jk88usa

Glad I left these morons at Frontier 2 years or so back...used to fly them all the time out of DIA. I have to say though neither UA nor WN have impressed me either. Hardly any benefit whatsoever under WN's loyalty programs and UA is an airline in shambles as far as I'm concerned. Really wish Virgin America would come into DIA or JetBlue would lower costs and ramp up service to a few more cities...as far as I'm concerned they are probably the only two decent airlines in the US at this point.

alphaeagle

I don't see this anywhere. How much is the fee? I'm looking at booking a few flights that'll bump me up an award level, but if there is a large fee to redeem those miles it might be better to just book on another carrier.

MileHighColorado

It does not start till Oct. 31, 2014 -- I have seen stated what the fee is yet.

Doc Savage

So sad; this used to be a great airline. Now they've devolved to the point they have to keep sneakily changing rules to trip people up and steal fees. Ryanair, anyone?

Jerseyguy

I dont think the amount has been
announced but Spirit has the following award redemption fee
$0 more than 180 days before
$15 179 days to 21 days before
$75 20 days to 7 days before
$100 6 days to 0 days before

Daze

180 days? Wow. They've gone over the edge.

Daze

CMK10

Make a motion in TalkBoard Topics if you want, though I think at this point "Budget North American and South American Airlines" is where it belongs

FWIW, I'm not surprised. Even a decade ago when F9 was very different I thought it was odd that they had two elite tiers. I do think taking away advanced Stretch seating is too much though.

JeffCO

As a multi-year Summit member, what everyone else said. And second wishing Jetblue and/or Virgin would expand to DEN. :-(

DenverBrian

Agreed; I hadn't seen the Budget forum, but that appears to be where all the Spirit posts are, and if Frontier isn't Spirit run amok, I don't know what airline is.

khoward

Well, the sad day has finally come. With the upcoming changes, I've lost all of my motivation to fly Frontier anymore. I have already qualified for their new "status" for next year with 24K miles through August, but the cost of my ticket just got much higher without free bags, drinks, no change fees and I'd have to wait until check-in to get a Stretch seat? Um, no thanks. The other missing item in the new program is using the Summit benefits with the family on trips, which was awesome. But they have been slowly eliminating all the perks that made it worth the hassle of flying with them as a business traveler. Their service to some locations at 3X weekly just isn't worth spending an extra night to come back on their schedule. Today is the final straw. I'm off to build status with American/US Airways. I'm not the Frontier target market and gutting the program for next year makes that painfully obvious.

Buh-bye F9. It was fun while it lasted.

Zflyz

Remember the days...only about a year ago:
Sitting back in the stretch seating, eating the warm cookie while watching a nice movie all in recognition of your decision to stick with the local (Denver) airline.

As that aged, the cookies and TV passed but they still tried with food and booze. A valiant effort that would be very short lived.

In the final phase, all was gone...all but a little bit more legroom and a complimentary spirit to drink. If you could only hang on to two, that was the right choice.

Now, all that has passed and we can look forward to checked bag fees, lines and charges around every corner and a staff that is surely to become as disgruntled with the new management as the UA staff when they realized they were broke.

Once upon a time you were good to your customer and good to your employees. Now expect them all to wander as you Rest in Peace.

Summit, Ascent, Employees- make sure to send your goodbyes

http://flyfrontier.custhelp.com/app/flyfrontier

Doc Savage

This isn't Frontier anymore.

mkenwayx

Not surprised that there are changes, but very surprised how deep the cuts are. The benefits are nearly worthless as pointed out. And worst of all, the change takes place more than half way through the year (for qualification). More notice I think would be courteous at the least, since I certainly would have adjusted my flying this year. Have enough booked already for the year to make the new level, but what's the point. I'm done with f9 now as well, unless they are so remarkable cheaper or the schedule is absolutely the best.

Anyone with any experience with a status match or challenge to wn? As pointed out, ua is a mess, and only fly crjs (on a 2+ h flight) on my usual route, so also not an option. Missing my dl now

F9 really has said screw you, but thanks for being tricked into giving us your business for the last 8 months. This isn't a rewards program at all. They should have just gotten rid of it...it would be less of a joke/insult. This says we don't want you to fly us very often anymore, just the few times the infrequent flights from strange airports work out...

TRRed

And I third it, especially Virgin (IIRC JetBlue still has flights from DEN to NYC and BOS last I knew).

Daze

My exit strategy is completed to earn and burn F9 miles by 10/31.

F9 has evidently decided that giving away perks (free bags, free carry ons, free stretch, free seats) to a small number of elite flyers is not as good as extorting ancillary fees for same from new herds of kettles.

As a data point, FT seems to agree with F9. The frequent flyer program is gutted, and there are 28 posts. F9 announces new routes, and combined the threads have 100 posts.

A F9 Airbus is a nice ride, even with the changes up to this one. But, now the comfortable seats are being replaced, and it is against my religion to fly flights that I can't easily use miles for free flights. (180 days? Rubbish.) So, without enthusiasm, United (Express) and probably a CR2 will replace the F9 flights. Ugh.

Daze