Yes, the Frontier CIC is now $23 EACH WAY on every ticket EXCEPT for those below $39. You will save $23 each way. (Most Frontier agents don't even know this.) By it's very nature, a fee is for an OPTIONAL SERVICE (otherwise, it's taxable) so legally, Frontier must provide a way to avoid it. The way to avoid it is to purchase the ticket at the airport.

I once had an agent at DFW tell me this: "My manager said that too many people are buying their tickets at the airport, so now we are charging a $25 fee. I told him that this was ILLEGAL for the reason I cited above. He wouldn't sell me the ticket without the $25 fee, so I paid it with my credit card and FILED A D.O.T. COMPLAINT. The U.S. D.O.T. ruled in my favor and forced Frontier to refund my $25!

Now that's a story with a happy ending!

Placed under the wrong posting.

Glad you got a good outcome. Frontier locations are getting shameless in this crap. Lucky they would even sell it to you, many just say they aren't allowed to.

I will say that stuff like this and Breeze's stricter method (you get to buy tickets at airports on Tuesdays between 11a & 1p to avoid their "Technology Development Charge) makes me surprised the gov't hasn't lowered the Excise Tax but apply it to many more things ("convenience fees", baggage, seat assignments, etc) to keep it revenue neutral but prevent airlines from finding new and increasingly creative ways to circumvent it.

Frankly they should just tax all of it and put every airline on equal footing. It's insanity for an airline to claim they need to save $2 on an airfare to make the cheap offer viable. Same for the seats and bags. Take the money and spend it on improving the airport experience, including the access and parking. Like most users of these assets I'd be fine paying a little more if I knew the money wasn't just going into the black hole that is general funds.

Any new data points? My GF bought 4 roundtrip tickets Oct 1 and didn't get charged extra. Last time I did it was back in March. I had booked several segments and in one, the agent had snuck in a $25 (seat selection) fee that I didn't notice until later. We ended up cancelling that ticket within the 24 hours and booking it online bc it was cheaper that way using my Discount den.

This was at ORD which I see someone here has a bad experience lately.

I was just going to use DD but I have three flights that would save a lot of money so I may go try tomorrow. I guess i can do a DOT report myself if they won't book with out adding on the fee.

What type of ticket for you buy? Was it $25 for a one segment/one way/ or roundtrip ticket? Even if they scam me $25 for a round trip, I guess I'd still save $23x2-$25 If they don't charge per person, then there 23x4-$25.

I'm going to try tomorrow so I'm trying to plan if I'm going to buy anything if I get a forced fee. I'll of course try the DOT report if this happens but I also want to make sure I'm saving money even if I get stuck with the $25 fee vs paying the carrier interface charge.

I Finally made my journey to Ohare. First thing I'd suggest was using this ORD page to find when the departing flights are as it's different each day, and ORD runs a limited F9 schedule now that almost all the flights have moved to MDW: https://www.flychicago.com/ohare/myf...s/default.aspx

I got there two hours before the next flight and there was only one person being helped. It seems like they've changed things there since I was there earlier this year: there were two contracted employees with "Frontier" shirts on, and then these other employees that apparently help with F9 operations but also are contracted to run other airlines. I couldn't tell which other airlines they ran but they had badges with "Star Alliance" on the neck holders so presumable for some Star Alliance partners out of Terminal 5. Two of the *A contractors seemed new as the F9 shirt and one of the *A members had to help them multiple times (like telling them how to do things or how much stuff is supposed to cost. One lady got very lucky when she asked for a print out of her boarding pass. The "new" guy was alone and he gave it for free: I know they are supposed to charge $25 for this.

You need to bring a lot of patience and persistence if you are going to buy tickets there. The lady I went up to first said, "You want to buy tickets? We are checking people in."
Then she just sat there not saying anything. I just sat there and then after about 30 seconds,
I said "Are you ready?"
She replied, "Hold on. I need to get log in information."
This whole time person was visibly annoyed with me wanting to book a ticket. I even tried to vibe by saying "I don't like this either, but this is Frontier's business model."
She replied, "Huh?"
I repeated myself and then said, "I have to waste my time coming here to do this to save the Carrier Interface Fee."

She kept calling and playing around with the computer. I initially thought she was purposely being difficult. Eventually, she got the log in information but then was having problems with doing it still. She went out back and so did the other F9 shirt employee and that's when the lady got her free boarding pass ticket. Eventually, this *A guy that seemed to also be in charge came and tried to help her with the ticket. It was at this point that I saw she was serious about her difficulties and not just messing with me hoping that I wouldn't want to book tickets now or in the future. She said to the guy, "I haven't book a ticket in ages. I'm having trouble."

This *A guy eventually ended up calling someone else to get instructions. Once he got the proper instructions, he completed my ticket. The next tickets were done super fast (like I am used to seeing when I've done this in the past in LAS. I assume a lot of people buy at counter in LAS (this was pre pandemic, but I also booked a few after the pandemic and always had someone that knew what they were doing."

A new issue was the *A guy couldn't print out receipts. We used to get receipts on the boarding pass stock. He did write down the confirmation numbers for me, and when I had my email open, the emails popped right as he booked them so I could verify my info.

This took so long that I had to pay for 2 hours parking for $6 instead of $3, and this was despite jogging b/c I Knew it was close. If they had the old bridge to the parking lot open with the machines instead the terminal, I would have saved the $3 but I had to run downstairs, across the street, and up the ramp to get to the machines there and it said I parked for 1 hr and 3mins...

I would not do this for a fare where I would save $15 only versus discount Den. I had DD for free for a year b/c of 100k status in 2022, but I forgot to cancel it and I guess I have it for another year for $59.99. (I set a reminder on my calendar to cancel it next year, though I suspect I'll get value out of it for cheaper flights.

For the example above where someone had to book for a whole family, this annoyance might be worth it. Saving at least $46 per person seems worth it to me if you live close to the airport like I do.

I didn't get dinged with the garbage fee. My plan had been, if they had charged it to say, "You aren't supposed to charge fees, but whatever, I'll get it back later." and then filed the DOT report. I probably shouldn't say the last part of that until the last ticket b/c I wouldn't want them to not book any more tickets. $25 fee would still make some of the flights cheaper even if DOT report was unsuccesful.

While this was taking forever, I also had a plan in case they didn't book my ticket, which seemed like a possible or even likely result the way things were going. I was noting names. If they had refused, I was going to book it online and file a DOT report with employee names saying I had to pay the CIC b/c they wouldn't sell me tickets.

I actually forgot to book this January flight I was thinking about taking. I'll probably just try that when I fly one of my upcoming flights. I guess I'll have another airport data point then.

For your reading fun, here is Frontier's response to a complaint I filed that was just emailed to me, typos and all. Sorry to the poor Filipino guy who has to write these. A whole load of nothing....We have received your correspondence as submitted to the Department of Transportation and appreciate the opportunity to respond.

According to the email that we have received from you, you had been trying to make the reservation at the airport to avoid paying the CIC fee, and you were told that they have a policy not to sell tickets unless there are no people in line, and there is never a customer on the line. You had made a reservation before, but now you are having this problem. I will be more than happy to help you.

We totally understand your frustation that you are not able to make a reservation at the airport since always are people on the line, it was never our intention that you face this problem, however, at the airport always are passenger trying to make the check-in their tickets and baggage to make sure they can take thier flight on the time that is requited, and our team is working to help passenger when they have any problem online, we are sorry for this incovientes that you have making the reservation at the airport, but please you need to be patient until the line is short to get help from our team at the airport, remember that you can make the reservation on the Frontier website any time, but you will be charged for the CIC.

I hope this interaction can be clarifying. We appreciate your patience.

Thank you for your feedback. Have a good day.

I'll give my Frontier contractors credit in that they didn't suggest I try booking online.

Looks like AI needs its own spell check. 😂

Jiburi