Wasn't sure if this justified a new thread or not, but I called Barclay's regarding my Frontier Mastercard and the annual fee.

As soon as I briefly explained what was up (asking for a card w/o an annual fee because Frontier sharply reduced my city) i was transferred to a specialist.

The specialist was apparently aware of the situation with customers not wanting an annual fee Frontier card because of the service cutbacks. It almost sounded a little scripted, but it was more information than they would necessarily have known, so they must be prepared for these sorts of calls.

Outcome:

--There isn't a no-annual-fee Frontier card they could switch me to
--They would happily convert my account to a no-annual-fee Barclay's travel rewards card
--My account open date and credit limit will be retained
--I'll get a new accuont number and card in a week or so

I'm not sure how much I'll use this new card -- in part it depends on how good the rewards program is. I have a similar USBank card which used to be my NW Worldperks card, and it has reward points but I don't use it much. Lately I've been hammering away at my Delta AmEx and my Priority Club Visa. But the key thing is I'll no longer pay an annual fee and my history / credit limit were retained on my legacy Midwest / Frontier account. It's my oldest and highest-limit card, and I prefer to keep that open for FICO credit score purposes if nothing else.

Perhaps others in Wisconsin (and other former YX markets, for that matter) are choosing to keep their F9 card, or have already taken action on a change. But my annual fee would hit next month so I finally called today. And I thought I'd post it in case there were others out there with a similar dilema.