A U.S. Navy sailor is accusing two Frontier Airlines staffers of extorting him for $50 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport while he was attempting to board a flight to Los Angeles.
Demonta Roach, who serves at a Navy base in Los Angeles, claimed the employees demanded the money from him to buy marijuana and a manicure after allegedly delaying his boarding.
Roach stated that one of the staffers told him, “I don’t give a damn what you’re in, as long as you have my damn money.”
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Reports indicate that Roach recorded footage of the interaction, which shows the Frontier staffers pressuring the him to send the money through Cash App.
In the video, Roach can be heard saying, “Look, I ain’t got no money,” to which one staffer responded, “You trying to get home or you trying to get left?”
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Roach claims the employees told him they typically charged $100 for the service yet would offer a discount because of his military status.
The incident occurred on Veteran’s Day, and resulted in a delay in Roach’s flight, he told WSB-TV.
After roaming the airport, Roach revealed that he returned to the gate, where he was told the plane’s door had been closed, despite no final boarding call being made.
He was then allegedly told, “I don’t care who you report to; if you want to get back on this plane, you have to pay me.”
According to Roach, one of the staffers said: “This is how I get my weed money.” When Roach refused to comply, one employee reportedly warned, “When we deplaned and they flag you, I don’t want to hear nothing.”
Roach then insisted that it was clear the employees had done this before, and said he eventually boarded his flight after pretending he had sent the money through Cash App.
Frontier Airlines has responded to the allegations in a statement which reads: “We take claims like this seriously, and our team is in the process of investigating the situation to determine what happened. In the meantime, we have offered the customer a voucher for $150 as a customer service gesture.”
Roach however called the voucher inadequate and said, “$150 is not enough for the pain and the agony,” and demanded the employees be fired. He added, “If she did this to me, I can only imagine how many other people she’s done this to.”
Earlier this year, Frontier Airlines was ranked as the worst airline in the U.S. in terms of customer complaints.
According to the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, Frontier had 33 complaints per 100,000 passengers, which is more than twice the number of the next-worst carrier, Spirit Airlines.
Frontier has expressed disappointment in the ranking but revealed that it had made recent investments to improve customer service.
