Tell me the good, bad & ugly about Frontier

[barbliny]

Update on my experiences ...

Just finished another successful round-trip, this time to Palm Beach. Flights on time both ways, return trip landed 30 minutes early. Return flight was less than 2/3 full - the way the seat assignment algorithm works, there were lots of empty seats in the middle of the plane. I knew that going in and asked the flight attendant nicely when I boarded if there would be a chance to move up a few rows once the boarding was done. She said that she would see and get back to me. Moved me up - had a whole row to myself. And also announced that anyone sitting in a middle seat was free to move to any open seat behind the exit rows. I'm sure other people in general moved also. To my surprise lots of people just stayed where they were and there were still empty rows. Pilot also did a great job landing through some turbulent weather.

I had never considered Frontier before and was just checking it out because of this thread. What is the "discount den" and has anyone joined it? I'm not seeing the super cheap fares from Buffalo to MCO that some others have seen, but this "discount den" is slightly cheaper, at least.

To add a little more information - Discount Den allows you to purchase tickets and use the discount for up to 3 more passengers on your same itinerary. I paid $49.99 back in July and it basically paid for itself the first flight I booked for my husband and I - the discount is usually at least $10 each way in comparison to the 'public' price. A couple of times per month they will run a sale where the lowest fares do not require discount den, but in general the discount den will be the route to the cheapest fares during sales.

Your discount den membership is good for one year. It will automatically renew, unless you go into your account and shut the auto-renew off.

 

[Colleen27]

I have absolutely no complaints about them. They're a discount airline, sure, with the same limitations and upcharges as their competitors, but we haven't had any problems with their service and their prices can't be beat. Our last escape from the cold was entirely due to their crazy-cheap non-stops to/from MCO from here. But from Detroit, the flight schedule isn't *that* limited. At least not to Orlando. They run a couple of non-stops a day, not as many as Spirit who sometimes offers 5 different departures a day on that route, but not so few that the possibility of cancellation worries me.

Since SW pulled out of my preferred airport (Flint) and doesn't do much non-stop from Detroit, Frontier and Spirit are our best options for cheap flights and of the two, I'd choose Frontier. We've had a few minor problems with Spirit that I didn't feel were handled well, including one trip where our row of seats had been removed for maintenance/repair and we learned about it as we were boarding, but we've never had a problem with Frontier and in our limited experience their planes feel a bit cleaner and better kept-up.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

To add a little more information - Discount Den allows you to purchase tickets and use the discount for up to 3 more passengers on your same itinerary. I paid $49.99 back in July and it basically paid for itself the first flight I booked for my husband and I - the discount is usually at least $10 each way in comparison to the 'public' price. A couple of times per month they will run a sale where the lowest fares do not require discount den, but in general the discount den will be the route to the cheapest fares during sales.

Your discount den membership is good for one year. It will automatically renew, unless you go into your account and shut the auto-renew off.

The discount den is good for up to 6 people on your itinerary.

 

[writerguyfl]

But from Detroit, the flight schedule isn't *that* limited. At least not to Orlando. They run a couple of non-stops a day, not as many as Spirit who sometimes offers 5 different departures a day on that route, but not so few that the possibility of cancellation worries me.

This is a good point. It's true that some cities are well covered by ultra-low-cost carriers like Frontier and/or Spirit. It's also true that some small markets might only be served by a few flights by one legacy airline. (For example, Flagstaff only has three flights each day and they are all on American.)

As with most complex things, context makes a difference when it comes to discussing the strengths and weaknesses of an airline.