Two Frontier Airlines staffers tried to stop a US Navy sailor boarding a plane until he handed them $50 to spend on marijuana and a manicure, he claims.
Demonta Roach said the employees extorted him at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport as he tried to board his flight back to his Navy Base in Los Angeles.
Roach said one of them told him: ‘I don’t give a damn what you’re in, as long as you have my damn money.’
Footage taken by Roach shows the staffers pressuring him to send them money via Cash App.
‘Look, I ain’t got no money,’ Roach is heard telling them.
One of the staffers then said: ‘You trying to get home or you trying to get left?’
The staffers apparently told Roach that they usually charged $100, but were giving him a discount because he was in the military.
The incident happened on Veteran’s Day, Roach told WSB-TV.
Navy pilot Demonta Roach said two Frontier employees demanded $50 to let him board his plane from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Veteran’s Day
Roach began recording the incident after the staffers tried to shake him down
Another employee who Roach says tried to extort him is pictured on the left-hand side of this image
Roach’s plane was delayed, so he went for a wander around the enormous airport.
When he returned to the gate, he was set to be the last person to board – but the final call had not been made and he was not late, he insists.
‘The lady closed the door, she said, «I don’t care who you report to if you want to get back on this plane, you have to pay me,»‘ he said.
Roach said one of the employees said this is ‘how she got her weed money.’
When he continued to refuse to pay, one of the staffers said: ‘When we deplaned and they flag you, I don’t want to hear nothing,
Roach said he ‘could tell’ the airline employees had done this before.
He was able to board his plane after pretending he was going to send the cash to the staffers.
Roach was given $150 by the airline, which he says is not enough. He believes the staffers should be fired
Frontier said in a statement: ‘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 said $150 is not enough ‘for the pain and the agony.’
He wants the employees fired.
‘If she did this to me, I can only imagine how many other people she’s done this to,’ Roach added.
Frontier was named America’s worst airline earlier this year due to the enormous number of passenger complaints it has racked up.
The Denver-based carrier had 33 complaints for every 100,000 passengers, according to the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection.
That was more than twice the number of the next-worst carrier – Spirit Airlines – which had just under 15 complaints per 100,000 passengers.
Alaska Airlines was the least complained about carrier, with just 2.34 complaints per 100,000 passengers.
Frontier said it was ‘disappointed’ to be America’s worst airline, but insisted that recent investments had already led to improvements.
