Last fall, my little brother, who has been battling cancer, was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. His caretaker called the family to tell us that he only had a few days to live. My 83-year-old aunt had been helping support him during his illness and was unable to travel to see him. My other brother also had health problems and was unable to make the trip. I am 63 years old and I was laid off a couple of years ago. Finding a well-paying job when you are over 60 is difficult. I drive Uber to make ends meet, so my budget is very limited. He’s my brother, so I made an emergency trip to Ohio to see him one last time and represent the family. He stayed for a while and passed away on November 10, 2020.
My sister-in-law called in January. I wanted to have a birthday party for my aunt who would be 84 on May 1st. Even though I hadn’t paid for my trip to see my brother, I agreed to fly back to Ohio for his party. At 83 years old, we don’t know how much longer he will be with us. Life is very uncertain during a pandemic and she is in a very high risk group. The reunion would give us a chance to celebrate his life and mourn my brother.
I purchased a ticket on Frontier Airlines on January 11, 2020.
I was hoping to only stay 1 day for the party but had to book 3 days to get the least expensive ticket. I couldn’t drive for Uber in those days. It would take a huge hit to my income that week. My lost income along with the cost of the trip would be over $1,000, but family is important. It would be nice to see them again.
Reports started coming in from China about the Corona virus. They had locked up 500 million people, more than the entire population of the United States. On January 31, President Trump blocked travel from China. The news got progressively worse and I began to worry about traveling on a plane with a highly communicable disease that was ravaging the country.
On February 27, Frontier alerted me that they were going to cancel my original reservation, presumably because they didn’t have enough passengers to make the flight. They wanted to reschedule my flights. I called to tell them I didn’t want to make the change. He wanted to wait and see if he could schedule a shorter trip so he wouldn’t miss 3 days of work. Frontier said it would issue a coupon good for 90 days so you could reschedule later.
The first US citizen died of Corona Virus on February 29. The infection was spreading rapidly. I thought it would be safe to wait to reschedule. On March 17, the Governor of California announced a stay-at-home order. Other states across the country quickly announced their own stay-at-home orders. Frontier finally stopped flying entirely during the month of April. I couldn’t reschedule my flight even if I wanted to.
On April 3, the Department for Transportation ruled that airlines must refund customers if their flights are cancelled. Many airlines were not in compliance, so the DOT issued another warning on May 12, 2020. This was unprecedented.
I haven’t worked since March 17. The government has said that temporary workers like me could get $600 a week, but that hasn’t happened. I have had no income except $1200 stimulus check for 3 months. I contacted Frontier and asked them to refund my $336. They have not provided any service and could not because they were not flying when my flight was scheduled.
Frontier has refused. Not only do they not give me my money back, I only have until June 2nd to book a flight with them or I lose my money. They will keep $336 for doing nothing.
Is Frontier profiting from the pandemic? I definitely would have made the trip if there wasn’t a highly infectious pandemic. They closed in April, it was impossible for me to even use their services if I wanted to. I feel like I should be entitled to a refund. His representative, Lulu Zaldivar, tells me that they will not return my money. They claim that even though they canceled my original flight and tried to reschedule it, I was the one who canceled the flight and am not eligible for a refund under the DOT order.
Do you think this is fair?
Frontier Airlines at (801) 401-9000
About the author: David Berger is a 63-year-old Uber driver. He lives in San Diego, California, and has had no income since California’s stay-at-home order on March 17.