My family of 5 just had a Frontier nightmare. Months after having booked the tickets, Frontier automatically changed the schedule of our RT flight from BWI to DEN to far less desirable flights -- twice -- requiring me to call in and wrangle acceptable alternative schedules, in the end increasing my lodging costs and changing the schedule of our trip. 

Next, at the gate for the outbound flight, my disabled wife with a walker was checking her walker for special assistance and they charged her $100 for a second bag/purse, and promptly charged another $100 to my minor daughter when she walked up to assist my wife. These ‘second bags’ could easily have been stuffed into their primary bags but there was no option offered, other than to not board the plane. When this happened, I was already on the plane with the other two children and unaware. These incidents were only the precursors to the main damages. 

Before the flight back from Denver, a known bug in the app caused us to be unable to check in using the app as email prompts suggested (users are referred from the web site to the native mobile app for check in; each of our flights were presented in the app as one giant oneway flight with a 317 hour layover in Denver, so check-in had not been possible only for the outbound departure). Because check in appears in the app to be done, we proceeded (no bags to check) to the gate to resolve this, only to be turned around at TSA for not having boarding passes in the app. Because one of the children was too young to have ID, TSA could not permit us to go forward to the gate for paper boarding passes, so we returned to Frontier ticketing, where the agent printed us paper boarding passes saying “99” for seat #s. 

Understanding that time was now tight, I asked if there was a call ahead or other services given my wife having a walker and the agent said ’no.’ We then hurried as fast as we could through TSA again but were too slow getting through a second time. We returned to Frontier ticketing after missing the 20 minute cutoff. Then they offered replacement flights at great schedule inconvenience for an additional $228 per passenger. 

Upon getting home, I filed a complaint with Frontier and got a defensive message that ludicrously offered to enroll my 5 family members in their loyalty program and award us 5,000 points (~$50) each. Enrolling in a Frontier loyalty program was the last thing to come to mind after fielding two schedule changes, taking $200 in surprise fees at the gate while seeking assistive services, and incurring an extra $1,300 in airfare after falling into the mire created by the bugs in the app and failure of agents to take any remedial actions as this was unfolding.