People are cheating the system in airports and using wheelchair assistance when they don't need to, Frontier CEO says
Elizabeth Page Brumley/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
- The Frontier Airlines CEO called for a crackdown on fake wheelchair service use at airports.
- Barry Biffle said it costs the airline $30 to $35 per person.
- It comes after the CEO of London Heathrow Airport criticized a TikTok travel hack in 2022.
The CEO of Frontier Airlines called for a crackdown on people falsely using wheelchair services at airports, CNBC reported.
"There is massive, rampant abuse of special services," Barry Biffle said at an event with The Wings Club, a society for aviation professionals. "There are people using wheelchair assistance who don't need it at all," he added.
According to CNBC, Biffle said there were some Frontier flights on which 20 people used wheelchairs to board the plane, but only three used them on arrival. "We are healing so many people," he joked.
"Everyone should be entitled to it who needs it, but you park in a handicapped space they will tow your car and fine you," CNBC reported Biffle as saying.
"There should be the same penalty for abusing these services."
On TikTok, some users have promoted making use of airport wheelchair services to beat queues.
In 2022, the then-CEO of London Heathrow Airport told LBC: "People are using the wheelchair support to try to get fast-tracked through the airport."
"If you go on TikTok you will see that is one of the travel hacks that people are recommending," he added. "Please don't do that, we need to protect the service for the people who need it most."
His comments came after reports of wheelchair users being stuck on planes waiting for help to deplane.
Biffle said the service costs Frontier $30 to $35 each time, per CNBC.