davywavy

In a press release out out a wee whole ago, Indigo Partners have informed Republic that it will proceed wit the acquisition of Frontier:

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/11/...s-pending.html

Indigo Partners Says its Pending Acquisition of Frontier Airlines will Move Forward

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/11/...#storylink=cpy

"“Indigo Partners has informed Republic Airways that its planned acquisition of Frontier Airlines will move forward. Major conditions, including agreements with FAPAInvest and Barclaycard are satisfied, as are other commercial and business arrangements. An agreement has not been reached with the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA); however, Indigo has informed Republic that it will waive that condition. The transaction is expected to be finalized later this month, subject to receipt of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.”

William A. Franke, managing partner at Indigo Partners said, “We are pleased about the progress we have made to resolve major issues and move this acquisition toward closing. We look forward to completing the transaction and continuing to extend Frontier’s reach and service as a leading, nationwide ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC).”

I doubt the way ahead will be easy, but I am sure it is relief to everyone at Frontier. From my perspective, it's off to the races. :-)

mke9499

The sales closes.

DenverBrian

More here, including the tidbit that (for now) the HQ remains in Denver:

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/ne...ml?ana=RSS_wid

PushingTin

Well, it was fun while it lasted... sounds like Frontier is going to go full stupid with fees and fees.

I've been Summit (actually doubled it) for about 5 years, but with the writing on the wall and with travelling more internationally and being based in Denver I moved my travel to United this year to make 1K, though I still flew them over 10k this year. It was a palatable difference between the spring and the fall. I'm glad I jumped to United when I did- and I thought I would never say that.

Frontier was something different- mainly because of the great people. Whenever I would have someone next to me that was flying Frontier for the first time or were being 'sponsored' by another carrier because of a cancelled flight I would talk up how awesome Frontier was.

I liked the little things as a Summit member. Free TV, extended seating, the chocolate chip cookies and Diet Dr. Pepper. Slowly almost all those went away. I burned my last miles at Thanksgiving with the family. I practically had to beg to get my free soda. The FA had a list of people that were entitled to free drinks, but still tried to sell me a soda. Jam every bag into the sizer trolling for $100 bills.

Full stupid.

It sounds like it will even get goofier. It's a shame Frontier wasn't able to be more successful. It really made the low-cost fare with service work, but I don't think people knew how great the airline was. A real loss.

davywavy

Call me old-fashioned, but "full stupid" would be to continually lose money to cater to a small - as in not enough - section of the market.

It is easy enough to make the model work to your advantage and avoid almost all the fees - or fly with United.

It's called choice, and I wonder why people get so cross about it.

Jerseyguy

This is just another business model and will work for some people and not for others. It's apparent that you are not one of those people. I won't lie and say I don't fear that they will take their ULCC focus too far as I think Spirit has. Being fair to Spirit, they make a very good profit but I think they could stand to be a bit more friendly and relaxed with their customer service. I hope F9 will end up as a nicer version of NK. Currently they fit my needs especially since they are the exclusive carrier at my closer regional airport TTN. Good luck with United I hope that their product meets your needs.

Daze

So many folks are treating Frontier like it has already become Spirit, or worse. I think these folks who dispense the vitriol are either Kettles who carry on steamer trunks, or business people who carry on a questionable stuffed 24 inch roller bag, big computer bag, and a purse or messenger bag.
Since I do not fit in either of these categories, at the risk of being flamed, I applaud F9 trying to reduce carry ons and speed the boarding. The wisdom and effect on profitable market share of that decision remains to be seen, but the airline is making money, which it wasn't before.

As an Ascent, I remain satisfied with F9. Compared to the never ending drama at UA and UX, F9 is still a better choice for me. And the fact that F9 doesn't go to some smaller destinations means I keep taking a few UX flights and see that they are not getting any better either.

F9 has NO RJ's. Every seat is a good one on an Airbus. So I pay for the video. Some days I want it, some days I don't. I almost always get Stretch Seating day of travel. Even if I didn't have status, the price of Stretch is less than that of E+ on UA. For those who say that a F seat on a UX CR7 with a snack box and booze if the FA feels like it that day is better, I disagree. And not only are there more and more RJ's at DEN on UA/UX, there are about 6 CR7's and 8 Devil's Chariots to every E170, so arguing that E170's are OK doesn't have validity at DEN. While F9 has reduced the number of flights in many markets, there are enough to make it work for me. What's worse, 2 A319s a day DEN-MCI or 4 Q400's a day DEN-MCI on UX? WN is a fail for me since they have no seat assignments, and they operate out of concourse C at DEN, much more inconvenient than concourse A for F9.

While it is possible, and maybe even probable that F9 will get worse for any number of reasons, most of it is still in the speculation phase, and for me F9 has not reached the point of considering a change of carriers.

Daze

PushingTin

I don't think Frontier ever made a coherent pitch for people, especially outside of Denver. Yes, the cute characters on the tail were interesting, but F9 never got the message across about how much better their planes where than WN with the TVs and the x seating. You are right, the UA CRJs out of Denver are crazy. What does UA have against the Ohio valley? That is why I stuck it out as long as I did with F9.

I was hoping that someone would buy them that would be able to get the message across to the flying public about F9s strengths instead of a race to the bottom with high fees. I don't buy airlines, just seats on them. Poke fun at SWA for their gladiator seating. Show kids going crazy versus watching TV and sitting quietly, or the ability to make connections with other airlines.

Asymmetrical warfare, not trench warfare to the LCD.

Lot's of AWESOME people at F9- the best phone customer service I've heard- and I hope them the best in all this.

DenverBrian

This is how I feel too. Right now. Today.

The concern is, what about six months from now, or even three months from now? When the TV's are yanked? When the Stretch seating is eliminated? The uncertainty creates a self-fulfilling prophecy - current Ascents and Summits are hardly incentivized to load up on F9 flights for 2014, reducing F9s revenue, giving them further reason to pull perks.

DavyWavy notes that there is choice. Sadly, F9 was a GREAT choice for the last several years. Many of us are lamenting the fact that we will be left with several POOR choices to select from.

davywavy

Fairly obviously, not enough people felt that way for the airline to make money.

The future is outside anyone's control. Yes, I assume the tv's are going, partly because it is old - and heavy and expensive - technology and partly because the take-up rate is so very low. It is fair to assume that the tv would have gone no matter what happened to Frontier.

I haven't heard that Stretch seating is going and - given that Sprit has a form of it - it seems like a leap to think it will. But - maybe, of course. Why not wait until - and if - it does?

Almost all - or even all - of the fees can be avoided by buying Classic Plus, which isn't expensive, so is it just the idea that someone else might be paying those fees that appalls people?

You say you have "poor choices" and I assume you mean out of DEN. That is scarcely Frontier's fault, given that Southwest blankets DEN (and forced Frontier off many routes), it's a hub for United and every legacy is represented there - and Spirit.

It is this continuous - and often angry - dumping on Frontier that confounds me. "Anger" is not a synonym for "lament."

DenverBrian

Because if we Ascents and Summits wait a quarter or half or three quarters of a year, and things get substantially worse, then we've wasted an opportunity to get status on ANY airline in 2014. And this is FlyerTalk, home of frequent flyers. @:-)

Heck, I think this continuous - and often cheerleading - support of Frontier from a guy located in New Zealand is confounding. So there.

JeffCO

As a Summit flyer the past few years I do not regret the loss of perks but I both rue and lament it. I also agree that Frontier has done a craptacular job even locally promoting the benefits they've had to offer relative to the downsides.

Though, I do find the gateside sizing of every single bag of everyone on the plane to be irksome. Yes there are always a few people who create a problem but honestly I thought it worked quite well when they just had a rep stand by the boarding lane and pull people out with questionable-looking bags, or too many. It just seems like a way to alienate the frequent fliers who know better, even though I understand the motivation. (Not that it helped yesterday when the gate person kept announcing that everyone on the flight had to come to the counter "check their bags" - by which she meant check to see whether they fit in the sizer.)

davywavy

Absolutely. But Frontier has made its intentions very clear, since 2011, that it will become ULCC.

I'm not sure what else you expected to happen and if the ULCC model doesn't suit you, there are other choices. Lamentation is fine - it's the anger I don't understand.

It confounds a lot of people. It is what it is.

DenverBrian

I don't think it's been as "very clear" as you make it out to be. Certainly there are not a lot of precedents in the US, other than Spirit, for ULCCs, and F9 did have this base of frequent flyers that I thought they might try to keep, even while moving to an ULCC model. Removing free TV for elites was a too-strong indication, to me, that they are going to abandon frequent flyers completely.

davywavy

If Spirit wasn't a big enough clue there isn't much I can say, nor am I sure what you mean by abandoning frequent fliers. If Spirit is the model, it has a FF program - "Free Spirit." It may not be a great FF program, but it's there. And as I've said before, the tv was doomed whatever happened.

The point remains - old Frontier was continuously unprofitable. It either charts its course as ULCC and makes money or it disappears from the skies and that possibility, surely, was not unknown to the FF's and elites a few short years ago?

No one really thought it would ever come out of Chapter 11 and - realistically - it should not have. I could scarcely believe how ineptly Southwest played the auction and but for that - and the somewhat eccentric behaviour of CEO Bedford at Republic - Frontier would be long gone, swallowed up by Southwest.

Ultimately, it was Bedford, again, who brought us to this, because after the financial disaster that was MKE, the Republic Board of Directors just wanted rid of Frontier whatever the consequences. But Bedford believed there was another way - this way - and persuaded the BOD to let him try.

If you say that none of this has any meaning for you, that as an elite you just want the goodies, I won't argue. I am fully sympathetic to any elite who feels the airline is no longer for them but - again - they do have choices.