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Frontier Cuts Customer Service Telephone Line

Frontier Airlines is cutting the cord on telephone customer service, opting instead to go fully online with their support services.
Want to get in touch with Frontier over the phone? That’s too bad, because the ultra-low cost carrier has revealed that it will no longer handle queries via telephone.

However, the Denver-based carrier says all flyers can make contact with their agents to get help through the Frontier website or smartphone app.

 

Transitioning Customer Queries Online Part of a Wider Strategy

From now on, Marketplace reports that the only way for customers to make contact with the Denver-based carrier is via its support page. While this does feature a chat facility, customers will now need to file any concerns, complaints or feedback via this form. Users of Frontier’s app can also of course utilize this as an interface for contacting the airline. Frontier has explained that its decision to handle customer queries solely online is part of a wider move to embrace “digital communications”.

 

Frontier’s New Approach in Action

However, as the outlet reports, the decision to halt customer interactions by phone hasn’t gone down well with Frontier passenger Maria Fleming and her husband. The pair say that their luggage was lost in-transit on a recent flight from Chicago to Orlando. The Flemings rang Frontier’s customer service number, which directed all queries to the airline’s website or app. After trying both the website and the online chat bot, the Flemings were given an auto reply which asked them to wait 24 hours for further contact from the airline.

 

While it’s not apparent if the Flemings received resolution regarding their lost luggage, airline industry analyst Mike Arnot says there are some benefits to Frontier’s new approach, namely that when working digitally, “…a customer service agent can handle multiple queries through chat all at once”. However, he conceded that, for some customers, Frontier’s decision to stop handling queries over the phone could be frustrating.

 

However, The Points Guy’s David Slotnick took a more pragmatic view, saying, “The low-cost airline model has always been that there’s inconveniences or discomfort. But the idea is that people really won’t care as long as they’re getting the cheapest flight.”

 

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11 Comments
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frank_10b December 20, 2022

so its well documented that phone csr refuse to refund completely refundable airfare.  UNLESS you demand to speak to a supervisor.  what will be the solution in the future?  will they just keep our money and refuse to follow their own contract of carriage?  will they be unavaialbe to fulfil the agreement that they promicised when we purchased the ticket?  Well we already know the anser don't we?  

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JulienWA December 14, 2022

I've got to weigh in here. I do NOT understand this continued trend towards getting rid of phone support OTHER than just to cut costs. I get it, the Millenials and younger gen don't "talk on the phone" as much as some of us Xers and older ...but CS is super efficent when you need to get an answer NOW and need to hear what people are saying and the WAY they say it.  Also, not everyone has a data connection when stranded..etc etc.  THis is such a bad idea and another reason why I still refuse to fly anything other than a full-service airline.

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dtremit December 9, 2022

While I personally prefer online chat to phone calls, I would wager that Frontier has a lot of elderly passengers without smartphones who will effectively be cut off from all customer service by this move. 

(I also wonder if Frontier is making necessary accommodations for blind passengers — I have my doubts about whether their online chat functions through a screen reader or similar.)

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sprez33 December 7, 2022

I've been through it several times and prefer the 'chat' version of customer service to the traditional phone call.  Allows me to multitask moreso than being on the phone. It's usually a shorter wait or I don't need to wait for the 'call back. I wish all airlines would have this option.  

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johninmelbourne December 6, 2022

It never ceases to amaze me what Americans are prepared to put up with and not fight to get things fixed.  Airlines have nickle and dimed you to death with egregious baggage charges and other fees, removed meals, reduced seat pitch, have almost no customer service whatsoever, even for their elite flyers, and you just sit there and suck it up.  And the same applies to those nasty "resort charges" hotels are levying.  It just goes on and on.  Airlines and hotels are not stupid, they know you won't fight, and they just keep on upping the ante year on year.  You are in this position because you implicitly agreed to it by continuing to use their services.  I know some people have to fly, but the vast majority don't.  Use collective action to send a very powerful message.  People power could shut these airlines down completely in a week, and then see how quickly they change their business model to reflect the needs of their customers, not their shareholders.