Radical: Frontier Airlines Overhauls Fares, Cuts Change Fees

Without WiFi frontier will not get me or any other business travelers no matter how they price it

Having flown with Spirit multiple times, I’ve always wanted an ULCC to implement a bundling scheme and Frontier has done exactly that. It definitely simplifies the booking process and provides a more pleasant experience.

I get that that they depend on the gotcha fee, but they can still advertise the base fare and google would also pull up the cheapest fare, so it still attracts me to their website. I don’t have to waste time going through 10 steps only to realize my carry on costs $70 which just makes me annoyed. A sale isn’t a sale until I hit purchase. Once I get the total price for my flight, I would still check other airlines if it’s cheaper. Hence I think this increases the user experience in general. This is coming from a price sensitive consumer, so I would love to hear what others feel.

However, having also worked for Spirit, I definitely hope that this isn’t the final price as the difference between fares is wayyy too small/cheap! I hope they still maintain the ala carte portion If I were the decision maker, I would swap out/remove a few things within the bundles.

Excited to see how this plays out! I think it’s a great initiative and prices can be easily adjusted to make profit.

the basic fare is still great for elites who already get free bags and seats and changes, as well, unless they added a caveat that elite benefits aren't eligible at that tier like other airlines have done, but I don't think I read that here?

It would be great to know how they are going to map current bookings to these fare products

Any idea how this effects folks who have status and get many of these perks for free?

That's the issue is that domestic flying is at best break even, likely a loss for the legacies. But at least for now the legacies have other revenue streams with far, far better profit margins.

Frontier (and Spirit) have non of that so they're stuck trying to make a profit on cheap fares and fees. Moreover, they don't have a very good reputation among people that can afford to fly. Just watch the Youtube videos of brawls on flights, often Spirit or Frontier. And that's a difficult perception to shake.

Then their customer base is clobbered with inflation. People on this board would like to think these people don't exist but there's no small number of Americans that have less than ten dollars to their name at payday. In fact, with the explosion in payday lenders many of them can't even make it paycheck to paycheck. With all the COVID goodies gone and credit cards maxed there's no extra 100 dollars to go anywhere.

My first ever Frontier flight coming up in September. Bare bones - one personal item, no seat selection, etc. But $29 one way from SLC-SFO. Will see how it goes; I can survive the short trip......

When the Frontier website was updated yesterday morning, it kicked off all of their GoWild Pass/All you can fly pass holders. They can't book flights anymore. Frontier customer service reps are telling those passengers to wait a few days or few weeks until their IT department is able to fix it. Some customer service reps are booking for those passengers, but some are refusing to book for them. That the New Frontier.

Any changes to their loyalty program, too? A decade ago I was pretty loyal to them, pre ULCC days. I'd fly them for business frequently then used the miles to travel to places like Costa Rica. Not the most aspirational redemptions, but the value was there overall.
Their recent changes make me tempted to try them more again, but until they offer a better loyalty program, I think it will be one-off's vs. an actual shift to them overall.

As part of the changes, you can get 5k miles for booking a flight in May:
https://www.flyfrontier.com/5000-travel-miles/

The biggest gripe I'm likely to have is that if one wants to /only/ search for fares excluding certain bundles when comparinson shopping, that's often far easier said than done.

I think it’s really interesting that frontier is making major changes, but I’m not sure if these are the right ones—the fare you showed is 104 for the basic bundle which is far higher than the 19 dollar fares they often have on sale (we’ll obviously have to see if that changes), and although they will probably attract more customers than before, they’ll alienate some of the most price-sensitive consumers while still needing to have lower prices for comparable legacy bundles because they still have tight uncomfortable seats, tiny tray tables, a weak loyalty program, no service. Still, it’s interesting to see this change and what it might mean for their future and the industry as a whole.

I wonder if the bundled fare options will be available to buy at the airport to save the carrier interface fee of $23/flight. That pretty much offsets the “buy-up” from Basic to Economy, and would be a great deal with the free changes / seat / carry-on.

@Ben - in the conclusion section, "understate" as opposed to "overstate"

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment:” ultra low cost carriers have a cost advantage, but not as big as it used to be, given how labor costs have gone up across the board.”
Also, the airline is hitting it sophomore years and needs to adjust accordingly.

Memo to Southwest: it’s your senior year, it’s time for assigned seating before a fist fight breaks over “reserved” seats!

Memo to JetBlue: it’s your junior year, it’s time to install business or 1st class. Cannot rely solely on the East Coast & Caribbean. You need business PAX for premium revenue!!

Frontier and Spirit need to rebrand themselves as regular airlines. These are different times . There is simply no need for ultra low cost carriers in the U.S. People need to go places.

The fare difference may seem reasonable but I think people need to consider what the costs by themselves are. Sometimes it is cheaper to pay individually for the extras. I think the ultra low cost carriers should consider partnering with legacy carriers. That may get passengers to choose them more often especially as they are flying to/from large hubs - increases connectivity.

I would rather crawl on broken glass to my destination than ever get on another Frontier flight.

Why and for reasons?

I flew them exclusively before they decided to go cheap. Took my elite status away after claiming to have emailed me about “changes” and I did not respond (since I never saw an email). Several cancelled flights, missing baggage and poor attitude from their staff. No phone support so standing in lines forever to rebook. My final flight I had booked the extended leg room seat up front, boarding pass in hand only to find out I was moved for some reason, and then had to stand in line for a refund.