‘Rude and unprofessional’: Frontier agents spark outrage after mocking flyer in viral video
A viral video of two Frontier Airlines agents mocking a passenger at Raleigh-Durham Airport has sparked backlash
A viral video that shows a passenger being denied boarding and taunted by Frontier Airlines gate agents has sparked outrage online. According to the New York Post, the incident took place last Friday at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, where a 45-year-old father-of-three was attempting to check in for his flight to Boston after a week-long business trip.
The man, who did not want to be identified, arrived at the airport roughly 50 minutes before departure - missing Frontier’s strict 60-minute pre-departure check-in deadline.
Late to the gate
Unable to use the self-service kiosk, the passenger approached Frontier agents at the counter. He was informed that he would need to pay a $25 “agent assist fee” to check in at the desk.
“They all kind of started chiming in, ‘Well, you should have checked the website’. Like not in a professional or polite way. They were like, ‘it was your fault for not checking the website. Sorry, it’s on you’,” the man told The New York Post.
He said the back-and-forth with the agents went on for 20 minutes before he finally agreed to pay the fee. But the situation escalated when he muttered, “I’m never flying this sh—y airline again.”
“When I said that, the lady who I was talking to took a step back and gasped, and was like, ‘How dare you curse at me? I’m not checking you in. I don’t have to check you in.’ And my reaction was, ‘You will check me in.’ I think those were the words that I used,” he recounted.
Taunted, mocked
The woman then allegedly refused to process his check-in, and other Frontier staffers began filming him on their phones. In the now-viral footage, two agents dressed in long-sleeved black Frontier uniforms can be heard taunting him: “You thought you were gonna get on your flight?” — a line they repeated multiple times while laughing.
“You didn't pay $25 for an agent assist fee. Hello? And you thought you was gonna get on your flight. And you thought you was gonna get on your flight. And you thought you was gonna get on your flight. And you thought you was gonna get on your flight. And you thought you was gonna get on your flight,” the agent said repeatedly while her colleague laughed.
Both the Frontier Airlines agents had their smartphones out to film the encounter.
Backlash and outrage
In a statement to AviationSource, Frontier Airlines said the agents have been terminated: “We are aware of what occurred and have been directly in touch with the customer. The individuals in question, who work for a third party contractor, are no longer associated with the Frontier account,” the airline said.
The video has garnered millions of views on social media, leading to the two agents being slammed for their unprofessional behaviour.
Many called them rude and condescending, and asked how they thought this was appropriate workplace behaviour.
“The behavior seems ridiculously unprofessional, and there's a reason why Frontier has the reputation that it does,” wrote one X user.
“I don’t care if the customer was late, rude or otherwise out of line. No airline employee should ever behave this way,” another said.
