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All pax now being charged for oversized gate checks

All pax now being charged for oversized gate checks

Old Aug 6, 2013, 5:07 pm
  #1  
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All pax now being charged for oversized gate checks

Flew F9 into Trenton today. Before boarding, gate agents announced that "as of today," if your carry on doesn't fit in their little box thing, you have to pay to get it checked. It appeared that this applied to ALL pax, whether or not you qualified for a free carry on.

Wasn't an issue for me, but it seemed they were being pretty lenient -- probably because it was the first day this new policy went into effect. Anyone seen anything about this being announced?
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Old Aug 6, 2013, 9:16 pm
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Originally Posted by markraby
Flew F9 into Trenton today. Before boarding, gate agents announced that "as of today," if your carry on doesn't fit in their little box thing, you have to pay to get it checked. It appeared that this applied to ALL pax, whether or not you qualified for a free carry on.

Wasn't an issue for me, but it seemed they were being pretty lenient -- probably because it was the first day this new policy went into effect. Anyone seen anything about this being announced?
Haven't heard anything but I assume its for 2 reasons.
#1. All the Frontier flights (and perhaps its an industry wide thing) have had the overhead bins filled. So in order to make sure that people aren't angry when they are forced to gate check an item, they started enforcing the rule they already had.

#2 It certainly behooves them to not to lose legitimate checked baggage revenue. I make sure I only carry on a bag that would fit properly and check everything that doesn't why should they get a free ride by forcing their full size suitcase into the overhead bin.
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Old Aug 7, 2013, 3:52 pm
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There is a penalty too, gate checked bags (I assume it will be waived if its not your fault) will cost $25 instead of the $20 until January 6, 2014 and then its $35 instead of $20 after that date.
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Old Aug 13, 2013, 9:55 pm
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This happened to me today in SLC and boy was I ever pissed. I am not "yet" any level of status with Frontier, but had planned to be by year's end as it's probably my 3rd carrier of choice after Delta.

I hate ala carte pricing and wasn't happy about having to pay for a cup of 4oz of ice and 2oz of ginger ale, but I grinned and bore it.

Back to today, I got the gate for a 2 day trip with a medium sized roller laptop bag and sat down in a chair prior to boarding announcements. The witch on wheels, who came up from the check-in desk downstairs, made a grand announcement that she was making every passenger with a carry-on demonstrate that it fit into their little box otherwise it would have to be "checked" for a $25 fee.

Of course I knew mine wasn't going to fit. It never fits because it's wider than it is long and it makes the wheels stick over the edge. It however ALWAYS fits into the overhead on an Airbus 300 series and also under the seat in front of me if necessary. I informed the "witch on wheels" that I had no problem paying the $25 fee, but that I wasn't checking my bag because I didn't have the 40 minutes to waste upon arrival in my destination for the damn thing to come out of the baggage claim carousel. She said that if it didn't fit that I needed to check it. I relented and let her check my bag and forked over my CC for the $25. She further informed me that very soon, gate checked bags would cost $100. Anyhoo, she slapped the gate check tag on it and told me to leave it at the door before boarding. Upon reaching the end of the ramp, I slide the gate check tag under the handle and boarded with it anyway and placed it cleanly under the seat in front of me, as usual. I was not harrassed in my connecting city.

The problem seems to be that their "sample" sizer is not indicative of being anywhere close to a real size of a potential carry-on, either in the seat in front of you, or in the overhead bin. By making it smaller, I bet they are significantly driving up revenue for checked baggage. After reading a few posts on here about the devaluation of Frontier status benefits and their move to ala carte pricing, today was indeed my last Frontier flight.
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Old Aug 13, 2013, 11:58 pm
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She was wrong about get checked bags as currently they are $25 till January then 35 after so I can't see it being a $100 very soon.
**Update** I stand corrected people purchasing BASIC tickets (3rd party) will be charged a $100 carry-on fee at the gate.

Last edited by Jerseyguy; Aug 14, 2013 at 12:25 am
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Old Aug 14, 2013, 6:57 am
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by Jerseyguy
She was wrong about get checked bags as currently they are $25 till January then 35 after so I can't see it being a $100 very soon.
**Update** I stand corrected people purchasing BASIC tickets (3rd party) will be charged a $100 carry-on fee at the gate.
My business travel is ALWAYS purchased through the company's travel agency. I'll always fall into this category, because it doesn't fit in the sizer. Though I can get it into the overhead bin and underneath the seat with about 3'' of room until the top and edge of the overhead bin and 1'' of room underneath the seat on either side.
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Old Aug 14, 2013, 7:16 am
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Originally Posted by lcbj68c
This happened to me today in SLC and boy was I ever pissed. I am not "yet" any level of status with Frontier, but had planned to be by year's end as it's probably my 3rd carrier of choice after Delta.

I hate ala carte pricing and wasn't happy about having to pay for a cup of 4oz of ice and 2oz of ginger ale, but I grinned and bore it.

Back to today, I got the gate for a 2 day trip with a medium sized roller laptop bag and sat down in a chair prior to boarding announcements. The witch on wheels, who came up from the check-in desk downstairs, made a grand announcement that she was making every passenger with a carry-on demonstrate that it fit into their little box otherwise it would have to be "checked" for a $25 fee.

Of course I knew mine wasn't going to fit. It never fits because it's wider than it is long and it makes the wheels stick over the edge. It however ALWAYS fits into the overhead on an Airbus 300 series and also under the seat in front of me if necessary. I informed the "witch on wheels" that I had no problem paying the $25 fee, but that I wasn't checking my bag because I didn't have the 40 minutes to waste upon arrival in my destination for the damn thing to come out of the baggage claim carousel. She said that if it didn't fit that I needed to check it. I relented and let her check my bag and forked over my CC for the $25. She further informed me that very soon, gate checked bags would cost $100. Anyhoo, she slapped the gate check tag on it and told me to leave it at the door before boarding. Upon reaching the end of the ramp, I slide the gate check tag under the handle and boarded with it anyway and placed it cleanly under the seat in front of me, as usual. I was not harrassed in my connecting city.

The problem seems to be that their "sample" sizer is not indicative of being anywhere close to a real size of a potential carry-on, either in the seat in front of you, or in the overhead bin. By making it smaller, I bet they are significantly driving up revenue for checked baggage. After reading a few posts on here about the devaluation of Frontier status benefits and their move to ala carte pricing, today was indeed my last Frontier flight.
What type of laptop bag is this? I have a rather large rollaboard that I use when traveling, and that fit into their carryon sizer over the weekend just fine - with 1.5" or so to spare at the top. I can't imagine a laptop bag taking up more room than that.
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Old Aug 14, 2013, 10:00 pm
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All pax now being charged for oversized gate checks

No enforcement of the rule at Wilmington today but a lot of "check to make sure your boarding pass says carry-on on it. If not a fee might be required to bring a carry-on, please see me at the podium."
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Old Aug 14, 2013, 10:54 pm
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There was no mention of this in STL or DEN for me on Tuesday. Any idea if they're making Ascents and Summits do the check as well?

My carry on is just slightly too big (wheels stick out an inch too far) for their sizer. It of course fits in the overhead no problems wheels out. I have Ascent though... Not sure what this means for me, but being able to carry on is incredibly important to me.
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Old Aug 16, 2013, 2:44 pm
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First day of deployment at DIA! Summits on down have to prove out their carry on size, and upon passing are given a yellow highlighter mark. If you haven't passed the test yet, they hold you aside to be checked before heading down the jet bridge.

Didn't find out how/if Summits or the like are charged; a few hundred flights or so and you learn what can and cannot fit (Frontier trolls on this forum might want to connect the dots for Summit and Ascent boarding).

The real shame is the inbound aircraft was here for a standard turn, yet our departure was slated for a 25 min delay. Lets hope on-time metrics trump this stupid new exercise, but then again Frontier is less and less about service these days. Might have been the final straw for this once-proud Summit.
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Old Aug 16, 2013, 9:21 pm
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Originally Posted by CampDude916
First day of deployment at DIA!
The real shame is the inbound aircraft was here for a standard turn, yet our departure was slated for a 25 min delay. Lets hope on-time metrics trump this stupid new exercise, but then again Frontier is less and less about service these days. Might have been the final straw for this once-proud Summit.
It was the final straw for me. Especially since their bag sizer is about 65% the real size of what fits under my seat or in the overhead. It isn't about the money, but the delay was ridiculous while they check everybody. No way I'm going to start checking my laptop roller. Farwell Frontier!
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Old Aug 16, 2013, 11:41 pm
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Originally Posted by CampDude916
First day of deployment at DIA! Summits on down have to prove out their carry on size, and upon passing are given a yellow highlighter mark. If you haven't passed the test yet, they hold you aside to be checked before heading down the jet bridge.

Didn't find out how/if Summits or the like are charged; a few hundred flights or so and you learn what can and cannot fit (Frontier trolls on this forum might want to connect the dots for Summit and Ascent boarding).

The real shame is the inbound aircraft was here for a standard turn, yet our departure was slated for a 25 min delay. Lets hope on-time metrics trump this stupid new exercise, but then again Frontier is less and less about service these days. Might have been the final straw for this once-proud Summit.
Welcome to FlyerTalk! I wish it was under better circumstances.

Given the absolute chaos that gates 24-30 are in "normal" operations (they are packed way too close together), it's going to be quite painful if they force all carry-ons through the sizer.

Looks like this Ascent will be leaving F9 as well. Back to UA, I guess.
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Old Aug 17, 2013, 12:26 am
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian

Looks like this Ascent will be leaving F9 as well. Back to UA, I guess.
Because they want to size your bag?

The over-riding number of complaints that Frontier gets is because of people trying to take steamer trunks on as cabin bags.

So the airline is doing something serious about it.
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Old Aug 17, 2013, 9:11 am
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Originally Posted by davywavy
Because they want to size your bag?
Because they are creating further delays, especially ex-DEN. And because they now charge for DirecTV. And because they plan to reduce benefits for FFs further. And because their route map and frequencies are getting thinner in the West every day. (Example: Latest DEN-LAS is 450pm most days.)

Lots of reasons, but this one may be the proverbial straw. Most likely I'll make Ascent for 2014 and switch over to UA then; by then I'm quite concerned that they'll eliminate Stretch seating, which will make UA a significantly better choice.
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Old Aug 17, 2013, 12:47 pm
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian
Because they are creating further delays, especially ex-DEN. And because they now charge for DirecTV. And because they plan to reduce benefits for FFs further. And because their route map and frequencies are getting thinner in the West every day. (Example: Latest DEN-LAS is 450pm most days.)

Lots of reasons, but this one may be the proverbial straw. Most likely I'll make Ascent for 2014 and switch over to UA then; by then I'm quite concerned that they'll eliminate Stretch seating, which will make UA a significantly better choice.
We all do what we want to do, I'm not especially loyal to any one airline, I shop around.

But as to "further" delays in June Frontier had the third best ontime performance, and the best ontime of the three big airlines at DIA:

http://atwonline.com/finance-amp-dat...-tarmac-delays

US airlines reporting the highest on-time arrival rates in June are Hawaiian Airlines at 93.1% of flights on-time, Alaska Airlines (87.5%) and Frontier Airlines (77.9%).

Sure, your prediction may come true, but I'm still not sure why sizing your bag is a negative.
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