Frontier Airlines?

[n2mm]

We flew out of Bloomington, IL to Orlando using Frontier and had a perfect experience. We were able to check-in in advance and my young sons loved that they had tvs on the back of the seats- something they complained about with SW (it's the little things with toddlers). We didn't pay any baggage fees b/c we carried on our baggage- we had 3 medium sized luggage that fit overhead and we even checked a stroller at the gate- all free. My advice would be to book directly with Frontier- no third party sites as they tend to mess up the fees and check in early online when you can. Also, read the luggage size rules and see if you can work with a carry on- it's free and no waiting at baggage claim. I would def. use Frontier again. We just use SW b/c of my rewards card and they have more flights available.

Was free carryon allowed a long time ago? Now when you buy your ticket carryon cost more than your checked bags unless you bought the more expensive fare. We had to opt for the checked bags to save money.

 

[n2mm]

I am back! I flew Washington Dulles to MCO on Tuesday and came back last night. Overall, it went pretty smoothly. Only thing that really turned me off was at Dulles when they made everybody with a carry on bag get up and put their bag in the sizer before they were allowed on the plane. My flight home was a little bit delayed because the flight before was late. They do seem stuck in the Stone Age though. No mobile boarding passes, no in flight wifi, the tv screens in the seats did not work on either flight. That all being said, I think I will stick to Southwest, who flies nonstops to MCO out of BWI (much closer to us...the hour and a half drive from Dulles late last night was tough). A lot less to worry about.

Thanks for the report out of Dulles. We are only flying them one way out of Dulles. I watch their flight status regularly. They were a lot cheaper for our family of 6 than SW. We live in WV so Dulles is closer for us with only a 1 hour drive. I still miss JetBlue out of Dulles, they were the best, but with a 2 hour drive on a good day to Reagan we have to take most of our air travel to other carriers now.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I used to love Frontier...but after the takeover by the dude who used to run Spirit? Nope. Won't even consider flying on them.

 

[PSULion]

We flew Frontier out of Wilmington, DE in January and out of Trenton last April. We had a good experience each time and I planned to use them in the future. Now, however, I would be hesitant to fly them. Since Spirit has taken them over, things seem to have gone down hill fast. Several friends have horror stories after flying Wil to Orlando recently. The convenience and price were great (no parking fees at either Wil or Trenton as well), but there would have to be a very significant price difference now for me to fly them instead of SW.

Do you mind sharing what the "horror stories" out of Wilmington are? We had a great experience from there last year, and plan to fly out of there again this winter.

 

[Soarin4us]

Frontier has recently "temporarily" abandoned most of its flights out of ILG. Its future at that airport looks dicey.

 

[PSULion]

Frontier has recently "temporarily" abandoned most of its flights out of ILG. Its future at that airport looks dicey.

Some routes. But their latest schedule release for early 2015 has more flights to MCO than a year ago.

 

[winstoda]

Some routes. But their latest schedule release for early 2015 has more flights to MCO than a year ago.

Frontier out of ILG is evolving to Florida service only. ILG is no longer and will no longer in the future be a Frontier focus city. But several days a week service to Florida (MCO, TPA and perhaps PBI eventually) is in the cards for the spring and beyond. The discontinued business destinations (MDW, ATL, DTW) most likely will not be resumed. DEN may resume but isn't a lock.

 

[PSULion]

They just changed the ilg-MCO flight schedule, and it now arrives at MCO at 11:53 pm!! No chance I'm doing that with 2 small kids. They've lost our business now, and I'd imagine any other vacationing families. Seems like a really bad time choice for the only flight offered.

 

[winstoda]

They just changed the ilg-MCO flight schedule, and it now arrives at MCO at 11:53 pm!! No chance I'm doing that with 2 small kids. They've lost our business now, and I'd imagine any other vacationing families. Seems like a really bad time choice for the only flight offered.

You're seeing the effect of Wilmington no longer having a dedicated aircraft. After 10/25 ILG is being serviced by MCO based aircraft. They're scheduling the ILG flights where they can fit them now that ILG is no longer a focus city. Morning departures can no longer be counted on now that the planes are based elsewhere. This will be the new norm unfortunately. On the bright side they have not discontinued the Florida service yet.

 

[winstoda]

Expect Wilmington service to end. Frontier is now ramping up PHL.

 

[n2mm]

I don't expect it to last at dulles airport either. It just started this summer and I've been keeping a watch on it since we booked it for November one way to MCO. It is never on time and I've actually seen it cancelled. I have buyers remorse right now because I should've known better to book a flight where there is only one flight per day, but we were working around my granddaughters cheer competition and you can guess that the date got changed after I booked the flight and we could've flown on another carrier.

 

[PSULion]

Expect Wilmington service to end. Frontier is now ramping up PHL.

Just saw that... They're offering some really cheap flights out of PHL. Of course they don't work for our trip. And the only reason we used Frontier was the convenience and free parking at ILG.