I'll be boarding my first F9 flight in just 10 days. The earlier thread on what to expect is helpful, but I've encountered a difficulty that I'm unfamiliar with in my UA flying. I hope you can help!

I have confirmed seats for 3 of the 4 segments (PDX-DEN-AUS DFW-DEN-PDX). The first segment I have no seat assignment and when I called F9 the agent said that the airport has not yet released seats for her to assign me and I'll have to get a seat at check-in. On UA this would mean that the flight is probably oversold and with no seat assignment I'll be first in-line for a bump or IDB. Is that the same for F9? How can I best protect myself on this flight? I have very little flexibility in my schedule that day.

Thank you!

RiniPDX ,

A warm welcome aboard Frontier!

Regarding your question about the seats - Frontier holds approximately 1/3 to 1/4 of all available seats for Ascent/Summit members as well as airport check-in. I wouldn't worry about not having a seat, but I do recommend you check-in either online or early at the airport to get a seat of your choice.

Hope that answers your question!

Thanks! That's very helpful! It's feels like a long time since I flew with an unfamiliar airline.

I am no expert having only flown 4 segments on Frontier between SFO and LAX since they started service in that market two months ago. That said, I noticed that the seats that are held in the front 1/3 of the plane were not released when I tried to check in online. I did get to the airport early though and noticed that I had my choice of any seat in the first few rows. You could always try to check in online and if you don't get what you want, just go to the kiosk and look at the seat map. Most people are checking in bags these days due to the new carry on baggage restrictions, so you will have to use the kiosk to get a bag tag anyway. Their system seems to work well--especially if you book as part of a group without too much notice. At least you stand a chance of being able to sit together.

Good for you for trying out a new carrier. You may find that you won't even miss UA.

people who book early are forced to sit in the rear. on top of that, we'll have to check in earlier than usual if we want to move closer to the front.

1/3 seems like a huge # of seats to airport control, but i confirmed that after seeing a seat map last week. honestly it might be slightly more than 1/3. we booked flights for travel in december and everything forward of mid-wing was unavailable. although it appeared only a handful of seats behind that were occupied, the farthest forward we could book was row 16.