Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns (Pre-Alignment) - Does my sister have a claim against Frontier Airlines?

New Years Eve she flew to San Diego. But after she connected in Denver the San Diego flight was cancelled due to fog at San Diego. The airline said she was on her own for hotel and couldn't fly her out til Friday. She flew to Vegas, stayed in a hotel and rented a car one way to San Diego. All of this was at her expense except for the flight to Vegas. Does she have a claim? I think so, since Frontier did not get her to San Diego.

Moving this to the Frontier Airlines Forum...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

As it was a weather-related cancellation I am going to say there's no case. Your sister would have gotten to San Diego with Frontier in the first available seat after the fog lifted, but she chose to go her own way via Vegas. She can request a goodwill refund / credit for the unused portion of her ticket, but you won't see the airline paying for her rental car, hotel, etc.

As it was a weather-related cancellation I am going to say there's no case. Your sister would have gotten to San Diego with Frontier in the first available seat after the fog lifted, but she chose to go her own way via Vegas. She can request a goodwill refund / credit for the unused portion of her ticket, but you won't see the airline paying for her rental car, hotel, etc.

Agree, she opted to go her own way, no chance for compensation. However I would try it.

If the airport was closed due to fog, or any weather related situation, and your sister had to drive to get there, what makes you think any airline would compensate you or pay for a rental car? It's an unfortunate fact that all forms of transportation are subject to weather delays/cancellations.

New Years Eve she flew to San Diego. But after she connected in Denver the San Diego flight was cancelled due to fog at San Diego. The airline said she was on her own for hotel and couldn't fly her out til Friday. She flew to Vegas, stayed in a hotel and rented a car one way to San Diego. All of this was at her expense except for the flight to Vegas. Does she have a claim? I think so, since Frontier did not get her to San Diego.

Being in SAN that night, the fog was so thick, I could barely see 10 feet in front of me when driving to the airport. The cancellations were among many carriers, not just F9. Also, I can tell you the previous night (Dec 30), SAN airport was a ghost-town due to the same weather/fog conditions. There were maybe 3 airplanes parked at the airport overnight. All gates were missing airplanes.

But in response to your sisters situation, F9 did not have to even send her to LAS since she did purchase a ticket to SAN. But of course not wanting her to be stuck, LAS seemed like a viable option at the time, and with your sisters consent, this was likely the quickest way to allow her to get to SAN. I know SNA also had a cancelled flight for the same reason, so there were lots of displaced people. But there isn't much else that can be done based on the circumstances. Cancellations (controllable or uncontrollable) are hard in general, but when they happen during the holidays when flights are full everywhere, it just makes it that much harder. I know people were stuck in DEN for at least another day, maybe two, trying to get to SAN, so given the circumstances, your sister did well.

I honestly would not waste your time phoning into F9 Customer Relations, they'll tell you this was uncontrollable (which it truly was), and that will be the end of the phone call. But glad your sister did make it to SAN eventually.

None of the airlines would provide any assistance under these circumstances. As a top tier on AA, I've had some assistance for a mechanical delay under similar circumstances but don't know if F9 would provide assistance to top tier folks with a mechanical. In any event, no benefits for weather -- particularly as described by others.

She can request a goodwill refund / credit for the unused portion of her ticket, but you won't see the airline paying for her rental car, hotel, etc.
She is entitled to an Involuntary Refund per rule 260 of the Contract of Carriage for the unused portion of the ticket.
http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pdf

That, however, would appear to be her only claim, and it probably wouldn't be for a lot of money (especially if they consider LAS just replacing SAN--where it might be zero unused value).