So last week I was on a DEN-LGA flight that was supposed to leave before 11AM and once again got weather delayed till around 2:30PM. Yes, it was windy in NYC, however as I and numerous other passengers looking on their phones at flightaware or flighttracker or one of the other apps noted, both a United flight and a Delta flight on the same DEN-LGA route left on time within 10 minutes or so of our scheduled departure (and at least one of them was an A320). So the gate people were repeatedly having to throw up their hands and say they didn't know why Frontier was delayed but United and Delta weren't. Numerous unhappy customers.

They were very clear the order came directly from flight control at LGA. One of the flight crew at first said there was no preferential treatment (his exact words were there's no conspiracy), but after we were delayed a second time he admitted that some of their pilots had complained about this very issue in the past (to no avail).

I suppose the data is available to see whether in fact Frontier is delayed more frequently than other airlines on the same routes at about the same times, but I sort of expect that someone in Frontier management would be paying attention to such things. I mean if I really need to get to NYC reasonably on time on a given day then I might think twice about booking on Frontier.

I understand that LGA is a pit of an airport and extremely susceptible to weather issues, but what I have yet to find is a satisfactory answer to the question of why Frontier is told to wait when other airline's flights are allowed to leave.