Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns (Pre-Alignment) - Frontier newbie

Greetings, all. As my subject line indicates, I'm new to Frontier and just registered for the airline's frequent flyer program.

I flew Frontier for the first time this summer when my Northwest flight from Denver to Indianapolis (my home) was canceled due to weather trouble in Minneapolis. NW put me on a direct flight home to Indy, and it was great to fly direct! The flight was fine overall as well.

Any suggestions for a newcomer? I'm pricing another Indy-Denver trip, and Frontier's fares are ridiculously low ($219 range). The next best I could find is around $279 on Continental or Northwest, and of course neither is direct.

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.

Welcome to F9, Pietro! In general, Early Returns is a pretty straight forward program. Their postings have always been timely and accurate for me, and the 15,000 mile reward is nice. If and when you get to fly on one of their new A319's, you will probably notice that the coach seat is very nice. I also noticed in the most recent Inside Flyer edition that Early Returns is the ONLY frequent flyer program in the US that no one has ever complained about.

If you can use Midwest Express (my favorite US airline)out of IND, mileage can be earned with Early Returns as well.

Living in Denver, I use F9 for about 25% of my travels. One of the benefits for me at DEN is using the bridge to the A Concourse, rather than the train to the B and C Concourses.

Having said all that, F9's policies toward business travelers is sometimes puzzling, and there has been some rumblings on this board as to changes in the program. But in light of what is going on with UA, US, DL, and CO these days, I think F9 and Early Returns is a relatively pleasant experience.

I started out a pretty big fan of EarlyReturns and F9 in general. But my enthusaism is waning. As Premier Al points out, the 15k year round award is a great deal.The problem is they are pretty stingy with points. E.g. no online booking bonus and no minimum mileage. Their elite levels are almost a joke: first tier provides only a 10% bonus and top tier gives 25% plus free drinks (no first class on F9 to upgrade to). Hardly worth going out of your way to achieve status. As long as I'm griping, I'll add that promotions have really been lackluster of late. They don't have a credit card partner, a telecom partner, or a dining program. They only have 2 or 3 rental car partners, one of which is tiny Payless. On the plus side, in addition to the 15k award, is that they will give you 500 miles PER STATEMENT (i.e. not just a one time bonus) for receiving your statements by e-mail. I have found it much easier to get 25k points on almost any other airline than it is to get 15k on F9. Any more questions? I'm happy to respond and I like to see the lamp lit in this forum fron time to time.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm really not so interested in accumulating miles as much as I am in flying Frontier for the occasional Indy-Denver trips.

Being a direct flight pretty much sells me on Frontier -- United also has direct flights for this route but fares are generally much higher without the Sunday stayover. And being a business traveler with a small budget, I fly often Southwest and have grown accustomed to coming and going as I please.

BTW, I see that Continental is pulling out of Frontier's program soon. That was going to be my account for accumulating Frontier miles. Any better suggestions? Besides Southwest, I fly Northwest and Continental most often, and my prefered hotel programs are Starwood's SPG and Hilton Honors.

Pietro, I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. EarlyReturns has no affiliation with SPG,HHonors,Worldperks, or (soon) Onepass. Only airline affiliates are Midwest Express and Virgin. The only hotel chain partner is the SF based boutique chain whose name escapes me right now.

Is it the chain that includes the Hotel Monaco? Program affiliates are sort of what I was inquiring about. I just mentioned the Continental issue since I would be using my miles for my One Pass account.

Thanks.

Yes, it's called the Kimpton Group.

Frontier also has affiliation with the Inverness Golf Resort in Denver. But that's only good to you if your destination is Denver.

Regards

The 500 mile online booking bonus has returned.

Thanks for all the replies. I just wish Frontier had some other airline or mainstream hotel partners for earning miles/points. Regardless, I'll probably book an Indy-Denver flight with them anyway because of the low cost and the direct flight. (United has a direct that was nearly double the fare the last time I checked.)