Frontier Staffing Shortages in Orlando Delay Flights and Luggage
Joe Cortez July 26, 2021
Reported staffing issues at Frontier Airlines forced flyers at Orlando International Airport to wait late into the night to arrive, depart and collect their luggage. Airport data shows nearly every departing flight by the low-cost carrier was delayed between one and three hours.
Florida flyers are waiting for answers from low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines, after nearly every departure out of Orlando International Airport (MCO) was delayed for hours. Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG-TV reports some flyers didn’t arrive until the early hours of the morning, with some waiting even longer to retrieve their checked luggage
Latest Departures Left After Midnight, While Others Waited for Luggage Into Morning
According to FlightRadar24, Sunday was an overall bad day for Orlando flyers, as many flights experienced short delays. However, those aboard Frontier Airlines may have had the worst experience, as nearly every outbound flight was pushed back by over one hour. Among the delays:
- Frontier Airlines Flight 31 to Cancun experienced a delay of over two hours
- Frontier Airlines Flight 1258 to Newark was delayed for over three hours
- Frontier Airlines Flight 1011 to Atlanta got pushed back nearly four hours, departing at 1:57 a.m.
The issues were not limited to those trying to leave Orlando. Those arriving at the Central Florida airport told the TV station they were forced to wait on their aircraft upon landing because of a shortage of gate staff. Once they were released into the terminal, the wait for checked luggage to reach the carousel was measured in hours, not minutes.
“(I’ve) been to Orlando many times (and) they’ve always done a fantastic job taking care of things,” flyer John LaFreniere told WKMG-TV. “I’ve never seen it like this, where there’s three different airplanes that could not get a gate.”
The report says while some flyers received vouchers for the extreme delays, with airport police blaming the situation on a lack of workers at MCO. Frontier Airlines has not issued a comment on the issue, nor has the carrier noted if flyers were compensated for the delays.
Extreme Delays Come Despite Orlando Service Expansion and Partnerships
The extreme delays marred Frontier’s continued focus on Orlando, after the carrier launched new service from the airport to Costa Rica and St. Maarten in July 2021. In addition, the airline paired with the airport and Sea Life Aquarium to announce the latest tail animal to go on an aircraft.
Issues with delays, cancellations and refunds previously caught the attention of the Colorado Attorney General, who asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to open an investigation into the Denver-based airline’s practices in 2020.
If the ramp workers get 20 per hour plus decent benefits, they you will magically all issues taken care of.
Both Frontier and Spirit keep announcing new routes but don't have the gates to accomplish it nor the staff to pull it off. Where are all the pilots and FA's coming from to support all these new flights, let alone the existing ones?
This is gonna keep happening. It's a reset of the lower end economy. No longer are people going to break their backs for $8.65 an hour. Working the ramp can be pretty grueling. We're already seeing fast food places that can't get staff, it's gonna be dog eat dog, only in reverse now. Employers are going to have to make compelling offers if they want to continue to deliver for their customers. Who's gonna work at mcdonalds overnight for no extra pay when they could work a day shift? Who's gonna work in the heat and rain lifting heavy bags all day when they could make sandwiches at subway. The economy in office jobs and stuff didn't suffer that much. They moved to telework and most reported similar productivity. Well the rest of us, front line people, we took the brunt of the pandemic. Sure the governments stepped in and had free money and whatnot, but only just a little more than the bare minimum. So who's gonna go work 2 jobs JUST to make ends meet? No mas folks. Companies are gonna have to pony up.