They filmed out in the lobby which is more spacious (see the AVIS counter behind Ms. Wordelmann), so I don't think that she can speak to the waiting area atleast not at the time of her interview.

I just posted what was said. I have no idea where she was standing or how much of the terminal she had seen.

I really don't really understand all these debates - here and on a.net - about the size of ILG.

If it isn't big enough, Frontier has made a real cock-up but it seems to be adequate.

Here is my trip report on the "inaugural" flights, which are as uneventful as an inaugural flight can be. No one even mentions that it is an inaugural flight.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...l#post21032075

The Inaugural flight from ILG to Denver was almost 100% full with only a few middle seats left empty.

Carfield

Ok, based on the pics from Carfields pics from the trip report, it appears that all of New Castle's terminal is quite spacious (exception baggage claim) including the boarding area. Seems like Wilmington is a winner for F9. Hopefully the coffee shop will open longer hours as they see all of the pax from Frontier.

As F9 makes the transition from LCC to ULCC I hope it doesn't go too far ala Spirit with their horrendous 28" seat pitch in the A320. For cheaper fares and local airport convience I can pay for more things like drinks but I will not fly on a sardine can.

Information isn't easy to find but it appears that ILG now has bus service to Downtown Wilmington and the Wilmington SEPTA/Amtrak station via DART BUS 22. Approximately 20-25 minutes.

DART RIDER ALERT:
New Service to New Castle Airport: DART Bus Route 22 will now serve the New Castle Airport on site weekdays heading north into Wilmington at 1 PM and 9:40 PM to meet Frontier Airline arrivals. Additional service to Downtown Wilmington can be accessed on DART Bus Routes 22 and 25 outside the airport at the bus stop across DuPont Hwy. Please see the revised DART Bus Route 22 Bus Schedule on dartfirststate.com

Well I have gone ahead and booked DEN-ILG-DEN Aug 10/11th. Booked a UA RT flight to connect from MCI-DEN-MCI. Once this is done I will have flown in/out of all 50 states. DE is my last state. :cool:

I have now flown from both ILG and TTN.

It was easier navigating TTN's parking lot and finding a space. TTN is in a more tree lined area, with more feeling of shade. The upper level restaurant at TTN was nice and seemed more full service.

ILG has more space around the ticketing area, and one doesn't have to carry the checked bags down a set of stairs. Vending machine of drinks after security, not just before it. Easier process and less crammed. However, the parking lot seems crammed.

I see very few people purchasing DirecTV on the MDW flights from TTN or ILG. It's right at 1hr 50 mins-2 hours, but Frontier charges $5.99 for the 2-3.5 hour block. It seems when the flight is 1 hour 50 mins in actuality. $5.99 seems a little too steep for that length. It's not long enough that one is suffering of boredom that $5.99 actually proves to fill some void and it's more than a PPV cost.

Speaking of parking at ILG, I was looking on their website and found a webcam at the 2 main lots, the one in front and behind the terminal. There is none at the remote lot (which from my understanding is walkable to the terminal.

http://www.newcastleairportilg.com/ncaweb.aspx

How was the baggage claim at ILG?

My brother is looking at houses in Austin and couldn't pass up buying tickets for him and his family (5 total) for $91RT ILG-IAH. Even with the 3 hour drive to Austin it was worth it to him for such a ridiculously cheap airfare.

The baggage claim area is right by the door. You pretty much exit the aircraft, use the ramp, and walk through an opened door. If you checked bags, you wait in that area, while the airline staff unloads all the bags.

Think of it like gate checking bags on United Express and the staff delivers it to you right as you exit the aircraft. Only difference is Frontier charges $20 per bag.

It's not like at a big airport where you exit the aircraft, have to walk somewhere totally away from the aircraft, and you go to a baggage claim carousel and have to wait 20 minutes.

Ok, I've actually been to the airport and went into the baggage claim area prior to them starting service. My concern was that the carosuel was too small but since they put it on the floor next to the carosuel, it seems fine.

I'm actually going with my brother now to help him look at houses (Paid $112 instead of $91), so I can't wait to try out the airport. Though I'm much closer to Trenton, Wilmington is a good 20-25 minutes past Philly for me. 35-40 minutes more than flying out of Newark.

I wonder if Frontier would consider either ILG-PIT, or TTN-PIT. There is really no low fare carrier on PHL-PIT since Southwest pulled out. Just exorbitant fares on US. Amtrak takes 7 hours and MegaBus is the really only other option but it's long. 276 is fine for those in the suburbs but not great for Center City residents that have to trek to Valley Forge before getting on the Turnpike, and not great for So. NJ either to Pittsburgh region.

Southwest was flying 4x daily trying to capture business traffic and volume traffic. That's a bit excessive, but 1x daily between PIT and ILG or TTN might work for volume and some business traffic.

I don't know if Frontier flies routes that are about 250 miles however, although it seems so from DEN. Their sweet spot for short haul might be 350 miles (e.g. TTN-CMH) even though the demand for CMH/Columbus, OH is questionable to me, while demand between the Philly region to PIT/Pittsburgh, PA is likely a lot higher.

I dropped off some pax at ILG about a week after service began. It was easy to get a free space right in front of the terminal. As they were flying the 7:30 am flight to Chiicago, I was pleasantly surprised by how efficient the operation appeared to be. Large airplanes in small stations in the early AM are often a problem because everybody shows up at the same time (you try to get as much sleep as possible). I also thought the "rookie" TSA might be a little too, um, "thorough," and thereby slow things down. But the line at 6:35 was quite short, and things seemed peaceful at the counter.

My family reported that the flight was fine (they didn't buy anything) and arrived 10 minutes early.

Bottomline, I think this service is great if you get a good deal. I would also urge you to fly sooner than later, because I still believe the economics are horrible for Frontier. They're going to have to either raise fares (which will negate the value) or offer more frequencies to places that people want to go. Otherwise, they'll never be able to achieve high enough yields to afford the fuel bill.

The Florida flights are going to be hard to raise but I think they should be able to raise IAH/MDW/DEN without negating the value. PHL-IAH and PHL-MDW are going around $300-350 they could charge $99-$119 and still have it be a good value.

Much the same was said about TTN - there were many non-believers. Yet the airline has just renewed its lease there for five years:

http://www.centraljersey.com/article...5516831552.txt

"Only six months into its current lease agreement with Trenton-Mercer Airport and Mercer County, Frontier Airlines’ request to extend its lease to five years has been accepted by the Administration, according to Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes."

They have already flown TTN-Florida through most of a winter so most of those questions are answered and the remaining "test" of TTN is the non-Florida schedule - in winter.

The surprise, to me, has been the strength of TTN-ATL and it is possible to argue they could increase frequency but I would not expect that to happen until next spring - they have to see how it does in winter at 4 x weekly. I would not fall over in shock if that was reduced in the slowest weeks (to 3 x weekly) just as they have flown extra sections in the summer (yesterday morning, for example).

Similarly, TTN-RDU, which was over-scheduled at 6 x weekly and (somewhat to my surprise) is doing great at 5 x weekly.

As to ILG, DEN is presently gangbusters with most fares up around and over $200 one way for the next four weeks. But the lesson from history here is that DEN-PHL was gangbusters in summer, misery in winter and I think they are right to reduce it to 3 x weekly for the winter.

Historically, Q1 - winter - is Frontier's most difficult quarter and many of the moves the airline is making are to resolve this problem. So Florida, from both TTN and ILG, is critical. Everything else is gravy and, if it becomes necessary, expendable.

Same rules apply to DEN. The only way this will work is with high load factors, decent fares, ruthless use of resources - and lower costs:

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...assengers.aspx

"Frontier Airlines Is Really Packing In Passengers

Frontier reported a load factor of 94% in June; that number represents the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers (adjusting for the length of each flight). For the full quarter, that figure was 91%.

Frontier has made a remarkable turnaround, considering that it filed for bankruptcy back in 2008 and a number of industry experts expected it to file for bankruptcy yet again in 2011. Recently, the company has consistently maintained one of the highest load factors in the country, which suggests that passengers are eagerly embracing Frontier's low fares.

That said, Frontier needs to continue reducing its cost structure in order to match the profitability of Allegiant and Spirit, its ULCC rivals. If it can do so, Frontier's earnings will skyrocket, benefiting Republic Airways shareholders or a potential acquirer. However, it will take several years to push through all of the necessary cost cuts to reach that point, so patience is a must for investors."

I would be surprised if ILG-IAH is a year-round route and I doubt they would nurse it. Far better to put that aircraft to somewhere that doesn't need nursing - Florida, say, or any snowbird route.

Nobody has ever made money in the USA with cheap fares and infrequent service except to very high volume leisure destinations -- or where there's no competition (podunk to Vegas). This makes sense, of course. It certainly is possible with the rest of the industry charging oligopoly-level fares that this might change. Still. I wouldn't bet on such success. There are many, many travel choices from Wilmington, DE. Frontier is going to have to be super-cheap to draw crowds. And super cheap doesn't usually pay the fuel bill. It is so much harder to make money without biz travellers, and you're going to get almost zero biz travellers at ILG with these frequencies -- certainly not the higher paying travellers going on somebody else's dime.