Ultra low cost carriers in the United States are in a tough spot. At the start of the pandemic, the legacy carriers got better at competing with ultra low cost carriers, both in terms of their routes (point-to-point leisure service), and in terms of their product offering (more compelling basic economy options).
Continue reading: Frontier Airlines Plans JFK To LAX Flights, Backtracks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Spirit is currently flying EWR TO LAX 2x daily. Who in their right minds who buy a flight on frontier or spirit?
There are lots of foreign tourists who love to take red eyes when visiting. Saves them a nights worth on an expensive hotel. But no, that’s not a sustainable business model. Frontier clearly aims to be scrapping the bottom of the market which isn’t a good strategy when you have such a long route.
This is a route connecting America's 2 largest cities. Surely it's not entirely about premium demand only.
Spirit also does BWI-LAX, PHL-LAX as well with no plans to end those. Yes JetBlue might offer those advertised fares now but as their planes fill up, those fares rise, making Frontier look all the more appealing to a price conscious traveller.
Last minute ticket aren’t $150 on this route. On a last min basis which is how many on this route book the difference between Frontier and other carriers will be greater thus making the frontier flight more attractive, this is the market they will have an edge serving.
There is absolutely a large swath of the population (generally not those here or on FlyerTalk) that just book whatever is cheapest, no matter what, even if only by $10 and even if after ancillary fees it actually is not cheaper. Frontier will nab those people. Whether they can be profitable doing so, I have no idea!
Doesn't it feel like everywhere we look its mainly Frontier (or Spirit) or NOTHING?!?? 🙁 🙁 🙁
Sure they can fill a plane. Will they make any money? Doubtful. I wonder if Frontier is going to force crews to work the turn back? Think particularly with weather the number of times the crew will time out and the turn cancelled. A red eye on Frontier? I'd rather hitchhike across the country.
This, and the Boston expansion, are surely a retaliatory reaction to JetBlue boasting San Juan right after Frontier announced a base and expansion. This is type of tit for tat thing happens all the time. It doesn’t matter if these type of markets make sense, it’s just to prove a point. Sometimes, they never even fly. Others last just a short period.
The bigger part is where the slots are coming from. There were rumors that AA is trying to lease out some of its slots now that B6 has returned all slots due to the NEA being overturned.
Cost advantage for ultra low cost carriers diminishes as the length of haul increases while onboard sales increase. Frontier might get just a tad of the market and be fine.
and poking B6 in the eye might well be part of the motive as well
Can't wait to watch all those TikTok entertainment found only on ULCC.
Coming soon : 30 lb stuffed pillow fight.
I could see a potential for higher priced and increased sales of ancillaries, the bread-and-butter of ULCCs. Of course, that's changing as well.
I think there are a lot of young people in both cities (college/fresh grad) who will book the cheapest ticket between both cities either to visit friends or the other city. Frontier will also help bring prices down even further. I think Spirit used to fly between EWR and LAX and this was the population they attracted
Maybe they can do Ryanair-style $10 one way and hope that on such a long redeye enough people will splurge on a $5 coke or pay their way out of middle seat?
They can't even fly from LA to San Diego without a delay or cancelation. How do they expect to fly across the country?!!
I fly JFK-SNA on AA. It is common for FAs to fly the out and back on the same day. I havent seen the pilots do that though.
in other words, they were signaling to B6 that "we can come after you but aren't right now so cool it in SJU"
What might be better idea is try some similar niche route not served by legacies such as Trenton or Westcheter to Long Beach/Burbank
Any way you could call out / highlight changes to articles when reposting? I already read this and don’t want to re-read the whole article to find the 3 new sentences…
I’d rather drive than fly Frontier. They’re a third world airline on a par with Spirit. I’d go out of my way to avoid them. JFK-LAX is out of their wheelhouse. Can’t see anyone sitting in those crap seats for six hours.
Looks like I'm gonna have to stick with flying from Newark to LAX with Spirit. Oh well.
Ishrion has reported that F9 has now pulled this offering, despite it previously being coupled with their JFK-LAS rotation.
More like the other way around. sju is B6 turf and PR crowd are loyal to B6. They are telling F9 they will not have it easy. And now B6 is challenging on the isp-Florida flying. When B6 started jfk-lax 4x daily on all economy A320’s, pre mint, they were hemorrhaging money. That was when their costs was much much lower and jfk was cheaper to operate. That was 11 years ago. So they came up with mint, and now they “mint” money on jfk-lax. With no premium that route is a money loser. B6 alternative was completely pull out if they didn’t offer mint. Point is, F9 costs are higher than the B6 11 years ago, and jfk is costlier. I think they ran the numbers and saw they would get clobbered especially with only 1x a day. If they did it just to “send a signal” then they are just as ridiculously childish as Delta is with blocking B6 gates in Atlanta.