‘Holding Us Hostage’: Frontier Delays Flight 12 Hours. 2 Hours After Boarding, The Captain Makes An Announcement

A passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight thought that they were going to have a smooth ride. Then their plane got delayed for 12 hours. Then, after passengers sat inside the aircraft for around two hours, the flight was canceled.

Now people are having an unexpected response to a video of the captain explaining the situation.

Houston resident @tx.deleon captured part of the captain’s explaining why the flight was canceled.

The situation clearly frustrated @tx.deleon and other passengers. The video is captioned, “[expletive] Frontier Airlines.

As of this writing, the post has been viewed 2.7 million times. Although some were sympathetic, thousands agreed with the pilot’s decision to cancel and complimented his honesty and transparency. 

The Captain Explains the Situation 

In the video, a Frontier captain describes a laundry list of issues with the plane.

“I’m doing you a service that I do not have to do,” he says. “But I want to do that for your benefit.”

He says the aircraft they were intending to take to Las Vegas had a number of maintenance issues that needed to be addressed immediately. The captain explains that they had already run the engine twice and that they needed a technician to address the issue directly.

But even if they found another aircraft, he wasn’t set to fly.

As he explains, the crew would have been above their legally regulated limit of time for flying before they needed rest. They therefore were barred from takeoff.

This is typically referred to in the airline industry as “crew time out.” Pilots are limited to 14 consecutive hours of duty within a 24 hour period. Then they need at least 10 hours of rest.

The captain Frontier estimates that their flight would be delayed an additional 83 minutes, which would make it illegal for the crew to fly the airplane, as it would cut into their legally required rest period.

The ongoing maintenance issues, which delayed the flight by any number of hours, could have easily pushed the pilots into time out, as those 14 consecutive hours start when a pilot reports to assignment, not when they’re up in the air.

Generally, when a crew times out, they get replaced by another crew. But considering the number of delays this particular flight already had, it may not have been feasible for the airline to assign a completely new crew and aircraft. Instead, they decided to cancel and let passengers rebook or figure out alternative routes.

Commenters Emphasize With The Flight Crew—But Not Frontier

Generally, viewers understood that while the situation was frustrating, it’s just a part of flying. It’s better for a flight to get canceled than to compromise safety.

Many commenters praised the captain. Multiple viewers said the fault fell on Frontier and not the flight crew. Although it is true that delays happen in the best of circumstances, many felt that better planning and alternative options could’ve prevented passengers from having such a lengthy delay.

“Translation: the captain is just as frustrated with the situation as you, but he is unwilling to compromise safety to get off the ground. He is however willing to clearly explain it face to face,” one viewer wrote. “The airline messed up, but the captain has my respect.”

“Extremely well spoken,” another person said. “As frustrating as the situation would be, I’d really appreciate the way this man articulated this situation so that it was fully understood. Much respect to this man. A great pilot.”

We’ve reached out to @tx.deleon via TikTok direct message and Frontier via email for more information.

@tx.deleon F*ck frontier airlines #frontier #frontierairlines #flight ♬ Clair de lune/Debussy – もつ