Woman Gets Off Frontier Flight From Jamaica. 2 Hours Later, She Still Doesn’t Have Her Bags: ‘They Give Delta Priority’

Two hours after landing, a Frontier passenger found herself staring at a practically empty carousel that still didn’t have her luggage on it. She says staff told her that Delta Air Lines flights landing after hers were being unloaded first, and that her bags were sitting on the aircraft until Delta’s passengers had cleared out.

Not2muchonm3 (@not2muchonm3) posted a TikTok with the onscreen caption: “DO NOT FLY FRONTIER!!!! SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE!!!”

“There is no reason why I landed at like 5:50 something. It is 7:55 and I still have yet to receive my bags,” she says. “They have not put their bags on. Everybody’s here waiting.” She pans to a crowd standing at the belt, then back to herself. “There’s only one lady here that is trying to help everybody and trying to figure out what is going on with our bags. Why are our bags still on the aircraft?”

“Then they said that Delta flights are coming in. Mind you, three to four Delta flights came in already and they got their bags and they left,” she says. “Apparently, Delta flights, if they come in, our bags stay on the aircraft and they give Delta priority, so they get their bags, but we have to stand here.”

She had taken the airline for a family funeral. “I needed to reach Jamaica for my uncle’s funeral, so I took Frontier. Never again,” she says, adding that she isn’t after a voucher. “I don’t want no credit. I don’t want no nothing.” Near the end she tips the camera at the carousel again: “In real time, these bags that are coming through, these don’t belong to nobody.”

Who Actually Unloads A Frontier Bag

The top reply in her comments tries to redirect her anger. “Let’s clarify that’s not on Frontier, that is on the airport,” wrote jacquelineangiesa. Mizz___p added: “The people that put the bags on the belt are NOT employed by Frontier!”

That second comment is close to the mark, according to Frontier’s own corporate filings. The airline’s most recent annual report from February says that it keeps costs down by “outsourcing certain functions, such as customer contact centers, lost bag services, ground handling services and catering services.” The same filing says Frontier has “entered into agreements with third-party specialists to furnish certain facilities and services required for our operations, including ground handling” and passenger handling.

The people working that belt, then, are contractors Frontier hires rather than airport staff, which means that the question of whose flights that ground crew service first is out of Frontier’s control.

Federal Rules

As far as federal rules are concerned, a two-hour delay to get your luggage is not grounds for a refund. Under the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) refund rules, a bag counts as significantly delayed when it isn’t delivered “within 12 hours of the last flight segment’s arrival for domestic itineraries, within 15 hours” for international itineraries whose nonstop U.S. segment runs 12 hours or less, and within 30 hours for longer ones.

The refund isn’t automatic in the way the name suggests, either. A carrier has no obligation to pay it unless the passenger files a Mishandled Baggage Report with the airline that operated the flight.

Frontier’s own contract of carriage is even stricter on timing. On domestic flights and international ones not covered by the Montreal Convention, the 1999 treaty that sets airline liability rules for international travel, “any claim based on damage, delay, or loss of baggage must be reported to Frontier within 4 hours of the arrival of the flight.” Where the Montreal Convention does apply, delay complaints have to be made in writing within 21 days. The contract also says passengers “who incur incidental expenses as a result of delayed baggage delivery will be reimbursed per established DOT guidelines.”

‘I Stay Flying Frontier’

The comments were more focused on debating the merits of the airline than the creator’s specific situation. Shes.awesum, who says she holds the Go Wild annual pass, was unsympathetic. “I haven’t checked a bag since 2019,” she wrote. “My bag’s gonna be with me, but the bag issue you are upset about has nothing to do with Frontier.” Shayyalexis agreed: “I stay flying Frontier, never had any issues.”

Beautyisunconventional offered another defense of the airline that put blame on the baggage contractor: “Unloading bags isn’t controlled by Frontier. It’s a third-party vendor they outsource to do that. Delta hires their own ramp agents.”

Nothenny told her to file a report anyway, and the creator replied, “We did, and the explanation she gave was that Delta had priority over Frontier so we had to wait until all the Delta flights got their bags. I have neverrrr heard of that.”

BoardingArea reached out to not2muchonm3 via TikTok direct message and to Frontier for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if either responds.

@not2muchonm3 SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE!!! #Frontier #FrontierAirlines #Neveragain #BringBackSpirit ♬ original sound – not2muchonm3