request form. It begins with the following note to passengers:
1. All refund claims are subject to audit and may require additional documentation. Service fees will be deducted from the refund amount, if applicable.Chris CJ Hayes submitted his take on the troubles with Frontier over the weekend in a different way — via the graphic below.
2. Complete this form to the best of your ability to expedite requests.
3. Certain restricted tickets may not have a refund value.
4. All refunds will be credited to the original form of payment only.
5. Your submission acknowledges understanding of these conditions.
