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Source: South Bend Tribune, Ind.mini storageJuly 16--SOUTH BEND -- When she logged onto Frontier Airlines' website Saturday, Carol Kolecki, of South Bend, received a shock.She and her mother-in-law had purchased tickets for a trip to visit family in Colorado. They planed to fly out of South Bend Sept. 16 and return Sept. 24 and she wanted to add another ticket to their reservation.But the website wouldn't allow it. Instead, a message popped up saying that flights out of South Bend would be discontinued after Sept. 9."I panicked because I had already paid for everything," she said in a phone interview Monday.The airline hadn't notified her of the change.South Bend Regional Airport announced Monday that Frontier was discontinuing service between South Bend and Denver effective Sept. 10.Kate O'Malley, a spokeswoman for the airline, confirmed the news via e-mail on Monday. "Bookings did not meet expectations for a new market," she added.When Frontier entered the South Bend market in October, it was hailed as a much-needed service in South Bend, offering four direct westbound flights each week to Denver, which is rated the 13th busiest airport in the world.Denver, Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta are three of the five busiest airports in the U.S. and the service ensured that South Bend had direct flights to all three."I'm a little disappointed," said Jeff Rea, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County. "That West Coast connection is very critical for economic development opportunities."He was told the news while on the West Coast."I'm actually shocked to hear that," he said. "I just flew yesterday on that flight. The flight was full."He said he's heard really good things about Frontier and its partnership with the airport, which worked hard to bring the service to South Bend.In its release announcing Frontier's departure, the airport stated that it continues to meet with other airlines looking for new service and destinations. Airport officials said they would not be available for additional comment on Monday."When we beself storagean service to Denver, the data showed that we should have been able to get travelers to start their westward flights locally from SBN instead of driving to other larger airports," said Mike Daigle, executive director of the airport in the release. "Unfortunately, although nonstop traffic to Denver did increase, Frontier was not able to remain profitable on this route."Between its first flight and the end of December, more than 10,000 passengers used the service, according to a March report in The Tribune. At that time, the airline said the route was performing as expected.On average, Frontier's flights were 79 percent full through the month of May, and peaked at 85 percent in March, the airport reported.Kolecki said she is still waiting for a notice from Frontier that her flight was canceled. She suggested Frontier didn't send the e-mail notification it promised because she worked out the issue with its reservation desk.It took three phone calls to work out the problem with Frontier. She was offered several choices: switch flights and pay the difference, get a refund or fly out of Midway.She finally got the airline to agree to switch the dates without charging her extra. She will be leaving and returning before the service is canceled.But, she could still lose money."I bought a package that is nonrefundable," she said, explaining that it included a car rental which cost $235 -- money she might not get back. She's working with the rental agency to try to change her reservation now.In the meantime, she's "leery about the whole thing," she said, wondering what options will be available to people who discover the switch after the few remaining Frontier flights are booked up.And she's disappointed that the Denver flight won't be available in South Bend anymore."This is the first chance we are getting to go out to Colorado," she said. "We were hoping to go again."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Ind.) Visit the South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Ind.) at www.southbendtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉