Wasn't sure if this justified a new thread or not, but I called Barclay's regarding my Frontier Mastercard and the annual fee.

As soon as I briefly explained what was up (asking for a card w/o an annual fee because Frontier sharply reduced my city) i was transferred to a specialist.

The specialist was apparently aware of the situation with customers not wanting an annual fee Frontier card because of the service cutbacks. It almost sounded a little scripted, but it was more information than they would necessarily have known, so they must be prepared for these sorts of calls.

Outcome:

--There isn't a no-annual-fee Frontier card they could switch me to
--They would happily convert my account to a no-annual-fee Barclay's travel rewards card
--My account open date and credit limit will be retained
--I'll get a new accuont number and card in a week or so

I'm not sure how much I'll use this new card -- in part it depends on how good the rewards program is. I have a similar USBank card which used to be my NW Worldperks card, and it has reward points but I don't use it much. Lately I've been hammering away at my Delta AmEx and my Priority Club Visa. But the key thing is I'll no longer pay an annual fee and my history / credit limit were retained on my legacy Midwest / Frontier account. It's my oldest and highest-limit card, and I prefer to keep that open for FICO credit score purposes if nothing else.

Perhaps others in Wisconsin (and other former YX markets, for that matter) are choosing to keep their F9 card, or have already taken action on a change. But my annual fee would hit next month so I finally called today. And I thought I'd post it in case there were others out there with a similar dilema.

I made this its own thread in case anyone had a question specific to this scenario. Thanks for sharing!

As far as credit history goes, I think that "age of credit" goes by whether the card is active or not. For instance, I first opened a credit card 6 years ago, but I cancelled that card 3 years ago, but I still get credit for the full 6 years. The limit is probably your biggest issue, but you may be able to work something out with your other issuers.

I had a completely different result than Knope.

I called last week, the CSR I spoke with was more than happy to switch my account to a no fee Frontier account. This account earns:

0.5 mile for every dollar spent.
1 mile for every dollar spent on Frontier.

I retain the same account number and card. I received a confirmation letter this week, outlining the above.

There isn't a no annual fee Frontier card they could switch you to? Sounds like the specialist was quite uninformed, as is often the case at Barclay's.

https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/...rid=GetMiles11

I'm surprised that once you told them you lived in Wisconsin that they didn't offer you 100,000 miles on US Airways; 100,000 miles on Lufthansa; and 100,000 miles on Virgin America. The adversity faced by those in the Milwaukee market dwarfs those of other Frontier markets and should be adequately rectified!

You were definitely misinformed by the CSR. My wife was downgraded to the no fee card a couple years ago. I am getting ready to apply for the fee card (35k) in my next round of apps, but there is an option to choose a no fee acrd (5k).

I called today and was given the same options are knope. I said I would call back.

We should swap; I'm on the no-fee card and actually just came on the forums to ask if anyone had experience upgrading to the card with a fee!

Shouldn't be a problem. A few years ago, I had the AirTran no fee card which was also from Barclay's. A phone call upgraded it to the fee card.