Frontier Airlines Leaves Passengers Stranded For 18 Hours Without Compensation

DENVER (CBS4) - What was supposed to be a 2-hour flight became an 18-hour travel ordeal for Frontier Airlines passengers flying from St. Louis to Denver.

Frontier Flight 287 was scheduled to arrive in Denver before 7 a.m. on Sunday but landed at 2:30 a.m. on Monday.

"You thought hidden cameras were up and someone was pulling something over your eyes," said passenger Rich Straub.

He described how Frontier announced one delay after another until 12 hours later when the plane was ready. By then there was nobody to fly it and a new crew had to be flown in.

Nearly 70 people, including elderly passengers and families with children, were forced to wait by the gate and sleep on the floor or in chairs. They were never offered compensation -- apparently because of a broken printer.

"We weren't offered any hotel vouchers. So at this point people with families had been here 12 hours and were told, 'You need to be here at midnight for this flight to possibly go out at midnight,' " described Straub.

Passengers said that by the time they were loaded on the plane tensions were so high that police were brought in to monitor the boarding process.

Frontier wouldn't go on camera for comment, but said the repair took longer than expected.

The final employees in a 1,300-person layoff were fired this month so the airline could outsource jobs to contractors. Now customer service complaints are spiking.

The Better Business Bureau reviewed a total of 303 Frontier complaints last year. In just the last month they have received between 100-150 complaints of Frontier.

After his experience, Straub stated, "All things being equal I would select another airline."

A more recent review by the BBB could downgrade the A to A+ rating Frontier has enjoyed for years.