Frontier Airlines hangs up on customer service by telephone
Frontier Airlines hangs up on customer service by telephone
For years, it seems it’s been getting harder and harder to get an actual human customer service representative on the phone when you have a problem or a question.
And now, if you’re dealing with Frontier Airlines, you won’t be able to do it at all. The low-cost carrier has transitioned fully, it says, to “digital communications,” meaning the only way to reach the airline if your flight’s been canceled, you need to rebook or your bag has been lost is online.
Frontier still has a phone number, there’s just no one answering it.
“We make it easy to find what you need at flyfrontier.com or on our mobile app,” says the recorded voice when you dial its customer service line.
Maria Fleming and her husband, however, did not find it easy. Frontier lost their bags on Friday on a flight from Chicago to Orlando, Florida.
They tried the phone, which pointed them to the website. Then Fleming’s husband tried email, which pointed him to a chat bot.
“And he got an email back from that AI software saying, ‘Give us 24 hours and we’ll let you know.’ Then the next day it was the same: ‘Give us 24 hours and we’ll let you know,'” she said.
In a statement, Frontier said customers should be able to connect with a real person online.
Maybe even faster than you would have been able to on the phone, said airline industry analyst Mike Arnot.
“When you call in to an airline customer service agent, that agent is handling one customer at a time,” he said.
It’s different when agents chat with people online.
“That customer service agent can handle multiple queries through chat all at once,” Arnot said.
He said not having a phone option could alienate some customers.
But David Slotnick at The Points Guy said chances are it’ll work out fine for Frontier.
“The low-cost airline model has always been that there’s inconveniences or discomfort,” said Slotnick. “But the idea is that people really won’t care as long as they’re getting the cheapest flight.”
Frontier declined to talk for this story. Instead, it sent an email.
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