I had that same question—so I called customer service. For what it's worth, the rep told me the WORKS fee is NOT refundable, just the base fare.
Frontier, if you are reading this thread, please reconsider this for a couple of reasons:
• The way
you are marketing the WORKS bundle says it is REFUNDABLE. There is no mention in the fine print that the bundle fee isn't refundable. That makes the entire tick price NOT fully refundable. As a long time Frontier Elite (nee Summit, Ascent, etc), I am factoring this in now when I price Frontier vs Southwest.
• The WORKS bundle is not cheap (starting at $49 each way). That means a minimum of $100 of the fare is gone if you cancel. You say this is like SW not refunding the Early Bird Access fee if you cancel a rez? Yes, but that is only $12.50. And SW
discloses the rules on Early Bird fees on their site—even offering to transfer the fee to a changed flight if certain rules are met. And the Early Bird fee isn't promising "refundability."
• The Department of Transportation will probably take a very dim view of this lack of disclosure. The potential fine would run into the millions—not something that the airline or its shareholders should risk.
I discovered all this when I noticed a fare drop in a DEN-LAX flight. I considered canceling the first ticket (it was REFUNDABLE, right?), but then the phone rep told me I'd lose the works fee, meaning there would be no savings. So here is the work around:
1. Change the flight to an earlier or later time on the same day. Assuming all the flights on that day are the new sale price (in my case, it was), this generates a credit if the flight is less than your original fare. For me, this was a $120 savings across three tix.
2. Then change the flight back to the original time (and reselect seats). Voila! No charge for changes and you now have the credit to use for future travel.