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Frontier cancels future flights

Some customers purchased trips out of Durango
Frontier Airlines announced Monday it is ending its seasonal service after Oct. 25, leaving dozens who had already booked flights scrambling find new travel plans.

Some Frontier Airlines customers are scrambling to change their plans after they were allowed to book flights for dates this fall and winter that the airline later canceled.

Frontier plans to end its seasonal service in late October. The airline’s website Monday showed flights end after Oct. 25.

The airline did not return messages seeking comment Monday on why customers were allowed to buy tickets for flights the airline eventually canceled. Customers were offered refunds or the opportunity to rebook flights by July 2015.

Frontier customers received emails early Monday alerting them to the cancellations. One of them was Ken Leavitt, a Durango accountant who purchased a ticket to Denver to visit his 91-year-old father in Centennial.

Leavitt called the cancellation “an inconvenience.” He spent nearly an hour on the phone with Frontier on Monday.

“We’ll try United,” he said. “It’s still early enough. I’m sure there are plenty of flights still available.”

United Airlines also flies directly from Durango to Denver, so United may be an option for fliers who were bounced from Frontier’s schedule.

Frontier offers a low-cost direct route from Durango to Denver International Airport. This autumn and winter will be the second time that Frontier has suspended its Durango-to-Denver route.

The airline cut back from year-round service to only offering seasonal flights in 2013. Frontier suspended Durango flights Oct. 29, 2013, and resumed the route May 16.

Frontier also canceled booked flights when it ended seasonal service last fall, said Kip Turner, director of aviation at Durango-La Plata County Airport. Turner said he understands why customers are upset after their plans were disrupted.

“I don’t blame them,” he said.

Some travelers choose to make the six-hour drive to DIA or the slightly shorter trip to Albuquerque International Sunport.

Denver-based Frontier also this year began charging separately for carry-on bags and other services that were previously part of the ticket price. The airline was purchased by Indigo Partners LLC last year.

cslothower@durangoherald.com



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