Originally Posted by
RustyC
Useful to remember. Alas, ATL is a terrible place to buy tickets (busy, chaos, many people live on the north side and 30+ miles away with brutal traffic). OTOH, they've recently expanded into places like BHM and GSP that are more accessible and less unpleasant for locals to reach ('cept for probably very limited counter hours because of the thin schedule), so for many people it might be a real option.
The whole bit - which Spirit also does - follows the backwards TicketMaster "logic" where you are expected to pay extra for "convenience" for not having to go to the arena box office (or in this case the airport). When in fact they'd have an expensive mess on their hands and wouldn't be prepared to handle anyway if people actually did it that way.
The good thing about ATL though is Frontier has a lot of flights out of there, so there is a better chance (than at a small airport) that the counter is staffed for a customer to buy a ticket. Traffic can be brutal, but there is MARTA. I'd only buy at ATL, if I was at or near ATL anyways - i.e. returning back from another flight or if I had time before a flight out, or if I'm buying a lot of tickets and can get a substantial overall savings.
PHL isn't too bad. AFAIK, it's $4 for the garage for half hour, $6 for one hour for short term. I did it once for Spirit, and was lucky (with no line) and got out within half hour.
I do have to say that the gate area where Frontier and Spirit operate at ATL is also busy/chaotic and feels like a Greyhound station.