howahya

So excited that there was an airline flying non-stop from MSY to Islip, which is so much closer to my in-laws than getting to JFK or Laguardia. They just started this route in October. So I make reservations about 6 weeks out, for 12/27 - 1/1. The earlier flight is expensive and nearly full when I book, the later flight is only $48 and empty. A good deal overall.

On our way, a woman has a medical emergency and we have to land in Atlanta. My daughter was one of two nurses who assisted this passenger, and the flight crew was very professional, friendly and grateful. Still, I look forward to our return trip being truly non-stop.

I get an email a day before with a travel advisory saying that I should allow extra time due to holiday travel, especially traveling through the TSA checkpoint. Really? At tiny MacArthur airport? For my empty flight? Our first trip from MSY had been completely uneventful in the airport and there was no line to check in. None.

We arrive 2+ hours early anyway. There is a hideous line to check bags and we have bags to check. I'm not nervous though since we have time. About 45 minutes later a woman walks past the hideous line reminding people that if they have a carry-on bag only and have checked in then they can go straight to security. The line doesn't change since everyone knows this. About 10 minutes later I notice that the people who had been behind us aren't there. That same woman is directing some other people off the line. Nothing is announced but we wonder what is up. We are only 8-10 people from the front. Then I hear the agents calling people up, "next passenger for Tampa", and "next passenger for New Orleans". There go the people who had been behind us. What? There had only been one line. The next time I hear them call for the next passenger for New Orleans I raise my hand and move forward after checking that no one in front of me was going.

Well, you can probably guess what happens next. I'm stopped, told that my party is in the wrong line, told that we will all have to go to the back of the newly formed NOLA-only line, which I thought was only about 10 people deep, but turns out to be more like 50 people deep! My husband has a loud objection and is told he could be thrown out of the airport. I'm already at the back of the new line, but husband waves me forward a minute later because the agent had realized we had been shafted. The woman who was pulling people out of line was working at the bag check and insisted loudly that she had asked everyone in line which flight they were on. Husband had loudly accused her of lying, which got him in trouble. Then I had asked her that if she spoke to everyone on line, who had she spoken to in our party and what had that person answered? Silence.

We go through security, which is fast and easy, get to our gate and the plane is boarding. Have no time to buy a beverage before boarding the plane so I get to pay $3 for a can of ginger ale. Once again, the flight crew was fine, and this flight was uneventful in the air. But I have lost all faith in Frontier. In retrospect that email was quite telling, although I was too naive to know what it was telling me at the time.

Note to Frontier - people who have been in line for an hour, and are near the front, don't like to be told to go to the back of a new line that you formed with no skill and some obvious lies.

bajrbajr

Hmm... this sounds like experiences I have had many times with every other airline.
(except that I try not to get belligerent with the airline staff)

howahya

I'm sorry you have had so many bad experiences.

I my past experiences with very long bag lines, for example with Jet Blue, the employees pulling people out of line were at least LOUD and CLEAR with what they were doing and didn't lie to anyone.