Frontier cancellations leave travelers stranded for days at Orlando International
By Liv Johnson
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — Screens full of red, crowds of people needing help and dozens of travelers seeking refuge on the ground: that’s what the scene inside of the Orlando International Airport looked like on Monday afternoon.
The airport experienced 68 flight cancellations in 24 hours.
Frontier’s help desk was filled with passengers like Laura Bellini, whose flight home to Cleveland was canceled. The next available direct flight doesn’t leave until Wednesday.
“The flight was scheduled for 2:55. We boarded. It was canceled at 4 or so,” Bellini said.
Perhaps no one has it worse than Andrew Mandracchia – a traveler from Central Islip, New York whose frontier flight has been canceled three times over the span of four days. It’s caused him to miss work and his best friend’s father’s funeral.
“I fought tooth and nail to try and get back for it….it’s awful,” he said.
Mandracchia says his original flight was scheduled for Friday at 10 p.m., but after multiple mechanical issues, Frontier pushed back it to 3 a.m.
“I believe I was in line for roughly two hours. I don’t believe I left that airport until 7 a.m.,” he said.
After waiting in the customer service line, he was booked onto a 3:30 p.m. flight on Saturday. That flight was canceled due to weather. He was then re-booked for a flight on Sunday night that was canceled because the crew timed out.
“I can’t keep doing this. I’ve missed everything and now I’m going to begin missing work and possibly lose my job,” he said.
In a statement, Frontier Airlines told us: “Unfortunately, flights out of Orlando have been heavily impacted over the past several days by factors beyond our control that have caused a number of cancellations. Two of Mr. Mandracchia’s three canceled flights were for uncontrollable reasons. He has been issued a voucher for future travel along with some meal vouchers. We sincerely apologize for his experience during what has been a very challenging past few days for air travel across the country.”
Mandracchia’s just hoping his flight on Tuesday evening finally gets him home.
“Most of my money has been put in just trying to get home at this point. I’m spending more and more by the day just using gas and food and everything else,” he said.
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