Woman Claims Frontier Airlines Pays "Bounty" to Workers who Make Fliers Check Bags

Frontier Airlines has received its fair share of criticism on social media. Like the time a flight attendant allegedly told a passenger to "drive" after they complained about being on a flight with someone who was sneezing during the height of the fervor fomented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And then there was the time someone blasted the airline for allowing his two unaccompanied minor kids to spend the night alone in a hotel room with other flight attendants when their plane was grounded in Atlanta, and not telling him about it.

Cassie says in her video, "If you fly Frontier Airlines you need to know what's going on. Frontier airline agents now have an incentive program where they get $10 per bag per person who's flying if they like to catch someone who has a bag that doesn't actually fit in the carry-on or personal bag."

This policy has been coming under scrutiny on social media from several folks online, who've recorded instances where they are being forced to pay overage charges on personal items that appear to fit in the pre-set metal boxes used to determine whether or not fliers are violating personal item size protocols.

Cassie goes on to seemingly suggest that Frontier Airlines employees are now incentivized to be on the lookout for passenger bags that don't fit in these areas so that they could earn themselves some extra cash here and there.

"They get $10 per person that they charge for that bag. Okay now watch this video," she says in the clip, before it transitions to footage of one of these bag-fit-checkers outside of a Frontier Airlines flight gate.

In the clip, a backpack can be seen being put inside of a personal-bag checker station. It slides right in without any issue and there appears to be even more room for a bigger bag as there looks like there's extra space for such in the bag-fit checker.

The video then transitions back to Cassie speaking into the camera: "That's my sister putting her personal bag her backpack in the slot for personal bags. Literally fits right in. She had a flight with Frontier this afternoon and they wouldn't let her on the flight the guy was like your bag's too big."

The bag the Frontier airlines employee, Cassie says, he was referring to was the backpack that easily fit into the bag-fit-checker she showed previously in the clip: "She was like what do you mean it fits? And he was like no you can't go on the flight you have to pay for the bag. And she's kind of like arguing with the guy because it clearly fits she shouldn't have to pay for this bag."

Cassie goes on, "And then everybody else is boarding and finally she's like okay I'll just pay for the bag let me on the flight please. And he goes no sorry it's too late and shut the door. So then she had to book a whole new flight home because they wouldn't let her on the flight...even though her bag fit."

"They just wouldn't let her on...like what? And the thing is my sister is not very confrontational so like her arguing with this guy was probably like no but like my flight it fits I don't understand. You know what I mean like she's like very timid and she wouldn't like make a scene she's not that kind of person."

Cassie continued to express that she just couldn't believe a flight attendant wouldn't let her sister on the plane and tried to force her to pay for a personal bag despite the fact that it fit the metal box used to check bag dimensions.

"But the fact that she was finally like okay I will pay for this bag even though I'm showing you that it literally is the right size she's not even like trying to push it down or anything it just slides right in and then he's like no sorry and they closed the door and wouldn't let her on the flight and she was early she's the kind of person who gets to the airport 3 hours early."

Cassie said that her sister tried to talk to a customer service representative about the situation to see what could be done, but they seemed even less helpful: "so then she went to the line to talk to somebody else about it since she needs a new flight now and they're like well I don't know what you want me to do about it and she was like your employee wouldn't let me on the flight because my bag was too big but I'm showing you that the bag is not too big."

Cassie said that her sister went on to point-by-point explain to the other Frontier employees what the issue is: "I have a video of this happening and like it fits I don't understand why I was rejected boarding for Frontier when I could have been on the plane. And they wouldn't help her. They wouldn't rebook her flight. They wouldn't give her a refund."

Cassie's sister ultimately had to book "another flight with another airline" which cost her "another $200 on her flight" as a result of the Frontier airlines' employee's actions.

"It just doesn't make sense and I'm sharing so be mindful if you're flying with Frontier because the employees do have an incentive for $10 per bag so they're gonna be assholes to you about it just so they can make an extra buck. And I get it. Get your bag, make that money, but do it fairly if somebody's bag is literally the right size don't do that to them."

The Independent did confirm with Frontier Airlines that gate agents were paid a commission on checked bags per passengers, however, the airline did not specify what the exact amount of the incentive pay was.

One passenger who complained about the practice in the Independent article says that had she known about the practice she would've simply Venmo'd the gate agent $10. She also said that like Cassie's sister, her bag, too, fit in the bag-fit checker.