A horrific runway death at Denver turned into another emergency evacuation in which passengers were told to leave their bags behind and some took them anyway. That second part is not the tragedy, but it is the problem we keep refusing to solve. After Frontier’s Denver Tragedy, Passengers Still Grabbed Their Bags During Evacuation Let’s start with the facts, because this story is just plain awful. On Friday night, May 8, 2026, Frontier Airlines flight 4345 was departing Denver (DEN) for Los Angeles (LAX). The aircraft, an Airbus A321neo, had begun its takeoff roll on runway 17L when it struck a person on the runway. Air traffic control audio captured the Frontier pilot reporting: “Tower, Frontier 4345, we’re stopping on the runway. We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.” The aircraft was carrying 231 souls onboard. The takeoff was aborted, the engine fire was extinguished, and passengers were evacuated on the runway. The person struck by the aircraft died.…