I Finally made my journey to Ohare. First thing I'd suggest was using this ORD page to find when the departing flights are as it's different each day, and ORD runs a limited F9 schedule now that almost all the flights have moved to MDW: https://www.flychicago.com/ohare/myf...s/default.aspx

I got there two hours before the next flight and there was only one person being helped. It seems like they've changed things there since I was there earlier this year: there were two contracted employees with "Frontier" shirts on, and then these other employees that apparently help with F9 operations but also are contracted to run other airlines. I couldn't tell which other airlines they ran but they had badges with "Star Alliance" on the neck holders so presumable for some Star Alliance partners out of Terminal 5. Two of the *A contractors seemed new as the F9 shirt and one of the *A members had to help them multiple times (like telling them how to do things or how much stuff is supposed to cost. One lady got very lucky when she asked for a print out of her boarding pass. The "new" guy was alone and he gave it for free: I know they are supposed to charge $25 for this.

You need to bring a lot of patience and persistence if you are going to buy tickets there. The lady I went up to first said, "You want to buy tickets? We are checking people in."
Then she just sat there not saying anything. I just sat there and then after about 30 seconds,
I said "Are you ready?"
She replied, "Hold on. I need to get log in information."
This whole time person was visibly annoyed with me wanting to book a ticket. I even tried to vibe by saying "I don't like this either, but this is Frontier's business model."
She replied, "Huh?"
I repeated myself and then said, "I have to waste my time coming here to do this to save the Carrier Interface Fee."

She kept calling and playing around with the computer. I initially thought she was purposely being difficult. Eventually, she got the log in information but then was having problems with doing it still. She went out back and so did the other F9 shirt employee and that's when the lady got her free boarding pass ticket. Eventually, this *A guy that seemed to also be in charge came and tried to help her with the ticket. It was at this point that I saw she was serious about her difficulties and not just messing with me hoping that I wouldn't want to book tickets now or in the future. She said to the guy, "I haven't book a ticket in ages. I'm having trouble."

This *A guy eventually ended up calling someone else to get instructions. Once he got the proper instructions, he completed my ticket. The next tickets were done super fast (like I am used to seeing when I've done this in the past in LAS. I assume a lot of people buy at counter in LAS (this was pre pandemic, but I also booked a few after the pandemic and always had someone that knew what they were doing."

A new issue was the *A guy couldn't print out receipts. We used to get receipts on the boarding pass stock. He did write down the confirmation numbers for me, and when I had my email open, the emails popped right as he booked them so I could verify my info.

This took so long that I had to pay for 2 hours parking for $6 instead of $3, and this was despite jogging b/c I Knew it was close. If they had the old bridge to the parking lot open with the machines instead the terminal, I would have saved the $3 but I had to run downstairs, across the street, and up the ramp to get to the machines there and it said I parked for 1 hr and 3mins...

I would not do this for a fare where I would save $15 only versus discount Den. I had DD for free for a year b/c of 100k status in 2022, but I forgot to cancel it and I guess I have it for another year for $59.99. (I set a reminder on my calendar to cancel it next year, though I suspect I'll get value out of it for cheaper flights.

For the example above where someone had to book for a whole family, this annoyance might be worth it. Saving at least $46 per person seems worth it to me if you live close to the airport like I do.

I didn't get dinged with the garbage fee. My plan had been, if they had charged it to say, "You aren't supposed to charge fees, but whatever, I'll get it back later." and then filed the DOT report. I probably shouldn't say the last part of that until the last ticket b/c I wouldn't want them to not book any more tickets. $25 fee would still make some of the flights cheaper even if DOT report was unsuccesful.

While this was taking forever, I also had a plan in case they didn't book my ticket, which seemed like a possible or even likely result the way things were going. I was noting names. If they had refused, I was going to book it online and file a DOT report with employee names saying I had to pay the CIC b/c they wouldn't sell me tickets.

I actually forgot to book this January flight I was thinking about taking. I'll probably just try that when I fly one of my upcoming flights. I guess I'll have another airport data point then.