Frontier Airlines Rescinded refund, broken website, terrible customer service Colorado Denver

My complaint against Frontier Airlines spans over the course of four months and several instances of terrible customer service. It takes a lot for me to complain about a business, but these are the worst business practices I have ever experienced. Specifically:
• A broken reservation system which led me to believe that my flights had been changed when in fact they hadn’t
• A broken customer service system that hung up on me and refused to cancel my flights upon three attempts
• A broken promise to refund my money
• And to top it all, a monumental wastage of my time to just get the refund they already approved.

I have been disappointed repeatedly by Frontier Airline’s broken website and a “customer service” department that has no care for my concerns or commitment to fix their errors. A detailed account of each frustrating transaction is at the end of this letter. However, the most egregious complaint, and what has led me to file this report is that on July 22, 2021, I received an email from Frontier confirming my refund request for $1,359, which I placed on July 7th. The email read:

Your refund request has been approved and processed back to the original form of payment on your booking. Please allow up to 7 business days for the funds to be reflected in your account. To review your refund you can visit https://www.flyfrontier.com/travel/my-trips/ and enter your last name and confirmation code.

This refund of was never reflected on their website, nor was it ever received. Twenty-three days later, on August 15, I once again emailed Frontier Airlines customer service to ask for a status update on this refund. On August 26, I received a response from them saying they “must respectfully advise that we are not able to honor your request for a refund” even though they had already said my refund request had been approved.

Below I outline in chronological detail the terrible experience I’ve had with Frontier Airlines since June, but the fact that they approved my refund, and then retracted that approval only when I had to yet again reach out to them, to me is the most egregious business practice.

I have spent more than a dozen hours at this point trying to make reservations, change reservations, calling and writing customer service, being put on hold, and being hung up on.

1. May 15, 2021
I made a reservation on flyfrontier.com/ for direct flights for me and my 10-year-old daughter from SFO to ATL. I chose their "The Works" package because it claimed to offer 100% refundability for “last minute changes.” And with COVID still a threat, I wanted to make sure we could cancel any time for our health and safety.

2. June 7, 2021
My family’s plans shifted, so I changed our flights on the Frontier Airlines website. The website confirmed that I had successfully changed my departure from July 11 to July 1.

3. June 30
When I went to check-in to our flight on the website, and then on the mobile app, the Frontier system told me that my flight was still on July 11! Although the website confirmed the change in flights on June 7th, some bug in their system prevented the change from sticking. At this point, less than 24 hours until I was expecting to get on our flight – with hotel and rental car reservations booked – I was stuck with no flight. I was very shocked and extremely upset. In a state of panic that we would miss our entire family vacation, I tried to make up for Frontier’s system failure by trying to book a red-eye with an 8 hour layover in Denver for July 1 – which would absolutely not work, especially traveling with a child – but I was under the impression that this change, and a cancellation if necessary, was covered by “the Works” package. The Frontier website is very deceptive, touting how easy it is for people to make "last minute changes" and “100% refundability” when you pay extra for “The Works."

4. June 30
When I was unable to cancel these terrible new flights booked unintentionally on the app or the website, I called customer service. The first time I got connected with a representative was at 6:45pm PT on June 30, I waited on hold for 45 minutes. When I finally reached the representative, she told me that she cancelled the flight (because it actually had not been cancelled on the website). When I told her that I wanted to stay on the line until I got an email confirmation, she hung up on me.

Two hours later, at 9:35pm PT on June 30, I still had not received a confirmation that my flight was cancelled. I called customer service back and waited on hold for 20 minutes. The representative told me my flight had still not been cancelled. She also informed me that I would have to pay a $177.99 change fee. At this point I finally received a confirmation that my flights had been cancelled. In addition to dealing with customer service by phone, I also submitted a refund request through the Frontier Airlines online form.

5. July 7
Receiving no response, I submitted a second written refund request through the Frontier Airlines online form.

6. July 15
Receiving no response, I submitted a third written refund request through the Frontier Airlines online form.

7. July 22
I received an email, which I will include in this complaint, stating that my refund was approved and that it would be processed in 7 days.

8. August 15
Submitted a request for an update on the status of my approved refund through the Frontier Airlines online form.

9. August 26
I received a response from them saying they “must respectfully advise that we are not able to honor your request for a refund” even though they had already said my refund request had been approved.

10. September 2
Spent another hour on the phone with customer service. I spoke to the first representative in this whole ordeal who was empathetic about the terrible experience I had been having for several months now and sincerely tried to help me. She transferred me to a supervisor who continued to repeat the standard response that their policy would not allow them to honor the refund they approved on July 22. I asked to speak to a manager. The supervisor told me that a manager would call me back in 24 to 48 hours.

I also contacted their customer support team on Twitter on this day, and they too repeated the standard response with no regard for the loss of my time and money because of their faulty website and troubling customer service. The only thing they are willing to offer is airline credits, and I absolutely cannot accept credits on an airline that has such an unreliable website and terrible customer service. The only way I can be made whole is by receiving the full refund they approved on July 22. I only ask that they keep their word after this terrible experience.

11. September 7
At 12:30 pm PT, a Frontier Airlines Manager called me – three days later than the 48 hours within which I was told someone would call me. This person said there was nothing they could do for me and again only repeated the standard response about their policy. I informed the manager that I would be submitting complaints to the Better Business Bureau, but they said there was nothing they could do to rectify the situation besides offer travel credits, which are unacceptable in this situation because I absolutely cannot trust this business.