The go to the counter trick is effectively over
 

I went in to buy 3 round trips so we're talking $130+ savings at the counters of DEN before I had a trip last Sunday afternoon. It wasn't particularly crowded but there are always flights so there were some people in line. I get to the front and ask to buy tickets and the lady says she can only sell them when there is no one in line. I said when is that? She said whenever it happens. Now seriously, when is there going to be ZERO people in line at your headquarters destination? So I get back in line, just two people, get to another gentleman and same thing happens! He's a little more forthright and says its a new policy, they can lose their jobs for not honoring it. I found a supervisor on the other side and she said oh we don't have such a policy, but we can't write you a ticket on this side. I asked could she escort me to a counter to buy a ticket and explain there is no policy to the others and she said unfortunately I can't leave this side but just tell them I told you that you could buy a ticket. So one last time I go to the line, now 3 people in front of me but three agents so it should be quick. Told them everything and of course they say sorry, our new policy doesn't allow it.

So either you get extremely lucky and there really is no one in line or well they just basically are committing fraud by saying the User Fee BS can be avoided at airport counters. I put in a complaint into three channels, I doubt anything happens. I'm sure their legal team will say of course there is no such policy in place, this person must be mistaken.

America's Greatest Airline my .... I have held Elite with them since 2017. They literally want to chase everyone off except dumb travelers who are happily spending 5x their ticket price in seats and bags.

You should also make a DOT claim

When you need a job but don't really want to work, get a job at frontier. Must have thick skin to deal with all the pissed off customers.

Noone at the counter
 

I landed in TTN this morning and the rental car counter is in view of the Frontier counter, so I could see it, and there wasn't any staff. The rental car agent said they come out for a short time before a flight and then they disappear.

Could be worse... Breeze only allows you to waive the fee for 2 hours on a Tuesday at airport counters. That said, I imagine a DOT complaint would take care of this; depending on if DEN is considered open to the public, I'd also be inclined to record the interaction.

That sounds like a silly made up rule by someone who doesn't want to work or doesn't want their employees to work (although I'm sure the customers trying to check in also appreciate it). Maybe try at your destination? I'm sure Denver is innundated with ticket purchases and I'm surprised Frontier doesn't have a dedicated line for purchases there like Spirit does in their focus cities. It's probably technically legal but sure isn't providing a reasonable level of customer service.

I've heard baggage service will sometimes sell tickets if they arent busy. That might be worth a try.

Knowing Frontier they probably have some sort of incentive to the team and managers to not sell tickets.

That's interesting that Spirit actually has lines for it. I used to use Spirit instead of Frontier for these cheap flights. I could go back but it seems inevitable they will be gone. I guess I just gamed the system too well and in reality they don't want Elites. They have accepted their role of gimmicks to get once or twice a year buyers to end up spending as much on packed planes as those flying the others. If you buy a seat and a bag outside of their promo they are no cheaper than the majors and for it you get their atrocious service and endless delays or cancellations.

I'm hanging on to Spirit while I can.... as a Gold Elite (top tier) I actually feel treated better than I do as a 1K at United. With Spirit, book exit row at booking, get a free carry-on and checked, get a free snack and drink on board, AND a phone number that somebody always seems to answer within about 90-120 seconds! That right there is the biggest advantage over Frontier.... someone you can actually call and talk to (they may be offshore but it's a heck of a lot better than waiting hours for web chat).

Report Frontier to the IRS. They would have an interest in this.

Spirit has recommended hours but aside from the smallest stations that may not be continually open, they generally will sell a ticket whenever. They may ask you to wait 15-20 minutes if you go during a time when the line is really long. At some stations, the baggage service office is practically a travel agency... there's a few (like Baltimore) that have sit down desks and guest chairs even!

Breeze only does airport ticket sales on like Tuesdays for an hour or two. And what is silly is it is so clearly a way to have a loophole - all the agent does is have you scan a QR code with your phone which brings up a form you put in your info. Somebody offsite/centrally located actually does the reservation, then has the agent at the airport call you up 10-15 minutes later to swipe your credit card. Allegiant does stick to their hours. There are times (like at my local airport) where they are there after a flight but are told they are not allowed by Allegiant to sell tickets except during their window which is at least twice a week. But, they are always staffed for those time periods with 2-3 agents (I've seen 4 once) doing nothing but selling tickets because it is a time with no flight activity. The ground handler general manager at my local Allegiant station even gave me his cell phone and the direct line to the ticket counter if ever I want to double check the ticketing times or give a heads up that I'm coming to buy a few tickets.

My one experience recently trying to buy a Frontier ticket at the airport... they screwed it up so badly, because the agent clearly had no idea what they were doing, that it was worth it to just cancel and buy online and pay the fee than wait around for the online chat people to do things like 1.) make it the correct flight, 2.) remove an airport assist charge. Then again, maybe that's a strategy....

I think it's "America's Greenest Airline." It just sounds like greatest, so we could loosely say it's another Frontier scam. LOL

Seriously, though, I've seen so many struggling companies doing this stuff... customer service and on-site ticket sales are a cost leader for them, so they get cut (e.g., no more phone service) and they save more money by cutting back on training. I'd be surprised if the agents at the airport have more than a week of training, if even that.

As Jjbiv pointed out, that's an effective strategy because it's very easy to just have the legal team say the agent was incorrect and has been educated... you get screwed, the agent gets screwed, but the company keeps making money (in the short term). I saw that a lot in the telecom industry back in the '90s when cell phone plans were getting cheaper and VOIP was first emerging; cutbacks on agent training led to agents making false promises to make sales or saying they couldn't do the things that cost money. There are a lot of parallels with what we've seen F9 doing lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're in trouble.

Policy at my airport is they won’t sell tickets while they are checking in a flight. That neans getting to the counter 2 hours 15 minutes or 55 minutes before an isolated flight.

BP s print 2 pages. The second page isn't part of the BP..It says Frontier is the greenest airline. Waste of paper and ink.

Seats and luggage are dynamically priced. The price changes several times a day. $79 to check a 40 lb bag NY to Florida. Cheaper to send the bag before you leave.I used lugless

Missed opportunity
 

TTN used to have an overzealous counter agent. When I would go to inquire about something, or just walked too close, she was always trying to grab my carry on bag to measure it instead of answering my question. If I knew then about the ticket purchase savings, I could have trapped her into selling the ticket since she initiated the exaggerated interaction. It's a shame I was ignorant of the opportunity.

for what?

An unfair and deceptive practice is the magic phrase to get the DoT's attention.

fairness has nothing to do with it. Now if they are advertising one thing and doing another then yes. I see no evidence of that here.

They are advertising one thing and doing another if they are refusing to sell tickets at the airport. They state the Carrier Interface Charge as a charge per passenger, per segment, charged on tickets purchased through the website. It is not charged on tickets purchased outside of the website. Booking a ticket through reservations has a separate fee. Neither applies when purchasing at the airport. That is how they classify it as an optional fee, and how they provide an outlet to avoid it. If the airport won't sell tickets, or provide a designated time when they do so, then they aren't providing what is named in their own terms and conditions.

​​​​​​​

well I submit that if they were to charge the fee for tickets bought at the airport then they would be in trouble. Simply, not selling tickets that way is not a violation as I see it.

A few weeks back at DEN I witnessed only 1 agent working the agent assistance line. Which is pretty surprising considering the number of flights.

I'm not surprised by that, realistically most people should be going over to the bag check line. What is shocking is how some of these F9 flyers just throw money away. When I have been in that line to buy tickets I heard one of their employees tell the person behind me it would cost them $15 per bag more to check it in the agent assist line instead of just punching in their code and getting it done in the bag check line. The guy said he didn't care and stood in the line. I looked behind me, he and his lady had 5 bags! Knowing how much they charge for 2nd and 3rd bags I guess what's another $75?

It is shocking. Though I am a little curious how Frontier handles it when, like I've seen here in Charlotte, none of the kiosks are working. I somehow bet they charge people like they had a choice.

I helped a passenger who was looking for a Frontier rep after the counter closed... I think they wanted to buy a ticket as they said they hadn't missed a flight or anything. I told them that United is handled by the same contractor (G2) so to go bug them. I think it yielded someone coming out of the office to at least speak to them.

Had an agent at DEN tell me this last month. The agents at the bag check (which by the way, was completely empty) weren't willing to sell me the ticket, said could only be done from the agent assistance line. I made a deal with the original agent to wait 45 minutes for the line to go down then she would help me. She agreed... even though the line had not really gone down, she did wave me over 45 minutes later. I got the impression this was really HER policy rather than the Frontier policy...

I prefer to buy tickets at the help counter inside Concourse A if the line is short, we'll see if they have the same new 'rule' next time. There's usually only one person working that counter so it's often a crapshoot there.

I submit that they would be taxed the 7.5% FAA excise tax they're avoiding by charging the CIC.
Here's a nice GAO report related to the excise tax: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-10-785.pdf

The station staff here at DCA have tried to say that they cannot sell tickets, period, per the manager's policy. Or they've tried to charge me the $25 agent assistance fee.
I think either a class complaint to the DOT, some class action, informing the IRS, or reaching out to your Senator (since they're currently reauthorizing the FAA and the tax provisions) could be helpful.

For not selling at the counter: From what I understand, for them to impose the 'carrier interface charge' for the site, they need to offer some sales channel that doesn't include this fee. Otherwise, it would be classified as an abusive fee. (Which I already believe it is.) Therefore, they are obligated to sell at the counter without this charge. The practice of claiming they don't sell at the counter is also abusive. If it were me, I would file a complaint with the DOT.

I filed a complaint with the DOT, my local US representative whose territory includes the airport area, and with one of my Senators. I looked into FAA but it's not really their concern. The tax angle is a good one that I didn't mention in my letters, I'll keep that one ready for a follow up.

Waiving the CIC for purchases at the airport has nothing to do with whether or not the charge is abusive (which isn't a relevent regulatory term as far as i am aware). It's simply tax avoidance. Only air fare and mandatory fees are subject to the federal excise tax so structuring a significant part of the ticket price as a nominally optional fee saves ULCCs (and theoretically their passengers, too) a significant amount of tax liability.

I didn't have any problems buying at den today

Frontier would lose its ability to charge the online carrier service fee if it does not have a way to purchase tickets without the fee under DOT rules. So the current practice of telling customers they can't sell tickets unless there are no people in line will shut down the service fee.

Right. Frontier management should clearly instruct their airport staff not to discriminate against customers on line who want to buy tickets. They will kill the golden tax goose. I could easily envision a very large fine -- probably equal to the tax -- if the DOT investigates Frontier over this practice and finds they are taking steps not to actually sell these tickets.

I would hope this happens and agree with the thinking but airlines have lots of leeway. As I stated in my OP, the lady threw out the it's a new policy line and then her supervisor refuted it without doing anything about it. Real easy to say to DOT hey we were slammed at the moment but of course we'll sell tickets when we aren't busy. Which is almost never. I'd be fine if the airline told me we sell them on these days between these times but of course they don't even want that to happen. Their goal is to make it almost impossible to overcome their fees but good luck to the DOT in proving that they never sell them.

No, agent cannot deny any customer who stood in line by pulling such a stunt. That would clearly be in violation of the terms with DOL and would result in the elimination of the privilege of their online CIC fee. Doubt if customer stood ground that agent would not service him. Just pull out ur phone to record the transaction if agent presses and time how long it takes them fold like a lawn chair.