Is Frontier's schedule EVER stable?
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,465
Is Frontier's schedule EVER stable?
I often plan my Frontier travel about 2 months ahead of time. That's when I generally know where I need to be, and start looking for their crazy cheap fare sales. There's one major problem with this strategy: what I book two or more months in advance is almost NEVER what I actually get to fly. About 90% of the time, my flight times change by more than a hour, and often by more than 6 hours. Obviously, this can often be super inconvenient. Frontier will generally only make it easy to rebook flights on the same day, but that often doesn't work. Like if you're booked to fly out at 9 am, you don't want to fly out at 9 pm. They don't automatically offer you the option to fly a day before or after: you have to endure the Chat feature if you want to switch days.
I assume this greatly annoys many travellers unfamiliar with Frontier's complete lack of interest in sticking to their existing schedule. You definitely don't want to book any firm plans based on your initially scheduled arrival time. I don't think I've had a material schedule change less than a few weeks out, but you can almost always be certain that your flight time will change if you book two months prior. It's annoying.
I assume this greatly annoys many travellers unfamiliar with Frontier's complete lack of interest in sticking to their existing schedule. You definitely don't want to book any firm plans based on your initially scheduled arrival time. I don't think I've had a material schedule change less than a few weeks out, but you can almost always be certain that your flight time will change if you book two months prior. It's annoying.
#2
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: UA Gold-MM, AA Gold-MM, F9-Silver, Hyatt Something, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,404
In 2+ years and a couple dozen F9 flights, I think I've only once had a significant schedule change, and that includes many flights >2 months. And I managed to parlay that into the day before which was better for me anyway.
I fly United a lot less these days, but 5-10 years ago the same question could be asked about their schedule. There were always schedule changes. The difference I guess is that on F9, you pretty much take it or leave it, and on United, they'll generally be able to get you something close-ish.
If this is a problem for you, here would be my strategy:
Book your F9 flight.
Then also book a backup on United.
Most likely you'll just end up cancelling the United flight, and getting a credit which you can then use to "protect" your next F9 flight.
Some will say that's hassle. Sure. But everything about Frontier is a hassle to some degree, lol. But oh the savings....
I fly United a lot less these days, but 5-10 years ago the same question could be asked about their schedule. There were always schedule changes. The difference I guess is that on F9, you pretty much take it or leave it, and on United, they'll generally be able to get you something close-ish.
If this is a problem for you, here would be my strategy:
Book your F9 flight.
Then also book a backup on United.
Most likely you'll just end up cancelling the United flight, and getting a credit which you can then use to "protect" your next F9 flight.
Some will say that's hassle. Sure. But everything about Frontier is a hassle to some degree, lol. But oh the savings....
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,465
BTW, it could be completely random, but lately, I seem to be getting better agents on the chat line. I summarize my problem and request a specific solution that I have reseached. They've now been better at "reading comprehension." My biggest problem -- other than getting the chat function to queue me up to actually chat with an agent -- is wait time. The wait seems to average about 15 minutes, so I move on to something else. I'd love there to be some online tool that would chime when somebody starts responding to the chat request: can you make your computer speak their responses or something?
#5
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,522
Same here - I haven't had any major schedule changes and have probably booked over a dozen flights in the last year at least 2 months out.
#6
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: UA Gold-MM, AA Gold-MM, F9-Silver, Hyatt Something, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,404
BTW, it could be completely random, but lately, I seem to be getting better agents on the chat line. I summarize my problem and request a specific solution that I have reseached. They've now been better at "reading comprehension." My biggest problem -- other than getting the chat function to queue me up to actually chat with an agent -- is wait time. The wait seems to average about 15 minutes, so I move on to something else. I'd love there to be some online tool that would chime when somebody starts responding to the chat request: can you make your computer speak their responses or something?
The wait time originally was awful, but it's been pretty fast (like <2--3 mins) lately. I just put that webpage on one of my 4 monitors, and the motion catches my eye when they show up. A beep would be nice though.
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,465
I even started a thrad a few months back about better chat helpfulness.
The wait time originally was awful, but it's been pretty fast (like <2--3 mins) lately. I just put that webpage on one of my 4 monitors, and the motion catches my eye when they show up. A beep would be nice though.
The wait time originally was awful, but it's been pretty fast (like <2--3 mins) lately. I just put that webpage on one of my 4 monitors, and the motion catches my eye when they show up. A beep would be nice though.
#8
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,522
Don't get too comfortable. I book flights throughout their system, originating/terminating at their various "focus cities" -- and I can detect no rhyme or reason to the constant schedule changes. (I do fly midweek most of the time if that might matter). The only flights I haven't seen materially change are the ones where no other flight time is commercially plausible: like flights to and from a Caribbean island. Frankly, I am mathematically astonished that you could have a dozen Frontier flights with no schedule changes and I could have a dozen flights where 10 or 11 had material schedule changes. I'm actually happy when I get the "inevitable" email telling me my flight has "only" moved by, say, an hour and a half.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,465
Last summer I took a connecting award flight from SEA because the alternative on a "real" airline was about 500 bucks each (summer fares -- boo!), It was a continuing fiasco of flight changes. At the end, we had to spend a night at a DEN airport motel to make a "connection" on the route. Knock wood, but so far I have no connecting flights on Frontier this summer. I am throwing in a 2 day visit to Vegas to avoid a similar problem, though. Hopefully, it stays around 2 days!
#10
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 163
This kind of stuff is rampant and its hard to get them to change you onto the logical flight. And good luck trying to explain to the chat agents why a flight at 12:30am on the same day is utterly stupid, I'm 99% convinced none of those Filipino agents have ever even been on a plane, let alone tried to book a trip of just a few days where if you screw someone out of a full day you really wreck the trip. Only thing you can do is cancel and get a refund on the flight, then go book the other flight with the funds and hope they don't pull that crap again in the next few days. And never book a non-refundable hotel or car for the trip.