It all makes me wonder how good their market research is on who flies them and why. Maybe I get a different view in going to/from ATL (which is around the middle of the totem pole in terms of amount of service), but I don't see lots of elites and the crowd is similar to the one I used to see on Spirit. Definitely price-conscious and sensitive and I'm skeptical they put much effort into learning about the elite program or thinking it'll help.

They've definitely gotten wiser to the charge-for-everything adding up in certain cases and not producing as much savings versus, say, Southwest or Delta as it first appeared. So they'll try to avoid this fee or that fee next time (maybe by trying to carry on too much) and know that they'll still be ahead of the legacies on total cost.

If there are any biz travelers they sure are good at being discreet about it. Also no place to plug in anything USB on those planes.

Does Frontier have good numbers on what percentage of their pax would even qualify to get the credit card? IIRC they have a small mileage bonus just for filling out the onboard application even if it's rejected, but I'd bet the card is a non-starter for many of them. Also hard to justify the annual fee on just one or two trips a year.

I'm not trying to say it's hopeless to come up with something that can work, but with this I see a lot of copying Delta (add more tiers at the top!) and some with Spirit, where I assume JetBlue is going to raise fares and try to reposition in the market if that thing goes through. I don't think they can win by playing the other airlines' game if the market segment they're serving is different.

 

The Frontier site does a good job explaining this properly.
https://www.flyfrontier.com/frontier...ogram-updates/

You will not earn qualifying AND redeemable miles based on butt-in-seat miles but instead spend on items such as...

• Flights
• Baggage
• Seats
• Discount Den
• GoWild! Pass Purchase
• Flight Flexibility
• Priority Boarding

The problem with this is that the program disincentivizes earning the further up the elite ladder you go. You start getting waived seat fees at silver, waived baggage fees at gold, discounts on discount den at platinum, and flight flexibility at diamond while only increasing your point earning potential by 11-20% compared to your previous elite level.

 

For this 10x miles per $ spent promo, do you earn 10x elite qualifying miles or 10x redeemable miles? Or both?

I'm trying to see if I can reach 50k (need 21k more) before the end of the year with this promo. Not to mention, I just want to get as much redeemable miles as possible while they are still easier to earn on a distance based model since I have so many trips needing to be booked for the rest of the year.

 

Promo helped me get the 10k new low tier status for next year. I wanted to make sure I got that so we can maintain our pool. I'm at 11k. I could try for 20k but probably won't do so.

 

Are you sure the 10k status can be earned with 10k this year? I thought the 10k status starts next year, and you can only earn it with 10k miles next year.

 

https://www.flyfrontier.com/frontier...es?mobile=true

WHAT HAPPENS IF I SPENT $1,000 IN ELIGIBLE FLYFRONTIER.COM PURCHASES IN 2023? OR IF I FLEW 10,000 MILES?In 2023, if you spent $1,000 in eligible purchases or flew over 10,000 miles, we will automatically give you Elite Silver Status in 2024.

 

I stand corrected. Good to know!

 

I decided to book some extra flights to get my 20k status for probably the last time. I had a trip that I needed to go on and I figured I might as well qualify for 20k since I'd be so close after that flight. I looked at the flight I booked with a friend and the carryon for that flight says $69 for the friend, and $0 for me because of my status. One of my extra flights is cheaper than the fee. I still think even if I don't travel much next year, even 1-2 trips will make my status worth it.

I'm not sure what I will do this time next year. I presumably won't spend the $1800 or so to qualify for free bag and exit rows. If there is a credit card promo still, maybe I'd do that to get it for 2025. Otherwise, I guess I return to UA or maybe try WN.

I did flirt with going UA since the flight experience is enjoyable even with no status based on the 4 flights I took on UA this year after not having taken UA in like 10 years. Thing is, one a sample day, it was like $150 each way on UA vs $40 each way on F9. The equation would be different if I had to pay for bag and had to pay for a seat versus risk being stuck in a middle F9 seat. (UA middle seat also felt comfortable compared to F9 seats (with the exception of exit and stretch seats.)

 

I don't value Frontier miles highly -- I fly them for the $19 and $20 fares and that's good enough -- but I was hoping to get to 60,000 miles to earn 2 "International" roundtrip tickets as those markets tend to be more expensive. It looks like my pool will be just shy of the 60K on Jan. 1. I understand that, under the new rules, ordinary travellers earn 10 miles per dollar and 100Ks earn 20. So if I buy a $19 ticket, will I earn about 13 (subtracting the PFC) x 20 = 260 miles? And the non-elite members of my pool would earn 130 miles? That's obviously bad, and pretty worthless, but it would be enough to top off my account after a couple months to get to 60K. After that, the program would get pretty worthless to me, unless I want to game it with a Frontier credit card or something.

 

Only the fare, CIC, and any ancillaries you purchase will earn points. The $19 fares are almost all taxes and government fees so you won't get many points for those. A mileage run before the end of the year is probably your best option (to get the points based on miles flown before that ends next year).

 

Something I just noticed and wondering/hoping I'm missing something...

In the 2024 program overview sheet Frontier has an indicator for "NEW benefit for member" and "NEW benefit applied to everyone on booking." Under the Elite Platinum (50k) column Premium Seat at Check-in is marked as a NEW benefit applied to everyone on booking.

I've been a 100k and a 20k but never a 50k so I assumed given the "NEW" language that Frontier was adding a benefit from the 100k tier and bringing it down to the 50k tier for 2024. But when doing the status match this month and so being suddenly a 50k in the 2023 program I noticed I could book my travel companions into premium seats at booking. At first I though I wasn't correctly parsing the 2024 benefit and was getting a better-than-expected benefit early, but then I checked the current program terms and saw the Family Seating benefit at 50k is described as "you and your family & friends get free advanced seat assignments, including stretch!"

So all that preface said, has this benefit actually gotten worse for 2024 for 50k/Platinum flyers??

 

Has anyone tried to use the new free change/cancellation benefit for all elite members? I'm wondering how it will work... They haven't updated their change policy page at https://www.flyfrontier.com/travel/t...change-policy/ to mention anything about elite members.
I'm guessing they'll issue you a credit, then the question becomes whether you need to use the entire credit in one subsequent purchase or if you can spread it out among multiple purchases.

Seemingly a nice new benefit for elites but its usability is pretty dependent on the credit use policy.

 

Credits from cancellations can be used on multiple purchases and can be used on taxes/fees as well.

 

So I am confused with the cancellation/change fees for Diamonds. What does currently apply? Do you still get the WORKS bundle for free for all bookings? If yes, what is the point of the new "No change/cancellation fee at least 7 days before departure"?

More specifically, how late before departure can you change or cancel a flight and get the flight credit refunded for free? Is it 7 days before departure, 1 day before departure, or anytime before departure?

 

Elite Diamond member here (converted from 2023 100K) - I'm trying to understand their calculation and coming up short. Example of a recent flight I took on them:
Airfare:
Flights$112.63
U.S. Transportation Tax$8.45
Electronic Commerce Charge$5.00
Carrier Interface Charge$23.00
U.S. Domestic Flight Segment Tax$4.80
U.S. Passenger Security Fee$5.60
Orlando, Fl (MCO) Passenger Facility Charge$4.50

I would have assumed my earning would be 112.63 (Fare) + 23 (CIC) = 135.63 x 20 = 2716 Status Miles.

However, 1906 status miles got posted to my account. What am I missing?

Edit: I took this flight on 1/8/24 and it posted pretty soon after.


TOTAL$163.98