Cleveland Family Stranded Abroad After Frontier Cancels Flight with No Plan to Get Them Home

CLEVELAND 13 (WCTU) — A Cleveland-area family says a canceled Frontier Airlines flight turned what should have been a routine return home into a costly and chaotic ordeal that left dozens of passengers stranded in a foreign country with little guidance or support.

Cheri Xeros, her husband, and their three children were scheduled to return to Cleveland on Frontier Flight 33 from Punta Cana on January 4, 2026. The flight was originally set to depart at 2:57 p.m. local time. Instead, it was delayed repeatedly throughout the day before being canceled late that evening.

According to Frontier’s own email notifications sent to passengers, the first delays were attributed to a late-arriving aircraft. By mid-afternoon, that explanation changed. Beginning at 4:06 p.m., Frontier notified passengers that the flight was delayed to allow for aircraft maintenance. That reason was repeated in multiple subsequent updates, including messages sent at 5:01 p.m., 6:14 p.m., 6:16 p.m., and again at 7:11 p.m., with the departure time pushed later each time.

By approximately 8:45 p.m., the flight was canceled.

“There was no warning and no plan,” Xeros said. “We were told it was canceled and basically left to figure it out on our own.”

What followed, she said, was chaotic and unsettling. Families crowded into the terminal late at night, unsure of what would happen next. Xeros described an elderly woman nearby suffering a panic attack and being taken away by ambulance. She also said a young child became seriously ill while waiting for transportation.

“A young boy vomited and defecated himself right there in front of my family,” she said. “Then he still had to get on an overcrowded shuttle bus to the hotel. It was heartbreaking and disturbing.”

Xeros said the shuttle bus, which she believes was coordinated by Frontier, was dangerously overcrowded. She estimates the full-size charter bus was designed to hold around 60 passengers but carried closer to 80 people that night.

She also described unsanitary conditions inside the airport, including restrooms without soap or toilet paper. At one point, she said, her son spilled a drink on the floor and she sought out airport staff to prevent someone from slipping.

“They put up a caution sign and never cleaned it,” she said. “They just let it dry.”

Frontier Airlines later acknowledged in written responses to Xeros and the U.S. Department of Transportation that the delay was extended due to aircraft maintenance, which the airline classified as an operational issue. At the same time, the airline continued to assert that the initial cause of the disruption was a late-arriving aircraft, which it described as outside its control.

In an email response dated January 19, Frontier wrote, “The delay was later extended due to required aircraft maintenance, which is considered an operational factor. Ultimately, the flight was cancelled due to unforeseen operational reasons. While the secondary cause was operationally within our control, the initial and primary cause of the delay remained outside Frontier’s control.”

Xeros disputes that characterization. She says passengers were repeatedly told maintenance was the issue and that no meaningful rebooking options were offered when the cancellation occurred.

“At the airport, a Frontier agent told me they couldn’t get us home and advised me to book another airline,” she said. “That same guidance was repeated during a phone call with Frontier that night. There was no flight available for days that could accommodate all five of us.”

According to Xeros, the next available Frontier flight with enough seats was not until January 11, seven days after the original departure. Faced with that reality, her family booked alternate travel the following day on Air Transat, flying to Toronto before renting a car and driving six hours back to Ohio.

The total cost of that replacement travel was $5,787.96.

After the family had already returned home, Xeros received a text message from Frontier indicating they had been rebooked on a January 6 flight, a flight she says had previously been described as full.

“That rebooking came after we were already gone,” she said. “It did not reflect what was available or offered when we were stranded.”

Frontier refunded the unused portion of the family’s ticket, totaling $1,462, and issued two $100 travel vouchers per passenger. The airline cited its Contract of Carriage and federal regulations in declining to reimburse additional expenses.

Xeros says she does not accept the vouchers and has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Transportation.

“I am not asking for sympathy,” she said. “I am asking for accountability. If an airline cancels an international flight due to maintenance and offers no reasonable way home, passengers should not be left on their own.”

Her complaint remains under review.

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