Airline CEO says travelers trying to avoid paying for carry-on luggage are ‘shoplifters’

The CEO of Frontier Airlines has choice words for passengers who attempt to fly without paying for carry-on baggage. In an interview with Reuters published on Tuesday, Barry Biffle hit back at accusations from the Senate that the low-cost airline company is exploiting customers with “junk fees” — charging separately for basic amenities, such as carry-on luggage, and unbundling services that used to be covered by the cost of an airline ticket. The Senate’s Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations claimed in a recent report that Frontier and Spirit Airlines paid $26m in 2022 and 2023 to gate agents for catching passengers who attempted to avoid carry-on fees. “Frontier personnel can earn as much as $10 for each bag a passenger is forced to check at the gate,” the report said, adding that an unnamed Frontier official told the Subcommittee that “bag policy enforcement was necessary because the airline does not want customers to be taking more or ‘stealing’ from the airline.” In response, Biffle defended the budget airline’s practice by arguing that avoiding baggage fees is unfair to passengers who comply with the rules. “These are shoplifters. These are people that are stealing,” he told Reuters. “It’s not equitable to everyone who follows the rules.”<br/>