US Domestic Flights

[frangipanisam]

Hey,
Has anyone travelled with Frontier airlines?

Will be booking our flights on Thursday (FINALLY!!) and tossing up between Frontier and Virgin America for our flight from Dallas to Vegas as they are the two cheapest, with the shortest stopovers (would rather save $70 odd over a direct with AA as have been told their future is uncertain) and was wondering if anyone has been with them before.

Thanks

 

[Sugarglider]

Sorry no I haven't but I wanted to say that their ads are fantastic!

 

[Andona]

Haven't flown with Frontier but we are booked on Virgin America for our LAX to Fort Lauderdale flight. Their reviews were good, and I feel comfortable with a Virgin company as we've flown V Australia, Virgin Blue and Virgin Atlantic. We'll also collect Velocity points on the flight which is a bonus

Good luck with your choice!

Andona

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Our friends from Iowa recently flew from Des Moines to Las Vegas with Frontier they recommended we look at them for our internal flights.
Only problem is they are not flying where i want to go and i couldn't look past South Wests 2 free bags and no change fee for changing flights.

 

[alicia1506]

i looked at frontier, american, virgin america, jet blue, southwest, delta and a few smaller lines.

i keep coming back to southwest -- their flights are cheaper, always seem to be when i want them, and they have no change fees and 2 free checked bags per person... i just can' beat that.

having said that, i have heard really good things about frontier from the forums, so i say go with what works for you, and feel free to report back

 

[frangipanisam]

Thanks everyone

I like the thought of all our flights being through Virgin Australia/America but Fontier poped up so I'll think about it but I also want to check out South West airlines now after reading your comments and seeing the prices and if the flight times work for us because that is such a good deal!

If we do choose Frontier I will definatley let eveyone know in Nov what they are like

 

[Andona]

We flew with Southwest in 2008 and we were happy with the service except for one thing. They don't do pre-allocated seating ( or they didn't then - maybe they have changed their policy now?)

When we checked in we were allocated a group ( A, B or C) and a range within each group. At the gate you had to line up in a section according to your letter/number and then they boarded from the A groups to the C group. Once on the plane you just grabbed whatever seats you could find.

This was fine if you were able to checkin online 24 hours in advance ( and thus get an A group) but if you got stuck with a C there was a good chance that your party wouldn't find seats together. That was a problem if you were travelling with kids.

If you can checkin online well in advance OR you don't mind taking whatever seats you can get then Southwest are fine.

Andona

 

[alicia1506]

We flew with Southwest in 2008 and we were happy with the service except for one thing. They don't do pre-allocated seating ( or they didn't then - maybe they have changed their policy now?)

When we checked in we were allocated a group ( A, B or C) and a range within each group. At the gate you had to line up in a section according to your letter/number and then they boarded from the A groups to the C group. Once on the plane you just grabbed whatever seats you could find.

This was fine if you were able to checkin online 24 hours in advance ( and thus get an A group) but if you got stuck with a C there was a good chance that your party wouldn't find seats together. That was a problem if you were travelling with kids.

If you can checkin online well in advance OR you don't mind taking whatever seats you can get then Southwest are fine.

Andona

southwest still do this as believe it or not, seating passengers this way allows for a faster turn around at the gate and gets passengers into seats faster.

they do now have an 'early bird seating' that you can purchase for $10 per flight per person, which guarantees you priority seating behind their business class and FF clients.

basically the way that their seating works now is exactly as andona described above, however if you don't want to check in online 24 hrs in advance, you can buy yourself a priority loading spot. this generally means that you will be in the A group, or at the very start of the B group. each group holds up to 60 passengers. so their business passengers get to board in positions A 1 - however many business people are on board. then next are the early bird bookers who pay $10 extra to be able to board in those first groups. then the people who checked in online, then the next.

when we booked our flights, we paid the $10 for the early bird booking and we loved it.

i was a23 for our first flight, and a16 for our second flight. i felt it really was worth the extra $10 and considering i saved on baggage fees & their flights were $100s cheaper than other airlines...what was an extra $10.

the benefit of getting that early seating... you get to choose where on the plane to sit, and especially if you're in an A group or early B group number, you can usually grab whatever seats you want and sit your family together.

when i was a23, we were in the 5th row. when i was a16, we were still in the 5th row, as we all wanted to sit together.

i highly recommend booking the early bird seating

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Andona and Alicia - thank you both for the detailed info on Southwest. When I was reading Andona's comments I was like "no way, can't go with them then" and then when I read yours Alicia, I thought, well the extra $10 for peace of mind would be so worth it. I'm going to check South West out.

Have you heard anything in terms of whether their flights are reliable time wise, cancellation wise, etc?

 

[alicia1506]

Andona and Alicia - thank you both for the detailed info on Southwest. When I was reading Andona's comments I was like "no way, can't go with them then" and then when I read yours Alicia, I thought, well the extra $10 for peace of mind would be so worth it. I'm going to check South West out.

Have you heard anything in terms of whether their flights are reliable time wise, cancellation wise, etc?

ms shuttergirl -- i was like you... $10 is a great price to pay for the peace of mind of being in the first 30 or 60 of people who board... in a plane which holds 200-400 people, that guarantees you'll get seats together

southwest we found were very reliable. we generally got to our destination ahead of their posted times, and we usually took off right on the dot, if not sometimes a few minutes early... they know to a T how many people should be on the flight, and if they have everyone on board early, they will take off a little early, which i found really awesome. the only issue we had was that our luggage was delayed on one flight by about 30 mins due to weather issues on the tarmac -- they didn't want to unload our luggage in the wet, so they had to wait for a covered canopy to be brought out for the luggage to be loaded. i quite appreciated not having wet luggage though, so i found this a plus.

the only downside - they served us peanut snacks, so i would be careful about the snacks if you or your children have allergies. the other thing is there is no IFE -- but for only a few hours flight duration, we managed to entertain ourselves with kindles/ipods/laptops etc.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

ms shuttergirl -- i was like you... $10 is a great price to pay for the peace of mind of being in the first 30 or 60 of people who board... in a plane which holds 200-400 people, that guarantees you'll get seats together

southwest we found were very reliable. we generally got to our destination ahead of their posted times, and we usually took off right on the dot, if not sometimes a few minutes early... they know to a T how many people should be on the flight, and if they have everyone on board early, they will take off a little early, which i found really awesome. the only issue we had was that our luggage was delayed on one flight by about 30 mins due to weather issues on the tarmac -- they didn't want to unload our luggage in the wet, so they had to wait for a covered canopy to be brought out for the luggage to be loaded. i quite appreciated not having wet luggage though, so i found this a plus.

the only downside - they served us peanut snacks, so i would be careful about the snacks if you or your children have allergies. the other thing is there is no IFE -- but for only a few hours flight duration, we managed to entertain ourselves with kindles/ipods/laptops etc.

Thanks for the additional info Alicia. My kids don't have any peanut allergies, so that wouldn't be a problem for us. IFE - same as you, kindles, ipods, laptops, ds's, yadda yadda yadda. The internal flights I would be booking are all fairly quick.

Off to check out Southwest, thanks heaps for the recommendation.

 

[Andona]

they do now have an 'early bird seating' that you can purchase for $10 per flight per person, which guarantees you priority seating behind their business class and FF clients.

Now that is a BIG improvement! It would definitely make me reconsider flying with Southwest again as everything else about our flight was fine.

I did look at them for our one domestic US flight this time but they didn't have any direct flights from LAX to FLL .

Andona

 

[alicia1506]

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=earlybird_checkin

just got this from their website:

EarlyBird Check-In is a low-cost option giving you the convenience of automatic check-in before our traditional 24-hour check-in. You’ll have the benefit of an early assigned boarding position, allowing you to board earlier. As an EarlyBird Check-In Customer, you will have a better opportunity to select your preferred seat and have earlier access to overhead bin storage for your carryon luggage. This affordable option automatically reserves for you the next best boarding position then available.

All EarlyBird Check-In purchases are nonrefundable. Customers who cancel their flight will forfeit the previously purchased EarlyBird Check-In option for that particular flight

Customers who have purchased electronic tickets at the Wanna Get Away Fare, Anytime Fare, Senior Fare, or DING! Fare can benefit from purchasing EarlyBird Check-In. Priority boarding privileges are already included with the purchase of Business Select fares and are a benefit of being on the Rapid Rewards A-List. EarlyBird Check-In Customers will receive boarding positions after Business Select and A-List Customers. NOTE: EarlyBird Check-In should not be purchased for Unaccompanied Minors since they will preboard the flight ahead of Passengers in general boarding. Please review our Unaccompanied Minor Policies for more details.

EarlyBird Check-In can be purchased for $10 one-way (origin to destination). A credit card must be used for the purchase of EarlyBird Check-In.


Will the number of EarlyBird Check-In Passengers be limited on each flight?
No. All eligible Customers can purchase EarlyBird Check-In.

Will EarlyBird Check-In Customers get an "A" Boarding Pass and be among the first to board?
More than likely you will receive an "A" Boarding Pass, but not always.

 

[Feej]

I flew Virgin America from Los Angeles to Boston and back on a work trip last year and thought they were great. Service was good, on time and I was able to use wi-fi on the flight (for a small cost).

Will be flying that leg again later this year and will fly with them again for sure.

 

[australiankaren]

hey
flew frontier in sept 2010, loved loved loved them
did classic plus, so row 2, 2 bags free, tv, meals, drinks etc...lots of leg room
all flights to from mco is via denver, lovely little airport {FYI}

I'd fly them again in a heartbeat.....



and the cute animals on the planes, what more is there to love???

 

[Andona]

I flew Virgin America from Los Angeles to Boston and back on a work trip last year and thought they were great. Service was good, on time and I was able to use wi-fi on the flight (for a small cost).

Will be flying that leg again later this year and will fly with them again for sure.

That's great to hear, Feej!
We're looking forward to our LAX-FLL flight. My 15 year old is REALLY looking forward to having power for his netbook AND an iPod dock

Andona

 

[frangipanisam]

Thanks for all the helpful information about all the different domestic airlines

We booked today!!!! Well some of it lol booked our international flights with VAustralia, our connection from LA to Dallas and then our Dallas to Vegas flight. We ended up going with Virgin America for LA to DFW and United for DFW to LAS.

Our TA said he couldn't book the other two Virgin domestic flights for us for some reason as the Dallas one was linked driectly to our international but the others wouldn't have been? He was lovely and said the prices we found were great so just to book them online instead of pushing us to use an airline he could book for us

Such a weight off to have them locked in now! We'll do the accomdation (probably with TA for piece of mind as he prices matches anyway) and other flights before the end of the month so I have a few weeks to decide between Southwest airlines and Virgin America because on the flights we need (Vegas to San Fran, San Fran to LA) its only a $4 difference lol