Photo by Kev Cook/Flickr
Audio By Carbonatix
A Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale declared a medical emergency Thursday morning after several of its flight attendants fell sick midflight.
The pilots of Frontier Flight 1046, a 10-year-old Airbus A321 carrying as many as 230 passengers, asked for emergency medical personnel to meet the plane at the gate, according to air traffic control audio first reported by PYOK.
“If you could call the tower and have them meet at our gate for a developing medical,” one of the pilots told Miami air traffic controllers as the plane neared South Florida. Asked what was going on, the pilot elaborated.
“All my flight attendants have headaches, and now three, now four, are nauseous,” the pilot said.
The plane reportedly left Cleveland around 7:53 a.m. and touched down at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at 10:11 a.m. without incident, taxiing to gate A4, where emergency responders were waiting. Its scheduled 11:30 a.m. return to Cleveland was canceled, as was a second Cleveland-to-Fort Lauderdale flight that afternoon.
It remains unclear what caused the flight attendants to fall ill, and their condition is unknown.
It wouldn’t be the first time a Frontier crew fell sick in the air.
In June 2025, four flight attendants aboard a Frontier flight from Orlando to San Juan sought medical treatment after an odor was reported in the cabin, according to Simple Flying. Passengers were unharmed. In May of this year, a Frontier crew reported an odor while taxiing at Orlando International and turned back to the gate; three passengers were hospitalized, according to Click Orlando.
Flight crews have reported getting sick from what the industry calls “odor events” (and crew members and their lawyers have called “fume events”), in which unusual smells or toxic vapors seep into the cabin or cockpit. Most commercial jets pull fresh air directly through their engines to pressurize and ventilate the plane, a system known as “bleed air.” When a leak happens, chemicals can vaporize and mix into the air on board, causing symptoms like headaches and nausea.
A Frontier spokesperson did not immediately respond to New Times’ emailed request for comment.
