Right now, I am really rooting for them to emerge from bankruptcy. I don't know if Frontier operates at the same rank as Southwest Airlines, particularly as enumerated in Joe Nocera's column in the New York Times this morning. But Frontier scored right up there with Fish. (for regular readers of this blog).
I flew from Denver to San Francisco yesterday on Frontier and sat in seat 21F. Frontier has a relatively new policy of being cashless, which means that if you want to buy a drink or snack, you can only do it with a credit or debit card. I bought a drink. And left my wallet in my lap, anticipating I might need it again. And then forgot about it. When we landed (on time), I stood up and walked off the plane. I didn't discover until I was home and decided to go out for dinner that I didn't have my wallet.
Freak out! I have had two wallets -- one for cash and one for plastic -- ever since my pocket was picked in France about 20 years ago and I lost both in a foreign land at the beginning of a trip. Better, my theory goes, to lose either cash or plastic, but not both.
With the changes in the 20 years, my life is now contained in my plastics wallet: debit card, two credit cards (personal and business), office door and parking garage key, various membership cards, and most significant, my drivers license. Cash is nice, but when you arrive home on Friday evening before Memorial Day weekend, it's not the optimal time to lose your plastic. I could drive, use the cash I had on me, and go home. But I couldn't get new cash, get into my office, or do recreational shopping. I would have to procure my passport to get on my scheduled flight on Tuesday. Once traveling, I couldn't rent a car without a drivers license and I would not be able to pay for the hotel or other expenses unless I could get replacement cards over a three-day weekend.
So I was freaking. I called Frontier Airlines main reservation number as soon I realized I had left the wallet on the airplane. Airlines don't want you to call them these days since it's so much more expensive than getting you to do the work online. So Frontier's IVR (Interactive Voice Response) System told me I would wait 12 minutes. Meanwhile, I searched online and found that they also have a toll-free number for lost or damaged baggage and for leaving stuff on the plane. Fortunately, the lady I eventually got (in about 11 minutes; always good to exceed expectations, particularly when your customer is freaking out) gave me the direct number for Frontier's baggage office in San Francisco. I called and left a message. I also called the central lost-and-found number and left a message there.
Then what? Suffice it to say that I didn't sleep well between leaving those messages about 8:00pm on Friday night and the next morning. How long should I wait before I start cancelling my plastic and replacing it? I have to travel on Tuesday, but I doubt I can get more than a temporary ATM card before I leave. Once I left those messages, the quality of my weekend was in the hands of Frontier Airlines and I didn't know what to expect. If it was United Airlines or any of my other favorite examples of companies that don't design for servicing customers, I would know to just start the process.
You can tell where I'm headed with this. At 8:15am on Saturday, I got a call from Frontier Airlines in which I learned that they had found and kept my wallet. I went down to SFO and picked it up. Life is returning to normal. But I couldn't let the incident go by without saying how positive I feel about Frontier Airlines, how this experience cements the fundamental experience I've had with flying on their airplanes, using their systems and dealing with their people.
I love them too! I left my noise cancelling headphones on the plane, and when I called and emailed, they returned my call in less than 15 minutes and got my address to mail them out to me! Looooove !
Posted by: nini | February 04, 2009 at 01:49 PM