A few days ago, Frontier Airlines started selling unlimited flight passes, which I covered at the time. I wanted to provide an update, as there’s both good and bad news. The good news is that Frontier Airlines is now including international destinations with this pass. The bad news is that the introductory cost for this pass has increased from $599 to $799.
In this post:
Frontier Airlines’ “GoWild!” unlimited flight pass
Frontier Airlines’ “GoWild!” flight passes are available for purchase, for travel as of the spring of 2023. This is essentially an all you can fly travel pass. Here are the key details of this flight pass:
- You can receive an unlimited number of flights throughout Frontier Airlines’ entire network, including domestic and international flights
- Flights can be confirmed one day ahead of travel for domestic itineraries, and 10 days ahead of travel for international itineraries
- Flights are available 300+ days per year, though there are roughly 60 days worth of blackout dates
- The pass costs $799 for the first year, which is up from the initial pricing of $599 when this was introduced a few days ago; the $799 pricing is being marketed as a sale that ends at 11:59 PM Mountain Time on November 22, 2022
- The pass auto-renews at the rate of $1,999 per year; the auto-renew is so outrageous in this case, as we’re not talking about a $9.99 subscription renewal here
- The one-year clock starts on May 2, 2023
- Travel doesn’t count toward elite status, or toward earning any Frontier Airlines miles; however, if you have Frontier Airlines elite status, you can take advantage of perks when using this pass
- For each flight you’ll pay $0.01, plus taxes, fees, and charges; Frontier’s “carrier interface charge” won’t be added to ticket costs when using this pass
This sounds like… an adventure
Of course the concept of an all you can fly pass sounds awesome. Who wouldn’t want unlimited access to flights (I mean, I’d prefer for them to be on an airline other than Frontier, but that’s a different story)?
I think it’s important to emphasize that this concept is very much for someone who is looking for an adventure, and not for someone who actually needs to get somewhere. Not only will there be 60+ days worth of blackout dates, but on top of that travel can only be confirmed the day before departure for domestic flights, so you really can’t consistently rely on this to get anywhere. We also don’t know what inventory this availability will come out of, which seems like an important detail.
On top of that, keep in mind that Frontier Airlines is an ultra low cost carrier, so has fees for just about everything. So unless you plan on traveling very light and don’t care where you sit, this could prove costly. Admittedly for those with Frontier Airlines status, that will probably be less of a concern.
While I’m sure this will have appeal for a certain type of consumer who is up for an adventure and doesn’t care where they go or how comfortable they are, this won’t be as useful as some of the other all you can fly passes we’ve seen in the past, which offer travel that’s confirmable in advance.
Frontier Airlines is clearly just trying to use this to fill seats that would otherwise be empty. That’s even directly how the airline markets this, explaining that last year alone, five million seats flew empty, and they can now be yours.
From an efficiency standpoint, I really appreciate this — it’s almost like the airline is selling the typical employee travel privileges directly to customers in advance (with the advantage of being able to book at least one day in advance, and the disadvantage of having blackout dates).
Bottom line
Frontier Airlines is selling all you can fly passes. These are valid for flights starting in May 2023, and the cost is now $799 for the first year (and $1,999 in subsequent years, which is ridiculous). This is valid for all Frontier Airlines flights, and domestic flights can be confirmed one day in advance, while international flights can be confirmed 10 days in advance.
What do you make of Frontier Airlines’ unlimited travel pass concept?
I purchased a GoWild pass 6 months ago. I logged into the Frontier.com website and can’t view any GoWild fares. Not sure if there is a different sign in and password? Also is there any customer service number to inquire about the Pass vs their lame chat bot.
I would imagine that when you book and confirm the day before your departure, you are also booking and confirming your return flight as well. Round trip ticket. Right?
No. You can only book one way fares. Same thing for the return flight. Day before you return.
Can you book a round trip or does it have to be 24 hours each trip?
good question. That is my question as well.
I am a Widow who just bought the pass. Any travel partners out there who are easy to get along with?
Hello
Considering this purchase. What is your travel intetest and are you retired
I would like it to basically travel between Texas and North Carolina to see my granddaughter. I'm really flexible but I'm still concerning about actually getting on a confirmed flight. I purchased kids fly free and got exactly no days I was able to get my granddaughter. I definitely don't want to spend the money and get little or nothing out of it.
So, if you review Frontier you will see that customer service doesnt answer the phones, cut you off when they do answer and directs you to the website that is slow at best, non responsive at worst. So what is going to happen when you try to book your flights less than 24 hour in advance: probably crash. You can however book cheap flights especially on Wednesday (from $19). So why give them $799 for...
So, if you review Frontier you will see that customer service doesnt answer the phones, cut you off when they do answer and directs you to the website that is slow at best, non responsive at worst. So what is going to happen when you try to book your flights less than 24 hour in advance: probably crash. You can however book cheap flights especially on Wednesday (from $19). So why give them $799 for all these headaches. I could see maybe if you are in a hub city (Denver) but if you are in a spoke airport, you are probably going to spend $$$$ on hotels near the airport because you cant get back.
Here's the real issue. It sounds interesting but then you have all of the other related costs to consider. Getting to/from their airport, accommodations, etc. From the airline's prospective sounds like a great deal because it is a huge promotion and the number of people who get it will be few.
Why do they have dates that it can't be used considering that it can only be confirmed the day before? If it is so busy on those days, surely there wouldn't be seats left anyways...
They are being transparent, something America is lacking lately.
Their wording of "last seat availability is not guaranteed" should cover every situation they don't want you to use it without having blackout dates.
This deal isn't for everyone, and even if you have the time and resource to make it work, we wouldn't know how easy or hard to use it. It all depends on how many of these pass Frontier sold.
Personally, I...
They are being transparent, something America is lacking lately.
Their wording of "last seat availability is not guaranteed" should cover every situation they don't want you to use it without having blackout dates.
This deal isn't for everyone, and even if you have the time and resource to make it work, we wouldn't know how easy or hard to use it. It all depends on how many of these pass Frontier sold.
Personally, I don't think this is for people who is looking to score cheap flights. These are for people who will have fun winning bingo but don't need the winnings.
Don't care. Not flying frontier under any circumstances. Not to mention that if I am flying I am doing so for a reason. The restrictions in place on this is just absolutely ridiculous and make pre-planning a total non-starter. Hoping to use this to take a trip and have to rely on last minute availability that may not be there, then you either have to last minute cancel your trip or book last minute on...
Don't care. Not flying frontier under any circumstances. Not to mention that if I am flying I am doing so for a reason. The restrictions in place on this is just absolutely ridiculous and make pre-planning a total non-starter. Hoping to use this to take a trip and have to rely on last minute availability that may not be there, then you either have to last minute cancel your trip or book last minute on a different carrier and pay thru the nose. Sounds completely stupid to me. Not the kind of stress I want to deal with for what is probably supposed to be a vacation or otherwise enjoyable trip.
New 'promo' price will be $799 after tonight.
You heard it here first.
Why was that? The deal said $599 but when my daughter attempted to purchase it , it went up to $799. It was the notorious bait and switch
I believe international flights are included, which the author said they weren’t. International flights you can book up to 10 days in advance. However, you can’t book the return flight until 10 days prior to the return flight date so no pre-booking round trips. That could get sketchy.
Like many other travel blogs, once they deem this of no interest they just don't update them.
The pass was launched at domestic only, then the next day they added international. Probably because the sales were terrible. All of this was still $599 until last night.
Contrary to your understanding, the 10 day window is so that you actually have enough time to prebook your return flight as a round trip. No obligation to get sketchy.
so do the people that paid $599 have rare pass that does not include international flights, or did they get a steal and only pay $599 for the same pass that is now $799?
@Ryan
It's the same pass. They came out on 16 with likely underwhelming sales.
On 17 the added international. The $599 sale ended 18.
Did the $599 group get a steal. Hardly believe so. I'd say they get to play the lotto at a lower ante. Consider all the Frontier sales + booking at the airport, you'd probably need at least 10-12 trips to even breakeven, not even factoring in having a confirmed seat.
...@Ryan
It's the same pass. They came out on 16 with likely underwhelming sales.
On 17 the added international. The $599 sale ended 18.
Did the $599 group get a steal. Hardly believe so. I'd say they get to play the lotto at a lower ante. Consider all the Frontier sales + booking at the airport, you'd probably need at least 10-12 trips to even breakeven, not even factoring in having a confirmed seat.
Is it worth betting at $599, maybe. But at $799 I'd avoid. Who knows if sales at $799 is very bad, they might drop it down again (for another limited time) like greedy companies do with every sale that didn't go well, a bigger sale to screw early loyal customers ;)
You don't get your flight confirmed the day before travel. You have to wait until the day before travel to even book a flight, so it's only good if you want to wait until the last minute to hopefully get a seat on a plane that's probably already full.
Yes many airlines I would prefer this to be on, but they did one thing well, having the promotion is getting people to talk about it.
You can’t book the return flight at the same time so you may not be able to return when you want to. Plus that automatic renewal at $1999!!
The concept of it is good, but as the writer clearly points out very wisely is that it is on frontier airlines, it also does not say if you can confirm a particular seat or you just get the "middle seat" only ,hmmmm
Can you book a round trip or only One way travel?
What is CIC ? Is that a $50 additional fee I must pay in addition to booking a flight ?
I suppose you could leave some belongings if you’re visiting family so traveling light isn’t an issue. Are the flights really going to be $.01 without add ons ?
Thanks for writing about this. But based on the requisite Flyertalk thread and everywhere else I’ve seen so far it’s unconfirmed that elite status benefits will apply to this and also (worryingly) unconfirmed that the CIC will not be charged. The only detail really confirmed is that this won’t include last-seat availability which lets them play inventory games if they want to.
I’m an MCO flyer, a Frontier elite, and have a flexible remote...
Thanks for writing about this. But based on the requisite Flyertalk thread and everywhere else I’ve seen so far it’s unconfirmed that elite status benefits will apply to this and also (worryingly) unconfirmed that the CIC will not be charged. The only detail really confirmed is that this won’t include last-seat availability which lets them play inventory games if they want to.
I’m an MCO flyer, a Frontier elite, and have a flexible remote work gig. And even I am skeptical about this given one may end up paying $600 to have capacity controlled $28 flights in middle seats. They really need to either confirm the CIC is waived or allow last-seat availability. Maybe this would have been better if they fully embraced the adventure aspect and made it only confirmable day-of. The tension with the current setup is that there’s little reason for them to open availability if they have any chance of selling the seats for cash.
This is just a question: say I'd like to fly to Chicago tomorrow just to see Aunt Tootsie. So I book it today...don't care if I sit in the middle, don't care if I gotta pay 15 bucks in baloney fees, but want to come back after one night - Tootsie never stops talking. I book one day ahead and spend the night on a Monday...when do I get to come back? The next day? Maybe? Maybe not? I don't know about that.
If they add the carrier interface charge it will kill the deal. Many Frontier ticket prices are just a couple of dollars when you see the details and everything else is just fees and charges.
This post could be enhanced with a map of Frontier's domestic routings so we can visualize quickly what exactly this means. Just a suggestion.
Why don't they do this. I hope I did not get ripped off.
I wouldn't fly Frontier if you paid me
If I lived in DEN (or LAS or MCO Hubs that aren't going anywhere) and was 20 years younger, I might entertain it.
With 60 something blackout days and add on fees still applying I don't see much of a value to an adult.
It's basically a throwback to the regulation "student standby" scheme of Eastern & Allegheny.
Sign me up! Seriously.
Back in the day I did JetBlue’s All You Can Jet pass (and the next year, BluePass). It was such a fun adventure, how I began to adore aviation, and it’s even how I first discovered the city I call home (San Diego). Though we don’t know the details yet, I highly recommend something like this for young people who can make it work with nothing to lose and an adventurous spirit.
Confirmed on the FAQ on Frontier website that they will not be charging the CIC. Just actual airport taxes.
Recently retired. I am looking forward to going on adventures. I rode my motorcycle across country 4 years ago. Camped along the way. But those 4 years did a number on me!!
Depending on the price, not a bad deal for retired snowbirds that travel between two home bases at their leisure.
I would expect it to limit the number of times one can travel to a single destination to deter commuters.
How do you sign up
Use the lin in the article. You can sign up now
AirAsia been there done that.
The conditions and fine print would make these passes look a lot less like a good deal.
Confirmation of 1 day ahead does pose quite a risk for an airline that doesn't have daily flights to most destinations.
One of my regrets was not taking an Off year after high school, going to Europe, back packing, buying a Euro train pass, and staying in hostels along the way.
Hope some young person can take advantage of this Frontier offer, but I feel they would have be better experience in Europe.
Sounds good , depending on price & blackout periods .
I'm retired, and I just like to fly anytime, going anywhere. I can get on a plane in Dallas, and go all day for no reason, then land back in Dallas and go home. I should have been in the aircraft industry.
I book flights out of MAF to VEGAS just to fly. (Silly I know)
Is all bs this company are all the same,,,,is about getting rich,,,,
Huh???
Imagine that, a company trying to turn a profit. What a concept!
@ Jose.. What in the Hugo Chavez world have you just said?