A woman said she wasn't allowed to board a Frontier Airlines flight even though she arrived on time — and was then rebooked for a flight two days later

27.07.2023 - 20:41 / insider.com / Frontier Airlines / Airlines

20-year-old Marley Stevens has put out a viral PSA on TikTok not to fly with Frontier Airlines after she claimed the airline wouldn't let her on her flight over the weekend — and proceeded to reschedule her for a flight leaving two days later. She told Insider she flew to her destination on a different airline, but she's still awaiting her refund for the gaffe.

A spokesperson for Frontier Airlines told Insider that they will honor a refund, however, their records indicated that Stevens "failed to appear for boarding within the required timeframe" — a claim that Stevens vehemently disputes.

"If you have a choice between walking somewhere or flying Frontier...walk," she said in her fiery video from Monday.

Stevens' TikTok about the incident has been viewed over 1.3 million times. On Saturday, she was scheduled to leave out of Atlanta's airport, heading to San Francisco at 8:15 p.m., she explained to viewers.

When she began filming, it was 9:30 p.m., and she still had not boarded the flight.

The TikToker said she received an email from Frontier that day saying the flight was filling up, asking her if she could switch to a different flight. She needed to get to her destination because her family was vacationing there, so she did not respond to the offer.

"I get to my gate an hour and a half early as I always do, 'cause I'm a paranoid gal," she said.

When her group was called to board and she approached the front desk, she claimed the agent who scanned her ticket told her, "Oh, you're not on this flight." Stevens insisted that she was properly scheduled for that flight and showed her boarding pass to her.

"She goes, 'Oh, well, I guess we just don't have room for you,'" Stevens recounted. "I was like, what?"

The agent apparently told Stevens that she'd have to be put on the next Frontier flight to San Francisco because her seat on this flight was taken. The only issue was that the next flight was not scheduled to leave until Monday, July 24 — two days later — and it would depart at 6:05 a.m. and with a 12-hour Denver layover. This meant she wouldn't arrive in San Francisco until midnight.

Stevens told Insider that her immediate reaction was panic.

In a follow-up video, Stevens said she had needed to get to San Francisco on time for multiple reasons: her parents were already there a full day, they had tickets for touristy events and shows, and because her check-in luggage was already on its way.

Stevens said she ultimately decided to buy a new flight with American Airlines because it was leaving the next morning. "I got up at the buttcrack of dawn the next morning and flew with American, no problems, surprise surprise," she said.

The airline has offered Stevens a refund, but also a counter-narrative to why