librarygal

I am leaving on the only Frontier flight from IAD to MSP on a Saturday. I understand that Frontier only flies that route four days a week. If the Saturday flight is cancelled the next fight is on Monday. (No Sunday flight)

My business in Minnesota is on Sunday, so waiting two days for the next flight out would not be practical. I understand that Frontier does not put people on other airlines if their flight is cancelled or significantly delayed. (No Interline agreement)

Has a flight cancellation on the only flight going out that day impacted any of you on Frontier? Would travel insurance pay for my flight on another airline if my flight was cancelled? Advice!

Often1

This is one reason why people with business interests don't use carriers which do not have multiple frequencies and which do not have interline agreements with other carriers.

If your xIAD is cancelled and you meed t be in MSP on Sunday, you will need to purchase a ticket on another carrier, likely DL, at walk-up prices. You will, of course, be entitled to a refund from Frontier.

Nobody here can answer your travel insurance question because we don't know what your policy says. Best advice is to read it and see what it covers.

JerryFF

The question one might ask is why you bought the F9 ticket in the first place, if you were so worried about a possible cancellation. The answer to that question would help provide alternative suggestions. Are you constrained by time? By airport? By cost?

You can call TravelGuard and ask about trip cancellation insurance -

www.travelguard.com - 800-826-4919

Make sure you ask if the trip cancellation insurance covers the cost of the new ticket, not just the value of the old one, and what the limits of that cost are.

HomerJay

As my Dad used to say, "suck it up, buttercup."

That's the risk you take flying an LCC with an abysmal record of customer service, as measured by complaints to the FAA. Especially an LCC that has one flight a day to your location - or perhaps just a few flights a week.

That said, very few F9 flights are cancelled.

Call Travel-guard and see what you can come up with in the way of flight insurance, and good luck!

rsteinmetz70112

I would point out in passing that the FAA complaint record does not coorleate well to actual performance.

HomerJay

Agreed, if the metric being used is percentage of flights completed, on-time performance, lost luggage, etc;

However, if the metric being used to determine "actual performance" includes how an airline responds to IRROPS, it certainly has a direct correlation to FAA passenger complaints.

Delta, for example, may complete 96% of its flights from X City to MSP, and may be on time 90% of the time. Frontier, for the sake of argument, may complete 98% of the flights and be on time 95% of the time. So, therefore, one might conclude Frontier has better "actual performance."

However, if Delta is able to accommodate 100% of the passengers from the cancelled flights onto other flights within a few hours, while Frontier takes at least 24 hours to accommodate their passengers, you can be sure that Frontier will have more passengers registering complaints.

And I would argue that Delta's "actual performance" would be better because IRROPS response is a valid metric that can be measured - in part - by passenger complaints.

You can't break it out with complete accuracy, because complaints may be about fares, rude flight attendants, or a lot of non-performance-related matters. But if you look at the breakdown of complaints (I did years ago as a journalist), you find that the airlines with the highest percentage of complaints per thousand passengers are usually the ones with serious service and operational performance problems (after merger messes, etc or low cost carriers who lack the staff, resources, or schedule to respond properly when an IRROPS occurs.

rsteinmetz70112

A lot of the FAA complaint record has to with reputation. For example Southwest consistanty has the lowest number of complaints but the operational statistics are often mediocre. For a time last year their on time performance the worst ot the majors, yet their complaints barely budged.

HomerJay

True.

Of course, people generally won't complain to the FAA if they're an hour late.

But they will complain if they're stranded for 24 hours.

And that's the point: Frontier has some pretty good operational statistics. Often better than the bigger carriers. But their one-a-day flight schedules to many markets, combined with a lack of interline agreements, means when they DO have an IRROPS, it can be a nightmare for passengers.

And I'm not sure I agree entirely about reputation. I fly F9 occasionally, and it's been my experience that they have fewer frequent flyers on board than the majors. Most of the people I've sat next to on my DCA-DEN F9 runs are folks who know very little about the airline business or Frontier's reputation.

I will concede, though, that some frequent travelers are wowed by WN's reputation and may cut them some slack and not complain. Of course, the last time I was delayed on a WN flight, the gate attendant played trivia and gave away $25 and $50 flight vouchers to those of us who correctly answered her questions.

So, do we agree on the following?

1) An airline with high operational statistics may still have a high complaint rate.

2) The complaint rate for those airlines with high ops stats may be a function of the degree of inconvenience experienced by passengers when an IRROPS does occur.

3) Those airlines that have less than stellar ops stats may still have very low complaint rates if the degree of inconvenience is minor or moderate, so long as they show concern for their passengers and are able to somehow mitigate the problem. ("Next flight leaves in an hour. Here's a snack, or a voucher, or an upgrade, or some miles", etc )

Do we at least agree on that?

rsteinmetz70112

Everything you say makes sense but I still don't believe operational stats coorelate well to FAA complaints. I don't think that is what causes people to compla8n to the FAA. However the FAA does not break down the nature of the complaints enough to even see what the complaints are really about.

Frontier has experianced a spike in complaints, however as far as I can tell their operational stats have hardly moved. In fact contrary to popular reports their on time performance has actully improved slightly. What has changed is their business model, their website, their staff in Denver and their customer service. This has affected the expectations of old customers who don't like the changes and new customers who don't understand them.

Southwest likely keeps complaints down by effectively dealing customer concerns, shortstoping complaints to DoT. Frontier does not appear to deal with those issues as effectively.

HomerJay

Everything you say makes sense as well. Your point is well taken.

I agree that many of their long-time flyers don't like some of the changes, and don't like some of the changes to the workforce. No doubt that has also led to complaints.

There is probably a change in attitude among the frequent flyers - and perhaps things they might have let slide in years past now merit a letter to the FAA. They might not like the way things are going, and they are more likely to write that letter when there's a problem.

That said, it's the war stories that merit the worst complaints. And an airline that doesn't interline and flies only four days a week to city X is going to create a lot of war stories the one time it cancels a flight. That one cancelled flight, if there's someone in the waiting area who wants to raise hell, can conceivably lead to 20 or 30 letters to the FAA.

All it takes is someone with internet access in the waiting area who starts giving out the FAA contact to other passengers. That can skew the devil out of things.

hat attack

There is no such thing as the "FAA passenger complaint record" you 2 keep referring to.

s0ssos

OP probably wants to fly Frontier to save money.
One way to buy yourself insurance (at no cost if not used) is to buy a fully refundable ticket to MSP from IAD later, after the Frontier flight. That way if your flight gets cancelled you can use that ticket. If your flight is as scheduled you can cancel that and get a refund, so aren't out any money.
But if you are so poor you cannot afford another flight, even if the Frontier one got cancelled, that won't work.

MSPeconomist

This is "insurance" to make sure that the OP gets to MSP on the scheduled day. It does noting to insure the cost of the trip of the financial losses from any cancellations. Note also that this is unlikely to work if the OP has checked luggage.

s0ssos

Which travel insurance covers "financial losses"?

rsteinmetz70112

You are quite correct.

The official name is the Bureau of Transportation Statistics a part of the Department of Transportation. They release monthly reports on Airline performance generally titled On Time Statistics it also includes information on Tarmac Delays, Chronically Delayed Flights, Mishandled Bags, Animal Incidents, Complaints About Airline Service, Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers and Complaints About Discrimination. This information is disseminated in a variety of reports and as raw date.

The specific one we have been discussing is the Complaints about Airline Service.