I have not yet flown Frontier Airlines and have a chance to do so. Thanks to the COVID-19 Coronvirus airfares in the United Starts are very low. I had no particular trip in mind so I am flying Frontier from Miami to Atlanta solely to review them.
I am paying for the flight myself! This flight is the return half of my Spirit Airlines Atlanta – Fort Lauderdale trip the same day.
I went to flyfrontier.com and book this trip. After I searched for my desire route one way I was presented with the options below. You can see the fares are very cheap!
The price of my flight before any extras was $38.40. This is a good fare for the route!
I was next asked for my personal details which I have omitted below for obvious reasons. At this point I signed into my frequent flyer account and filled in the information requested.
After clicking “Continue” I got a server error 500. This happened twice.
The error ended up being my frequent flyer account. I was able to get past the issue if I did not log in. My account is old and dormant so it may have been closed.
After trying 2 browsers with no luck I decided to move forward without my frequent flyer number and continue booking.
On the next screen I was offered Bundles shown below.
In my case I was flying and same day turn around and would only have a personal item with me. On a normal trip the “Perks” bundle would be useful to most travelers who do not need the ability to change the ticket. The “works” bundle is reasonable to make the ticket flexible if needed.
I chose “Continue & Customize” as I wanted to see how low I could keep the fare. Next up was seat selection.
Seat selection on Frontier is very expensive! The cheapest option was $16 on the back of the plane all the way up to $72(!!) for a front row seat. I definitely felt sticker shock on these prices after seeing an initial $38.40 fare. I decided to roll the dice and not choose a seat on this flight.
NOTE: The expensive seats with blue icons are extra leg room “Stretch” seats. They are still standard economy class seats and not larger seats like Spirit’s “Big Front Seat” options. Unless the passenger is very tall I don’t see value in it over a standard seat.
I simply clicked on “Continue” and confirmed the prompt that asked me if I did not want to select a seat.
Next I was asked about baggage. Below I show prices of a carry on ($37) and the various checked bag options. In the end I selected no baggage as I will be carrying only a personal item on this trip.
After making my baggage selection and clicking “Continue” I was take to the “Add-ons” page. On this page they try to sell you insurance (when available), car rental, and hotels. I did not purchase any of these items.
Finally I was brought to the order summary page. Since I added no extras I paid the fare I was shown in the beginning of $38.40. This fare is unusually low since I am not taking any luggage. Certainly a great deal for a simple 2-hour flight!
At last I reached the confirmation page where I was shown my flight details and prompted again to purchase extras that I skipped through the process.
As you can see the fare was only $2.79! The rest of the cost was taxes/fees imposed by the government and airports.
Overall the booking experience with Frontier was a little frustrating due to the issue with my old frequent flyer account. I got lucky and tried to book again without logging in and was able to complete it. Any normal traveler would have probably abandoned and booked another carrier.
I am sure my booking issue is rare as my account is old, never used, and probably expired. It would have been nice to be told that instead of “Error 500”.
In the end I got a very cheap fare for a one way flight. I look forward to reviewing both Spirit and Frontier soon!
