Frontier's promo codes are deceiving to me
 

So I got a promo code in my email box today. "SAVE50" is supposed to save 50% on certain off-peak flight days.

But it doesn't. If you read the fine print, the savings exclude "fees and taxes" -- including, apparently, carrier-imposed (collected) fees. When I pull up one itinerary, the savings are only four dollars! A big chunk of the fare was something called a "Carrier Interface Charge." Is that something like Spirit's online booking fee? Could you go to the airport and buy your ticket without it? That would make the ticket almost free, and much better than their "half off" sale.

All this seems pretty deceiving to me. And I wonder if it's legal.

I suppose that you answer your own question. The fees are clearly disclosed in plain English and easily understood. Hard to call that deceptive. It's scummy but that's how all of these deals are and scummy isn't unlawful.

Are they really "in plain English and easily understood"? I don't think so. I think I know more about the airline industry than 99.9% of Americans and I had no idea what their "Carrier Interface Charge" is. There's one reference on flyertalk about it being an online ticketing fee (a la Spirit), and that led me to this obscure link on the Frontier website which indicates that it is indeed an online ticketing fee.

https://www.flyfrontier.com/travel-i...avel-policies/

There's no way of knowing whether it can be waived by going to the airport, but a couple of flyertalkers say it can be.

I don't think this "50% off" sale passes the smell test.

Heh, it's the same way everywhere these days. When I went to college, I received scholarships that covered tuition. The catch was that tuition was a couple hundred dollars, and the fees (Education operations fee for example, was a few thousand per semester), were what made up the bulk of the price tag on the college experience...

Likewise, your frequent flier earnings are calculated from the base fare and not any taxes or fees, carrier imposed or not. Hotel points are probably the same, although I haven't actually tried to do the math on my hotel earnings.

You are confusing the plain English of promo code with the opaque nature of the fee. Your OP suggests that the promo code 50% off is deceiving, but the fee in question is clearly a fee and thus not included in the promo code.

The fact that F9 charges such a fee for online bookings is, as I said scummy and the fact that you have to call in to determine how to ticket without the fee is scummy and ought to be the subject of DOT rulemaking, does not make the discount deceptive.

What this points to is a scummy business. The way to deal with F9 is not to fly it.

So, resort hotels are scummy for adding a resort fee (which is totally unnecessary). Retailers are scummy because they don't include taxes in an item's price and most online retailer add shipping and handling fees that are usually not included in a promo code? I guess every seller is "scummy" to a certain extent these days.

For example, jet.com sent me a 30% off code for a $35+ purchase. I thought it was a great thing and spent 20 minutes picking out items to order. Then, when I went to checkout, it said that my items did not qualify for the discount. So, it happens everywhere.

Some interesting posts here. I think most merchants are better than this, and they should be. If you send me a 50% off promo, it shouldn't take only 10% off. Especially when Congress has mandated that airlines must even include taxes in their published fares!

I refuse to subscribe to the idea that every business is scummy, and this is just the way it is.

For all of the talk of hidden fees in airline travel, it is still not nearly as bad as car rental fees. And wireless carriers and cable/internet.

Most notable one to me is Uhaul, which I use on occasion, but find the in town rate pretty meaningless. It's advertised at $19.95/day in large print, but includes 0 miles. In small print, it's $0.69 for each mile.

CIC is not charged at the airport.

I went to the airport a couple days ago and purchased three one-way tickets and save $19 each.

Be sure the ticket agent puts your name in EXACTLY as it appears in your profile or the FF# won't take. I was able to change my name entry as soon as I got home, and I was then able to enter my FF#. I think the "name change" has to be done within 24 hours of ticketing... so be careful!

I only fly Frontier or Spirit a couple times a year, but I'm determined to buy a ticket from one of them "at the counter" just to stiff them the ridiculous online fee. I guess I'll hunt for one of their crazy fares the day I'm going to be at an airport anyway with some down time.

You can call Frontier and have them add an "Alias" to your account. For example I booked on Kayak once with them and it passed my FIRST MIDDLE together. Frontier added that to my profile as an alias and I got my miles.