A woman from Florida has initiated a class-action lawsuit for $100 million against Frontier Airlines, accusing the company of masquerading as a low-cost carrier. She alleges that the airline employs deceptive “bait-and-switch” strategies related to its luggage rules and charges.
Dipping into the well of legalese pablum, court filings unveil that Hamad has thrown shade at Frontier Airlines, labelling it as “definitely not a discount flyer”.
She claims that their supposed rock-bottom prices are as real as unicorns, and that the airline has a nifty little game of shattering its fees into itty-bitty fragments and sprinkling them throughout the booking process. Apparently, this magic trick is to make an otherwise totally normal airfare appear as though it were a bargain.
Clever, eh?
The practice? Yes.
The lawsuit? No.
Here’s Why
Frontier is an apparent stickler for baggage size, insisting that personal items not go beyond 14 inches tall, 18 inches wide, and 8 inches deep – and guess what, they count handles, wheels, and straps too.
Court documents include photos of Hamad’s bag trying, and failing, to squeeze into Frontier’s ‘one size fits all’ sizer. Hamad then decided to take her bag on a date with Spirit Airlines’ size basket and – voila! – it fit. Makes you wonder, as both airlines are singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to dimensions for a personal item. Something’s not adding up, right?
The Mistake: ‘Frontier is not a budget airline’
Who decides that?
The ‘budget’ police?
I ‘get’ the shell game all the carriers impose on us. But if you’re going to file a lawsuit, don’t pin your strategy on what a definition is. And the picture clearly showed her bag did not fit in Frontier’s bin, accurate or not.
This will be a tough sell to a judge.
