Frontier Airlines

[Leleluvsdis]

DH and I are looking at flights for a trip coming up, and one of the cheapest flights is with Frontier. I have never heard of them before. Has anyone flown them and able to give feedback? We would be flying from Washington DC to Fort Myers, FL.

 

[Ranger111]

Question has gotten asked alot on here since Frontier started expanding from their West Coast routes. Based in Denver.

A thread that asks pretty much the same question just started on the disboards transportation forum. I think you will get your answer there. Note the Denver Post news article that I linked to there:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3368132

 

[SunTravels]

Frontier is good for a cheap flight, one thing to consider is that they charge for everything including picking seats (you can wait and be assigned seats at no additional cost), carry on bags (you are allowed 1 personal item that would fit under the seat all other bags are a fee, and food or drink - there are no included refreshments. Even with the fees i have still found it to be cheaper in most cases. The seats at tight, but you aren't on a long flight so unless you need a lot of room you should be ok.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I have a trip planed this weekend and this past Sunday I found out by accident when I signed on so I could purchase my seats that they canceled my flight home. They gave me no warning/email or phone call. No other flight that day so they put me on a flight the next day.

I had just looked at my return flight on Friday and then two days later it had been canceled. A week before my trip!!!!!!!


Since I had heard about their shady dealings I had already booked a return flight on SWA. Frontier refunded my money and gave us each a $50 voucher. Not sure I will ever fly them

Last month my sisters flight was 5 1/2 hrs late taking off because the pilots had flown to long that day and by law could not continue flying. She had to wait for another crew to come and fly the plane.

Found out today my DH coworker had a son stranded over the weekend for 2 1/2 days because the plane had mechanical issues and the next flight out was 2 1/2 days later!

 

[OhMari]

Frontier bought out Midwest Express that was headquartered in Milwaukee WI. They promised to keep everything the same. Within six months they laid almost everyone off and rehired pilots and flight attendants for very low wages. Then they started cutting flights out of Milwaukee. If you wanted to fly with them, they connected all flights to Denver and then they will connect you to your destination. This Fall they opened a direct flight to Orlando/Milwaukee, but only 1 flight a day and now it is cut to only 4 times a week.

I saw a really great fair for a flight in February, but I thought if we get a bad snow storm and they cancel my flight, I may end up waiting a few days to get another flights out, no thanks.

 

[n2mm]

I flew them out of dulles in October. First off they are seldom on time, so don't make any plans for your arrival day. They don't participate in RAC so you have to take care of taking your own luggage for your flights. We found the line at dulles to drop off our luggage very long and slow, so add extra time. We also found the gate staff unorganized. If you get a great price then you can suck it up. We won't fly them again. We were suppose to arrive at 7:00pm but got in after 9:00pm and considered ourselves lucky. Since they don't participate in dme luggage assistance, the luggage area was packed since everyone had to get their own bags. They certainly are a value carrier and it shows. Keep in mind you can not use the overhead bins unless you pay for that space. Remember to bring your own drinks and snacks onboard. They had some great prices for $20.15 on New Year's Day. I won't pay much more esp since you have to add money for luggage and seat assignment.

 

[danygirl]

We had a great experience on frontier. On time both ways. Flight crew were great. The staff at checkin were not great tho.
We would fly them again.

DH put all his clothes in his travel golf bag so he could keep luggage fees down lol

Pay for your bags in advance to save. You can bring one free personal bag - the specs are on the website

 

[bellylaugh]

I fly with them 2-3 times a year and find them to be a great airline for the price. You do have to pay for overhead bags and it's actually a little cheaper to check luggage so I usually just do that (and take more!). Cabin crew have always been very personable and I feel just as safe on Frontier as I do any other airline (I'm a bit of a nervous flyer)

One thing to consider is what will happen if your flight has to be cancelled for any reason. A couple of years ago, we flew to Fort Lauderdale with Frontier. We were taxiing down the runway when they took us back to the gate. There was a problem with the nose gear. They tried to fix it but couldn't. We were flying from a small regional airport so there was no other flights to rebook us on and they couldn't get another Frontier plane to us until the next day. They flew us out the next day no problem, and gave everyone a $200 flight voucher. My husband and I thought that was a great deal but I'm sure not everyone was so happy.

 

[mikehn]

I've flown Frontier a few times for leisure without any problems. I'd never fly them for business, even though they are one of my firms 'preferred' airline. They are a 'no frills' airline and that works for some people who dont have a problem being inconvenienced from time to time.

 

[jedijill]

I used to fly them all the time but then they pulled out of Philly and became the new Spirit....I refuse to fly them anymore. They were great before they starting going the ultra low fare route. I'd rather fly SW.


Jill in CO

 

[AlohaNow]

I live Colorado and have heard so many horror stories about Frontier that I never even price them out. Keep in mind that flights between certain cities do not go every day, so if your flight is cancelled you are stuck, as people above have said. My parents gambled on Frontier once to come see us and won huge in terms of a new route that the airline was ‘testing out’. They bought their tickets for almost nothing then spent months hoping that the ‘new’ route would not be cancelled before their travel dates arrived, knowing Frontier’s shaky reputation. Everything worked out well in their case, so of course you can score big……but with Frontier you never really know. If your plans are truly flexible, it can be a steal.

The older I get, the more I find that it really is true in most cases that you get what you pay for.

 

[misse336]

My parents were booked on a Frontier flight this summer through a travel agent at Boscovs. I never looked into who their carrier was and just assumed that everything would be fine. They were flying down to meet us in Florida for our Disney vacation, but even though we live in the same are they were coming later due to work schedules. They were supposed to fly down on Monday morning and fly home on Sunday night through Frontier. While they were walking into the airport early Monday morning they got a phone call that there were mechanical problems and the flight was canceled. Since they were already at the airport they walked up to the desk to see what was going on. The earliest flight they could book them on was on Thursday! Um no, not when they were leaving Florida on Sunday. All of the fp+/ADRs/room reservations were for Monday on. Frontier does not/will not book you on any other airlines if they have problems like some other airlines do. My parents ended up having to fly out of a different airport in a town a few hours away (on a different airline!) at considerably higher cost. Frontier never offered them anything other than a dinner voucher for dinner at the airport. They did refund their tickets, but only after a fight on my parents behalf to get a refund and not a credit to their airline. After this happened we researched and found all of these horror stories about Frontier. We were even in the bathroom at CRT while in Florida a day or so later and someone was talking about how they missed all of these reservations because of Frontier airline cancelations. Needless to say I will research airline carriers extensively before my parents or I fly again.

So we will not fly with them and we warn anyone asking us about flights about them. So if you really need to save the money and don't care exactly when you get there, then Frontier may be for you. If you need to get somewhere on time, be a little hesitant to fly with them.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I live in Denver and have flown them many times (at least 50 times in the past decade). I used to love Frontier and never had a problem.

But times have changed with their new ownership and policies.

If you are flying directly in and out of Denver you are generally pretty safe. But if you aren't, you are running a risk. If there's a mechanical issue you may be stuck for hours or even a day or two. Because most of their flights originate in Denver, if you are on a route that doesn't include Denver, it can be tricky and a real nightmare. Its a small airline without a huge fleet of planes to deal with mechanical and weather problems.

And if you get a cheap airfare early on, they can cancel that route very close in to your trip leaving you scrambling to find comparable airfare with another carrier. The only way I would fly Frontier now is on a last minute trip out of Denver to a city I know they have a lot of flights into.

It makes me really sad because we flew them loyally for years and their nice little airbuses with Direct TV in every seat (which we got for free because we flew them so much and were "Ascent Level"), the animals on the tails delighted my kids. They really knew how to treat their customers in the old days. Their frequent flyer program was awesome, you only needed 15,000 miles for a free ticket and they were easy to redeem. Those days are gone and have been for awhile.

My boss has had two mishaps with them recently and both times required a lot of time on the phone and a couple hundred dollars to get it straightened out. Listening to her deal with this has sworn me off of them. The baggage fees are ridiculous. Her "cheap" airfare ended up being way more expensive than if she had booked Southwest and that was before she had to add the crazy baggage fees in.

My husband flew them on business in November with no problems but said they just aren't what they used to be.

I am loyal to Southwest now because they still remain cheap without all the fees and mechanical problems that seem to plague Frontier.

 

[ksromack]

I flew them out of dulles in October. First off they are seldom on time, so don't make any plans for your arrival day. They don't participate in RAC so you have to take care of taking your own luggage for your flights. We found the line at dulles to drop off our luggage very long and slow, so add extra time. We also found the gate staff unorganized. If you get a great price then you can suck it up. We won't fly them again. We were suppose to arrive at 7:00pm but got in after 9:00pm and considered ourselves lucky. Since they don't participate in dme luggage assistance, the luggage area was packed since everyone had to get their own bags. They certainly are a value carrier and it shows. Keep in mind you can not use the overhead bins unless you pay for that space. Remember to bring your own drinks and snacks onboard. They had some great prices for $20.15 on New Year's Day. I won't pay much more esp since you have to add money for luggage and seat assignment.

We are flying out of StL on Frontier to MCO. Now I'm really nervous. It's the only flight that day
I'm curious @n2mm about your statement that they don't participate in DME luggage assistance. How did you know this? I gave my flight info to the CM on the phone and wasn't told anything about this. As a matter of fact, I have DME tags (but when I booked I did not have my flight info at that point). Can anyone provide insight with this?

 

[n2mm]

We are flying out of StL on Frontier to MCO. Now I'm really nervous. It's the only flight that day
I'm curious @n2mm about your statement that they don't participate in DME luggage assistance. How did you know this? I gave my flight info to the CM on the phone and wasn't told anything about this. As a matter of fact, I have DME tags (but when I booked I did not have my flight info at that point). Can anyone provide insight with this?

We only use RAC for our return home. Frontier did not participate so could not check luggage. I think they participate on the way down and pull your luggage if you have yellow tags. However, going home you have to take your bags with you and means you have to stand in line and check your own bags. I double checked the Disney website and found the same info. We found luggage checkin at Dulles very slow. While you're good on the way down, it's your return that will be a PITA. This was how it was for us last fall. Maybe it changed but I found this on their website.

• 
  All guests staying at a Disney resort can take advantage of Disney's Magical Express, the process will differ slightly depending on the airline that you are using. You will need to make your Magical Express reservation by calling (407) 939-6244, be sure to have your flight information handy. You will receive your luggage tags and reservation booklet approximately 2 to 6 weeks before your arrival date.
  
  When it's time for you to return home, the process will be slightly different since Frontier Airlines does not participate in Resort Airline Check-In. Your luggage will need to be taken on the Magical Express with you and you will have to check it yourself once you reach the airport where you will also retrieve your own boarding pass. While there is currently no news if Frontier will be added to airlines participating in Resort Airline Check-in, maybe keeping your fingers crossed will help!

 

[ksromack]

We only use RAC for our return home. Frontier did not participate so could not check luggage. I think they participate on the way down and pull your luggage if you have yellow tags. However, going home you have to take your bags with you and means you have to stand in line and check your own bags. I double checked the Disney website and found the same info. We found luggage checkin at Dulles very slow. While you're good on the way down, it's your return that will be a PITA. This was how it was for us last fall. Maybe it changed but I found this on their website.

Whew! We are only taking Frontier TO Orlando.....flying home SW. I guess it was possibly worth paying a little more (actually double more, but it's vacation, who's counting).....for SW trip home. Coming home is depressing enough so I wouldn't want the added aggravation! Thanks for the response. I'll update this thread when we come home to report on the Frontier portion of the trip.

 

[pk1959]

Our one and only experience with them was not good. They came into our small regional airport and were gone in probably about six months. We did purchase a 1 way ticket with them to see what they were like. Found out our 1 way flight out of Vegas was cancelled due to a mechanical issue when we got to the airport. HUGE line of people trying to get there flights figured out. Spent about 6 hours at the airport. They finally ended up putting us up in a hotel in Vegas then putting us on a flight with another airlines the next day with HORRIBLE flight times and layovers. They did give us $200 future flight vouchers, however pulled out of our airport before we could even think about using them.

 

[n2mm]

Whew! We are only taking Frontier TO Orlando.....flying home SW. I guess it was possibly worth paying a little more (actually double more, but it's vacation, who's counting).....for SW trip home. Coming home is depressing enough so I wouldn't want the added aggravation! Thanks for the response. I'll update this thread when we come home to report on the Frontier portion of the trip.

Frontier had flights out of Dulles this week for $15. Such a deal, but if they keep selling at that price they will be gone. It will be 1 year this November for them. I've only flown them once. Like you my return was on a different airline home - JetBlue.

 

[LMN]

I'm so disappointed to hear everyone's responses! We recently "discovered" Frontier as my son is a freshman at a college outside of Denver, in Golden. We've flown back and forth Denver- Austin several times and have been very pleased with our flights. All on time and staff has been very friendly. In fact, my son just flew back for the holiday weekend solo for his first time. No issues at all. We are big SWA fans, but Frontier's fares are even cheaper and that is super important to my budget at the moment. We'll continue to use them and cross our fingers that we continue to have great experiences.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I'm so disappointed to hear everyone's responses! We recently "discovered" Frontier as my son is a freshman at a college outside of Denver, in Golden. We've flown back and forth Denver- Austin several times and have been very pleased with our flights. All on time and staff has been very friendly. In fact, my son just flew back for the holiday weekend solo for his first time. No issues at all. We are big SWA fans, but Frontier's fares are even cheaper and that is super important to my budget at the moment. We'll continue to use them and cross our fingers that we continue to have great experiences.