Please give me some positive feedback on Frontier Airlines!

[Surfinpiratee]

I already booked our flights! $79 each (we're only flying them to Disney, SW coming home). Anyway, they were much cheaper, even with all the fees, than the other airlines! I mentioned Frontier to my mom and a couple friends and they've either flown or heard good things, so I booked, and after reading reviews I'm terrified my flight will get cancelled! I'm only going to Disney for a couple days, so that would be bad

Please give me some positive feedback so I'll feel better

 

[goofy4tink]

I wish I could tell you not to worry. But, I can't. My dh has had to fly with Frontier in the past. It was the least expensive option, and his employer insisted he fly with them. He never, ever had a flight that didn't have some issue. They cancelled flights, diverted them, changed times. Thankfully, he doesn't work for that company anymore.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I tend to lump Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant together as airlines I would never consider unless all other options were completely crazy. The main reason is that, where I am at least, all these airlines have at most two and usually just one flight to Orlando per day. So if anything happens to halt that flight, it's over. My only chance would be to get a seat on the second flight, assuming there even is one, and it's far more likely that I will get bumped to tomorrow or even two days back. I never have enough flexibility in my holiday schedule to absorb that kind of issue. My recent trips all were on Southwest, which seems far more reliable than the other three; if something happens, I'd have a pretty good chance of making it to MCO via another connection and losing not more than a few hours.

Now a lot of folks will tell you that they've used Frontier or Spirit for a long time, on various routes, and nothing much has ever gone wrong. (I am less familiar with Allegiant, which serves Orlando/Sanford a few times a week from Toledo OH.) To me, those airlines represent a major gamble that I am not willing to take. They are unquestionably cheap, sometimes much more so than the competition, but in my opinion their approach to customer service is unacceptable and I won't subject myself to it.

 

[n2mm]

I would suggest you NOT make an adr for you arrival day. They fly out of Dulles and months before my flight I watched them daily for departure. During that 2 months they left on time once. They cancelled several times and were late leaving every other day. The pro is you can get a good price. But that's it. The FA were clueless and not friendly nor helpful. We were two hours late leaving. If you get a cheap fare, don't expect much more. You get what you pay for. I would fly them again if the price is right, like $29 out of wash DC. I was glad I insured the last trip I flew with them because I was cruising the next day and I was sweating bullets about geting cancelled.

 

[seashoreCM]

I tend to lump Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant together ... in my opinion their approach to customer service is unacceptable and I won't subject myself to it.

There are the "legacy" airlines and there are the low fare (more correctly low cost) carriers, and then there are the rinky dink airlines. The ones you named are the latter, for the reasons you gave.

Admittedly newcomers almost always start out as rinky dink arilines; I am sure Southwest was that in terms of scheduling at one time. But their superior attitude got them where they are today, an LCC and soon to be if not already a legacy.

... My dh has had to fly with Frontier in the past. It was the least expensive option, and his employer insisted he fly with them. He never, ever had a flight that didn't have some issue...

Since "deregulation" (when "all" airlines did not have to charge the same fare for first class, the same fare for coach, etc.) every company I worked for required that employees book the least cost flight (almost quoting from one employee handbook) "even if it departed at a slightly less convenient time or made more stops ..."

I did not do much company travel so I did not sense any patterns of inter-company politics where one company felt its employees' time was more valuable and as a result cut travel schedules tighter at the risk of impacting meetings at other companies, while all the while hiding behind the vagaries of rinky dink airlines.

 

[mousehockey37]

We had a terrific flight on Frontier last fall. We were on the first flight of the day, we spent the little extra for the Classic Plus for the checked bag and priority boarding, and it was worth it, IMO. Flight crew was great, dealt with my DGF's peanut allergy well. We even had a paramedic in front of us should anything have happened (he turned around when she was telling the FA about her issue and said that if we needed anything to tap the seat and he'd be more than happy to do what he could).

We had no issues with luggage, carry-on's, etc. We were actually super depressed when they left our home airport this year, so we're looking to fly with either them or SW in the future.