rsteinmetz70112

Frontier has announced service on some of my frequent routes. I have not flown Frontier, especially the New Frontier. Can anyone offer a comparison to Southwest?

I also thought I noticed that Frontier does not include taxes and fees in their advertized fares. But after checking the charge for a seat selection, they add fees and taxes. So 2 one way $59 fares plus 2 $4 seat fees becomes $126.00 adding airport passenger charges, 9/11 security fee and taxes.

Lowest Southwest fare is $218

CalItalian

Frontier is racing to become a duplicate of Spirit Airlines...
I don't know if you're checking luggage but they charge and just raised their fee on it while Southwest still provides the first two checked bags free, up to 50 lbs. each.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayi...fees/25093975/
Not that Southwest is perfect but Frontier has become complaint central as of late.
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/03/2...-compensation/
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/mo...amid-tech.html

gmax58

My rule of thumb with Frontier - I'll consider them if their "classic" fare is no more than the lowest WN fare. I've only flown them once (MDW-TTN) and didn't mind the service, but it wasn't anything that made me excited to fly them again.

rsteinmetz70112

I've been reading all of the recent press reports. I don't generally check bags and usually carry only a personal item, a small bag for my tablet and a few papers.

Many of the recent issues seem directly related to two recent moves, the outsourcing jobs in Denver and changing their reservation system. I'm expecting much of that to subside in a few weeks. It doesn't sound much worse than some of the issues involved with the integration of Airtran into Southwest and Southwest's recent problem with delays..

rsteinmetz70112

For my reference flight their Classic+ seems equivalent to Southwest's AT, since it is fully refundable and offers bonus miles. Southwest's WGA is superior to Frontiers Basic fare, since the are fewer fares. I haven't checked a second bag since my last trans-Atlantic flight. The AT fare for my reference flight is $508 RT compared to $288 RT for Classic+.

I'm really looking for the overall flight experiance. Both at the airport and in flight.

xliioper

Not following what you are saying. Airlines are required to include all mandated taxes and fees in their advertised fares. They clearly say the $59 price is the one-way fare, not round-trip. I priced out one of their $59 one-way fares and it included all taxes and fees. Booking a roundtrip gave a $118 price that was inclusive of all taxes and fees. The $4 seat fee is an option and not required to be included in the price.

rsteinmetz70112

Basically I'm saying they did what they were required to, just that the presentation was confusing.

traveller001

Likely new entry to market fares... grab and use them while they last.

They do include taxes and fees on the base fare as they have to.

The ancillary charges such as seat selection and bag fees come after. They aren't subject to the FAA 7% tax on fares which is why most airlines unbundled them years ago. Though the sneaky raise in bag fees is dubious IMO.

Frontier is OK provided you aren't checking bags at extra cost. The Airbus seatback IFE is mostly all pay to view. WN IMO wins on that with your own device. WIFI via Gogo on FL was always IMO been better than the Row 44. Frontier uses Gogo but not sure on how widespread it is.

xliioper

It's actually a 7.5% excise tax. While avoiding that tax certainly provides an additionally incentive, I'm pretty confident there would have been unbundling even if it were zero. It's not like 7.5% is a massive amount and the overall concept of unbundling is to offer a lower base fare to attract the highly price sensitive and then recapture a chunk of the revenue via ancillary fees. Note this concept is also used by budget carriers outside the US as well.

rsteinmetz70112

I've wondered if the fares are introductory foe new service. Just checked a DEN DFW against DEN DAL, hometown to hometown. Both offer multiple nonstops each day.

WN $238 F9 $114

But.

DEN MSY WN $222 F9 $244

DEN ATL WN $200 F9 $238

3Cforme

There's a Frontier forum on FT.

If one understands the service unbundling - what to add on if needed/desired, and when to buy it - Frontier can work fine. Reservable seats and an established section of up-front extra legroom seats are features not found on a Southwest flight.

rsteinmetz70112

I'm aware of the Frontier forum I've been there.

Not much activity but a fair amount of angst like the Airtran Forum before it was closed.

In fact in some ways Frontier seems to resemble Airtran as much as Spirit, the unbundling does not seem as severe as is often portrayed. Compared to the legacies which charge pretty much the same fees, except for carry on bags and soft drinks.

Mostly I was looking for comparisons from people familiar with Southwest's product as a basis for comparison.

InkUnderNails

When the prices started going up on WN, I tried F9 twice, two round trips. Of four legs three were delayed. The last was delayed 12 hours and they wanted to put me on a UA flight through ORD just to do that. I waited in the check in line an hour and a half just to get that news. They had walked through the line asking destinations and telling those of us that were being "accommodated" that they would get us as they could. Everyone else was moved to the "We really get to our destination on time" line.

After getting this news, I locked in the change on the refundable ticket, walked to the WN counter and bought a BS ticket home. I then went back to the very short non-delayed line and got a refund on my F9 ticket.

That was the end of F9 for me. If you think WN handles delays and cancellations poorly, you go ahead and move your business to F9. Sad really. I like the big assigned seats up front, the refundable fares were generally low bought well enough in the future, and they include bags. But, the main thing I buy a ticket for is to move my butt long distances really fast. At this, they failed for me.

rtalk25

Frontier is removing the seatback IFE. Even last year, I flew FLL-DEN which was long and wanted to pay for IFE, but it was turned off in the plane.

rtalk25

Generally, I find Frontier's Classic Plus overpriced or not really offering much benefit when Frontier is directly competing on a route against Southwest.

For example on a route where Frontier competes against another carrier (but not Southwest), Frontier is selling PHL-CLT for $39 on it's Economy fare, so $76.50 roundtrip, on many dates in April. The Classic Plus fare is $154 one-way, and thus $306.50 round-trip.

If I was doubtful that I can make the trip, I would just wait until I was close to 100% sure and then book. The last minute fares on Frontier might be still cheaper than the quoted refundable $306.50 roundtrip on that route. For $450-500 r/t I can book a last minute Anytime or Business Select on BWI-CLT. If fares were too high on other carriers and Frontier, I'd just drive.

It's also a hassle changing tickets on Frontier, with their website problematic and customer hold times sometimes long. With southwest.com, it's very easy to change or cancel.

On PHL-ATL, it directly competes with Southwest. Granted, Frontier's refundable fare is lower (and priced at $268) than Southwest's refundable fare, where Southwest prices very high. But Southwest is offering $69 WGAs if booked in advance.

If one travels atleast twice a year by flight, Southwest's WGA should really be compared not it's AT. While refunds aren't given, the funds can go for another flight without penalty. I also think in general that the points accumulated from flying Southwest have more worth than the points accumulated when flying most other carriers.

I fly Spirit and Frontier on regular Economy fare at times, when Southwest WGA lowest fares are too high. If I book with another carrier than Southwest, I'm usually 85-100% confident that I can make the flight and not need to change it.