DENVER — DURING a coffee break from contract talks last June at the headquarters of Frontier Airlines here, a Teamsters negotiator, Douglas G. Whetstine, buttonholed the airline's chief executive, Jeffrey S. Potter, about its policy of charging passengers who switch their return flights. "You shouldn't make people pay both a change fee and the difference in the fare," Mr. Whetstine said. "It's just not right."

Mr. Potter, 42, an affable man who dresses casually at work and prides himself on his approachability, recalled saying, "Maybe you're right."

A month later, Frontier eliminated the charge for the fare difference. "It was the right thing to do," Mr. Potter said recently, recounting the decision. "There's no reason to be alienating folks right now."

As the nation's biggest airlines are reeling from the worst losses in a decade, Mr. Potter's approach is unusual — and appears to be working. Frontier is expanding from its home at Denver International Airport. And, with a combination of eased ticket restrictions and discount fares, it has become a thorn in the side of United Airlines, the biggest carrier in Denver, which has been trying to avoid bankruptcy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/bu...ey/29AIRL.html