Frontier Probably Should Have Canceled More Flights Before Snow Storm Image courtesy of Adam Fagen
Frontier Airlines is a discount carrier, and it’s a small carrier. That was a bad combination this weekend when heavier snow than anticipated grounded planes and left travelers, planes, suitcases, and crews stranded in the wrong cities. As of today, most of Frontier’s flights are making it to their destinations, but people who missed their trips and who are separated from their bags are still very unhappy.
The company’s hometown paper, the Denver Post, points out that Frontier, a small discount airline, has quite a few disadvantages compared to larger carriers. Its fleet is smaller, so it typically only offers one flight on each route each day. The company also had trouble bringing in workers to handle the crisis, since it outsources jobs that were important in this crisis, like baggage handling and ticket sales.
Frontier is a tiny airline from a national point of view, with only 64 planes. However, since 40% of its flights pass through the Denver hub, that means that its problems disproportionately affect the Denver International Airport, and Denver’s weather problems have a disproportionate effect on Frontier’s flights in the rest of the country.
Frontier is based in Denver and is the third-largest airline at that airport,
In the case of this Frontierpocalypse, an airport spokeswoman told the Post that the flight crisis hasn’t affected the rest of the airport.
“There have been some impacts, but they’ve really been contained to the Frontier operations,” she observed.
Frontier is based in Denver and is the third-largest airline at that airport. There were a total of about 300 flights canceled due to the snow, but other carriers were ale to transport their customers to their destinations faster, since they have more flights available to put them on.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.