Frontier Airlines dropping customer service phone number

Frontier Airlines has said it will end its long-running customer service phone number line. 

In a statement to The Hill, Frontier Airlines spokesperson Jennifer De La Cruz confirmed the airlines’ plans to transition its customer care services to fully digital communications services. 

Frontier customers will be able to contact the airline through digital channels such as the chatbot on its official website, a daily live chat feature available on its social media channels and through the instant messaging platform WhatsApp. 

“Our Customer Care function recently transitioned to fully digital communications, which enables us to ensure our customers get the information they need as expeditiously and efficiently as possible,” De La Cruz said in a statement. “We have found that most customers prefer communicating via digital channels.”

According to NPR, airline customers will now hear an automated message when they call the customer service phone number line, which will inform them about other options to contact customer services. 

Frontier Airlines, which sought but failed to merge with Spirit Airlines earlier this year, was one of six airlines that received fines from the Department of Transportation earlier this month for delaying refunds to customers and violating consumer-protection rules. The six were ordered to pay $600 million in refunds to customers who had been denied them.

Frontier, the only U.S.-based airline carrier to be fined by the Transportation Department, was also forced to pay $222 million in refunds to customers and another $2 million in civil penalties.

—Updated Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.