storewanderer

This hasn't been discussed here in a while but was in the past. Buying tickets via Frontier.com has a $19 per segment fee for the website. If you go buy tickets at the airport counter, you can avoid this fee.

Some cautions:
1. You cannot use any promo codes if you buy at the airport
2. If you have to add luggage, it will cost more to do this by buying at the airport (in my case, it will be $38 for a carry on because I did this whereas had I booked on the website it would be $35).
3. You pay parking fee and waste time going to the airport

So chances are this isn't a great deal in most cases. In my case with fairly short notice and no promo code available it was worth doing.

I had to wait about 30 minutes to access the agent at the counter as well. Frontier only does 2 flights out of my local airport 4 or 5 days a week so the hours are kind of limited. I sure hope my flight makes it.

donotblink

I went out to LGA Terminal C today to buy some tickets for some friends and myself. They have some insanely inexpensive flights for LGA/MIA around Art Basel, and for the return flight on Sunday, it was $69.20 vs almost $300 on any other carrier.

Anyway I went around 1PM because I didn't know what time the ticket counter opens. It turns out that the ticket counter opened at 3PM. The agents told me that they don't issue tickets at the airport any longer because of a high error rate, and that I should go online to buy my tickets at flyfrontier.com. I stood my ground and asked for a supervisor, who backed up the other employee. I asked for her name and employee number, because I said that I would be sending a letter to the Frontier Corporate Offices about this, and she said she would sell me the tickets as a "one time exception", she was pretty disgruntled the entire time I was reading off the flight numbers and names, etc.

liberty805

I've never heard of the save $19 at the flight counter offer and since some flights are only $19 anyway,I'm pretty sure they're not giving them away for free at the airport counter.

donotblink

It's called the carrier interface charge, you can see it in the breakdown online.

Jerseyguy

The carrier interface charge varies, if the fare is $59 or higher it usually is $19. I purchased a $19 fare at Trenton once because I was already there. In that case the CIC was like $4 and I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been,at the airport. They were really nice and they actually gave me a STRETCH seating upgrade for free (though I wouldn't expect that ;-) ) As far as them not issuing tickets at the airport if that is true they'd be in BIG trouble with the department of transportation because the reason that they can charge the fee is because there is a way to avoid, it by going to the airport. If there is no way to avoid it it would have to be included in the fare and the US Domestic Transportation Tax of 7.5% would apply to it and Frontier would owe alot of money, Its actually a bit shady that they charge a higher fee to add baggage at the airport because we know they do this to discourage purchasing at the airport.

RustyC

Useful to remember. Alas, ATL is a terrible place to buy tickets (busy, chaos, many people live on the north side and 30+ miles away with brutal traffic). OTOH, they've recently expanded into places like BHM and GSP that are more accessible and less unpleasant for locals to reach ('cept for probably very limited counter hours because of the thin schedule), so for many people it might be a real option.

The whole bit - which Spirit also does - follows the backwards TicketMaster "logic" where you are expected to pay extra for "convenience" for not having to go to the arena box office (or in this case the airport). When in fact they'd have an expensive mess on their hands and wouldn't be prepared to handle anyway if people actually did it that way.

Jennlynd

I'm considering my first flight on Frontier (all I ever fly is southwest) so this is great info. We are at BNA, so fairly easy to get in and out to save $19x6. Thanks so much for the tip!

teddybear99

A few years back, had to fly FLL-MCO to pick up my mom's car and drive back to South Florida. Looked at booking online, but remembered that I would save money if I booked and paid at the airport. Had wife drop me at the Spirit terminal, circle the airport a few times and paid only $9.00 plus taxes which turned out to be a total of $19.30. No luggage needed, paid more for each shuttle to FLL and from MCO, though.


This was the only time I have flown Spirit or Frontier.

beyondhere

The good thing about ATL though is Frontier has a lot of flights out of there, so there is a better chance (than at a small airport) that the counter is staffed for a customer to buy a ticket. Traffic can be brutal, but there is MARTA. I'd only buy at ATL, if I was at or near ATL anyways - i.e. returning back from another flight or if I had time before a flight out, or if I'm buying a lot of tickets and can get a substantial overall savings.

PHL isn't too bad. AFAIK, it's $4 for the garage for half hour, $6 for one hour for short term. I did it once for Spirit, and was lucky (with no line) and got out within half hour.

I do have to say that the gate area where Frontier and Spirit operate at ATL is also busy/chaotic and feels like a Greyhound station.

DarkHelmetII

Any experience at DCA? Does this still work? Can I get "the works" at the counter?

transparent

I forgot to confirm the hours they are open, but I also stopped by the Frontier counter at LGA Terminal C recently to purchase a one-way ticket while I was doing the same thing for Spirit one counter over. Saved the $19, just walked up (not much of a line around 7pm on a Sunday) and just said I wanted to purchase a ticket when asked if I was checking in. No pushback or anything, just about 3-5 min of tapping away at the computer and my ticket was issued. Maybe you paved the way?

donotblink

Glad to hear it worked out for you!

storewanderer

Last ticket I purchased at the counter, they wrote out all the ticket information by hand on blank paper because they were having trouble with the printer. But the ticket worked fine when I checked the website for the confirmation number.

So far I've had good luck with their RNO-DEN flights... not sure I'd try them for anything else. Feels a bit too risky. That includes DEN-RNO... I do want to get home when planned.

synergistic

I do this regularly at MCO - saved $76 for a round trip to Denver from FLL to DEN this weekend, less than $120 for the pair of us. If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd be interested in Frontier status, I would have laughed. The prices are hard I beat, though - I've fallen into the habit of using our Southwest companion pass to book our initial tickets, then canceling if Frontier ends up offering a worthwhile fare. Just need to find a good seat cushion and I don't think we'll have any cause to complain.

miamiflyer8

If I purchase tickets at the airport am I eligible to get the Works package or is it online only?