707Flyer

I'm A-List on WN, and buy a decent amount of Business Select fares. I often connect in DEN for SEA, SFO, and LAX flights, but it looks like Classic + might be a better deal. Specifically, the priority boarding + guaranteed extra legroom + no change fee with what is generally a lower fare than BS. Additionally, I prefer to fly out of DCA.

I've never flown F9, just YX. C+ seems like a great deal, am I missing something?

MikeFromMKE

It is a great deal. In addition to what you mentioned, you get priority security lane access, free DirectTV (on Airbus aircraft), and if you were to connect in MKE you would have access to their FF lounge.

azstar

Not to mention the huge difference in price. I had to buy a last minute ticket from Tucson to Denver the other day. Frontier's Classic Plus ticket was 115.00 one way plus tax. For that you get 5 extra inches of legroom, 2 free bags, free TV, priority boarding, and it's fully refundable. Southwest Business Select fare was 299.00 one way plus tax. For that you get priority boarding.

Stumblefoot

I love that route and how if you're able to plan accordingly, you can typically get a round trip for less than $100.

lougord99

That is 5" extra leg room over standard Frontier, but 2" over standard WN. You get 2 free bags on WN and WN is fully refundable. Let's compare real apples to apples.

As far as price, I guess it depends where you are flying from. I checked Frontier and Southwest for a 1-way MDW to DEN tomorrow. WN, $200 at 7:00am and $250 at 1:20pm.

Frontier - $260 at 10:00am and $205 at 12:30, 3:40 and 7:00.

knope2001

Lets do just that...

The Southwest $200 fare is really $210.70 because they don't include all fees in the initial price listing. The Frontier fare is listed as $205.70 is in fact $205.70


The Southwest fare you quoted for MDW-DEN tomorrow is a Wanna Get Away fare, which is not refundable. The lowest refundable Southwest fare, with taxes and fees, is $344.70. All Southwest fares include free bags, of course.

The Frontier fare of $205.70 gets you Classic Plus, which includes free bags, early boarding, has Stretch seating, and is fully refundable.

Buying a ticket one day out, of course, makes it unlikely one would need to get a refund.

Although SeatGuru is not perfect, it's about as good as it gets online.

Southwest planes are all listed as 32-33" pitch.

Frontier Airbus aircraft are listed as 31-35" pitch.

Based on this, Stretch is 2-3 inches better then Southwest and 4 inches better than standard Frontier. I don't know how much of WN is 32" and how much is 33"....perhaps seasoned WN flyers know exactly which rows to grab for the 33" pitch, but typical flyers might get 32" or might get 33".


Definitely agreed -- on any particular market for any particular day can vary. Even if both airlines match fares, it may be a matter of one airline selling out of the lower fare buckets. But when it comes to short-purchase windows, where Classic Plus is typically the lowest Frontier fare, bags fly free on both Frontier and Southwest, and Frontier is fully refundable even if Southwest is not.

iansltx

There's also the fact that, if you're flying on an E90, you get the seat equivalent of regional First Class: 1-2 with 36" pitch (slightly better than standard STRETCH). You can also get a $20 credit per bag if your checked baggage has issues; WN doesn't do that.

F9 has 150% EQMs/reward miles but WN has what amounts to a 20% rebate as long as you're redeeming for WGA.

Taking another route, F9 tomorrow AUS-DEN costs the same for CP as WN does for WGA. No window seats in STRETCH are available on the evening or afternoon flights, but you can still guarantee a spot in the first four rows, without having to be at the gate 25 minutes prior to departure (though you do get called first as a CP ticket holder if you want to get on the plane early). Free checked bags, a free drink and free DirecTV round out the Classic Plus package. Oh, and Frontier still has three bookable nonstop flights available AUS-DEN for tomorrow...WN has two.

From a rewards perspective, F9 will give you 1200 EQMs and reward miles for that flight. WN will give you $15 toward the purchase of a WGA flight. If you find a $160 one-way ticket on F9 you come out about even either way, unless you look at elite qualification. That flight would get you 5% of the way to Ascent if you count by segments, or 8% if you count by miles. WN will get you 4% of the way by segments...or 2.6% by points. That kinda sucks.

If you want to spend an extra $106 though to upgrade to Business Select, bringing yourself up to parity with Frontier in the process, you'll get 3072 points. That's enough for $51.20 in WGA flights, $35 over what you'd get with the WGA fare. The other $70 gets you, compared with F9 CP, 8.78% of the way toward WN A List instead of around 8% toward Ascent. Yeah...not so hot.

But we all knew that, for people who want to gain tiers by racking up TQM, WN is a disaster, right? =p

707Flyer

the right side in front of the exit row is 33", rest of the plane is 32", but there's a rumor they're adding 4 seats to the 737-300s, and -700s, which will really make BS unattractive

sticking with C+ vs. BS, not Econ vs. WGA, main drawback I see with F9 is thinner schedule, but going to give them a try

knope2001

Good to know...I don't fly WN often, but I didn't know where the better seats were. I'll be curious to see if if they do add more seats. It's hard to fight the economics of having more seats to sell, as much as flyers might dislike it.

That's certainly true in some markets, though not all. As much as we tend to pick apart things like seat comfort, FF benefits, onboard entertainment, etc, etc, a whole lotta buying decision is focused on price, or for some travelers schedule. That's why the general "I'll never fly XX again" usually doesn't hold water.

German Expat

Also Frontier does interline with other airlines which can be an advantage in irregular ops.