Frontier Airlines cancels mascot contest over fraudulent voting

Frontier Airlines has ended a contest to pick a mascot that would be depicted on the tail of one of the carrier’s planes.

And the carrier blames it on fraudulent voting.

Frontier launched the contest in March, asking for online votes to choose a mascot of a school, club or organization to be painted on the tail of one of 19 new planes that the Denver-based carrier will add to the fleet this year.

Before the contest was killed, one of the top voter getters was Harley, a one-eyed Chihuahua representing a group opposed to puppy mills, said Jim Faulkner, a Frontier Airlines spokesman.

But the airline ended the contest after discovering that many votes for several proposed mascots were submitted by bots — an automated online tool — not individual voters.

“There were enough that the contest was definitely not fair,” Faulkner said.

The carrier is now considering whether to relaunch the contest under different terms.

Sadly, Harley won’t be around to see a second chance for airborne fame. He died last month, shortly after his 15th birthday.

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