PHOENIX — Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of passengers have complained about flight cancellations and not getting their money back.
Marlene Wallace never thought a refund would be an issue when she and her father, George, arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for their flight to Ohio.
"We get to the airport. We go through TSA check-in. We are waiting for the flight," explained Marlene. She said as they were waiting at the gate for their flight, her father had a medical emergency.
"Twenty minutes before the flight, my father's eyes rolled up in the back of his head. I thought he was having a stroke," she said. Her father wasn't responsive and was on the ground at the gate.
"His head slipped, fell. He was just down. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no," she explained.
Emergency crews were called and started working on George. They ended up transporting him to a nearby hospital. Marlene says he was doing much better after a three-day stay.
Her issue isn't with her father's medical care, it's with Frontier Airlines and that trip they weren't able to take.
Marlene says during her father's incident, a Frontier supervisor gave her an incident number and said it would be in the airline's system.
"So, when you file for your refund, it'll already be logged in there," she said.
But when Marlene tried getting that refund of more than $600, Frontier said, "it wasn't possible to process." In an email, they told Marlene the flight was not "canceled by our airline,"... and further, "the flight has been marked as no show."
"They told me that I never showed up for the airport," she explained.
Marlene says TSA records would show she and George went through screening that morning.
Phoenix Fire public records describe the incident, stating George was reported as "not breathing.. not responding." After crews worked on him, he became "responsive" and was "transported" to a nearby hospital.
"I gave them all the information of what fire department which hospital they wanted to know and that wasn't good enough," Marlene said.
So, she let me know.
"They're making me angry because here, I know what happened and they're pretty much calling me a liar," she said.
We got hold of the right people at Frontier and their response was quick.
In an email to us, Frontier said, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We regret any inconvenience our customers experienced following this situation, and we extend our sincere apologies..."
"They sent me my refund within one day," Marlene said.
She got back more than $600, but Marlene wasn't happy with why she wasn't believed.
"I'm glad you do what you do, because if it hadn't been for you, would I still be fighting them to this day? Probably!" Marlene stated.
Yes, it should not have taken that time, but thanks to Frontier for stepping up here and coming through.
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