‘She caused a stampede’: Traveler says Frontier Airlines worker told passengers to board plane on ‘first come, first serve’ basis

A Frontier Airlines passenger claims that a Jacksonville-to-Philadelphia flight was plagued by many issues — including a gate attendant telling passengers to board on a “first come, first serve” basis, even though the flight had assigned seats.

The video comes from creator IKnowRy (@iknowry), with more than 310,000 views since it went up one day ago. In it, the creator alleges, “Frontier Airlines cancelled and repeatedly delayed a flight for over 3 DAYS!”

The caption reads, “Frontier Airlines is OUT OF HAND,” and the video contains snippets recorded via smartphone, edited together to chronicle a flight that the creator says was beset with issues.

@iknowry Frontier Airlines is OUT OF HAND ##explore #explorepage #frontierairlines #frontier #iwannagohome #Philly #florida #trips #Help ♬ original sound – IKnowRy

In the clip, the TikToker can be heard saying, “They said this is a first come, first serve seats going to Philly,” over the shouts of other passengers around the boarding gate. The camera pans over the crowd before focusing on the gate agent, who clearly says, “It takes too long to board y’all. So it’s first come, first serve. When you get on that plane, I need you to sit in the first available seat.”

The clip then cuts to inside of the aircraft, with a text overlay explaining that they boarded at 3:15, five hours after the scheduled time. The creator also notes that, “it’s actually assigned seats,” and that the gate attendant, “just said anything and started a riot for no reason,” although there is no footage of an actual riot — just a bunching of people toward the gate.

However, before the passengers can get too comfortable, a voice which the creator says belongs to the pilot, says, “I know this is something you don’t want to hear, but we’re gonna have to gather our belongings and exit the aircraft.”

The TikToker captures a quick, blurry shot of two uniformed officers, who she alleges were police called to the front of the plane as backup while passengers disembarked from the aircraft. Then, she claims, the airline said they had to rebook the flight for a different day and that passengers would need to pick up their checked luggage.

Passengers were also instructed to leave the gate area, and told they could inquire about their flights at the Frontier ticket counter.

One person yells, “We all have nowhere to go!”

The video ends with footage of a line by the Frontier counters, with text overlay that claims, “They said employees stepped away from the counter (no one is up there).”

This isn’t the first time a passenger has had a nightmare flight experience with Frontier, and viewers voiced their feelings about the airline in the comments.

“TikTok has convinced me that I will never fly Frontier or Spirit,” someone wrote.

Another declared, “I flew Frontier ONE time! Never again!”

“We flew Frontier for the first time this week & I will never fly with them again,” one commenter revealed. “Between the delays & all the fees, it equaled to what I would have paid with a better airline.”

“This was Jacksonville to Philly? Three days?” another observed. “Could have drove home by then. Crazy.”

“I’m in Virginia and drive to Orlando all the time,” someone else said. “It’s only 14 hours they could have easily drove.”

One person made the case that it wasn’t just Frontier Airlines having issues with their flights, claiming, “It wasn’t just this airline. This weekend there were tons of delays.”

The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Frontier via email.