How are loads on the SFO/SJC to LAX?
 

I haven't heard anything about this route, but I do think they are there now. What's the loads looking like now?

The loads have picked up very nicely and have consistently been near capacity on most flights. It appears that word is travelling fast about Frontier's new service and many passengers are enjoying the $59 fares while they can. It certainly is a great way to get the flying public's attention, especially on such a highly traveled route.

According to a quote in today's Denver Post from F9 CFO Paul Tate, loads are not good but they are being "patient" with the route. I hope this is not a replay of the LAX focus city scenario of a couple of years ago.

the loads maybe higher on the weekend, but mid week and during the day the loads are wonderful for the few PAX on board. if i were one of them, i'd be royalled p.o.'d if service sucked with such a low load factor.

marketing is supposedly targeting business travellers, but it looks like the leisure travellers are the ones taking advantage of this route (along with a few non-revs not able to fly btw LAX and DEN).

The US$59 fare was one of the factors that made me choose to fly Frontier. However, to be honest, I was disappointed when it came to actual booking. It seems that online booking on your website -- and also the frequent flyer program -- is only limited to residents of the US, Canada and Mexico.

I had to resort to booking via a third-party engine, all of which gave varying fares. After about an hour of search, I settled on Travelocity, which featured the lowest fare of US$69. :mad:

Loony

with all the taxes...that sounds just about as much as you'd pay on the F9 website or via 800 res line.

Not quite. I did try to do a booking on Frontier's website, till I got stuck at the personal details part. The total fare would have been only US$59.30. Frontier is one of the airlines which includes almost all taxes in the fare shown upfront (hence no "hidden costs").

PS. Comparitively, I paid US$69.20 on Travelocity, all taxes in.

Loony

Hi Loony.

I understand your frustration, and that is certainly something that Frontier has been aware of for quite a while. I remember reading somewhere that purchases from outside of the U.S. would be allowed sometime in the future, but don't quote me on it. I certainly hope that we would, as it would allow passengers like yourself access to Frontier's service.

I heard that loads were initially light on the LAX-SFO shuttle, but that they've picked up. Of course, my only sources are from other colleagues who've worked those flights as well as the few I've been on. myleguy- thanks for the heads up on the article. Tate would definitely know the loads better than myself :) so I'll take his word for it and hope that the route matures. :)

Thanks everyone for posting your concerns. I know that company officials occasionally read these boards and take your comments very seriously. I'm not an official representative of Frontier, but just a line employee trying to provide the best service I possibly can. It's important to me that my customers are happy and I sincerely thank you for your patronage. We certainly have a great team of employees here and I'm proud to work for Frontier. :)

Cheers!

Thanks for everything, FrontierFA. Who knows, I may get to meet you on my upcoming flight. :)

Loony

I've been flying twice weekly LAX-SFO for the past month, and all of it on UA. The business traffic on the LAX area-SFO area are dominated by WN, UA and AA. Frontier entering the market resulted in UA lowering LAX-SFO from $500+ to $150+. It's tough to give up my priority check-in, elite security line, RCC and familiarity of the UA system to save a few bucks. Even before F9, I could still save a ton of money by flying into SJC or OAK out of LAX. My point: F9 probably will only have leisure travelers, or its own FFs, but won't really cause anyone to defect. All of us in the market are already happy enough.

I don't claim to speak for all travellers, but I for one chose F9 over UA and AA for my upcoming business trip. I have been on a few domestic sectors on both airlines and the experience was really nothing to shout about. JetBlue (B6), on the other hand, provided me with a very wonderful experience. America's legacy carriers are really far behind in the catch-up game -- apart from UA's transcon Premium Service, to be fair. In the meantime, the new budget carriers have leapfrogged ahead of them. I hope my F9 experience will mirror that on B6.

Loony

Thank you! I totally agree with your point. Targeting the business traveler is the strategy behind these flts, which is (unfortunately) off the mark for the business guys at F9.

F9 is saying they're going to give this route an opportunity to succeed. Hopefully, those OA travelers will enjoy the lower fares while they last.

I took this flight on July 4th during the first week of service. It was not as good as jetBlue but far better than American or United for such a short flight. The flights were on time, the A319 was nice, the service was pretty good, and it is a lot easier to get in/out of Terminal 3 at LAX than at the UA/AA terminals which can be a mob scene. When I have the time, I would still rather take B6 from OAK to LGB but if I need to leave San Francisco in the evening to get to West LA/Santa Monica, F9 is much more convenient. After never having flown F9 before July 4th, I now have a few flights booked on them and even got their credit card--giving me enough miles for nearly 2 free tickets.

sorry to beat a (possibly) dead horse into the ground. i said taxes, but the total cost if you read the fine print are as follows:

$59USD fare each way
$4.50 PAX facilities fee
$2.50 9/11 security fee
$3.30 fee per segment
---------
$69.30 total or $138.60 roundtrip

at the time, this was based on a 21-day advance purchase. cost has now risen to $79USD each way.

I think I see what you mean. On the payment page (the final page of my mock booking, SFO-LAX, Aug 26) all I see is a line Total Due at Time of Purchase: 59.30 USD

Do you mean this is really not the amount that's about to be charged to my card? I do note that there's no mention of applicable fees here -- they were only shown in a popup window in an earlier step, if we clicked on the link. If things are what I really think, then isn't the airline guilty of misleading all of us with the phrase "Total Due at Time of Purchase"?

Loony