To Frontier or not to Frontier??

skullsplitter

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
here's our situation. We booked round trip flights cheap with Frontier Air. We land on a Thursday at 2 with Halloween tickets at wdw so we don't have a lot of room for delays. For some reason I didn't do my homework on them. Now I'm seeing a lot of bad reviews regarding long delays. I also don't get money back for canceling Frontier, just credit for a future flight.
I'm considering eating the Frontier money and booking with southwest. Any of you have Frontier experience? Am i scared for no reason?
 
I fly Frontier to Orlando and back to D.C. quite frequently and have not ever had a problem with them being late. Actually, my flights have routinely arrived earlier than scheduled. That does not mean that you will experience this, though. Obviously whether or not your flight will leave and arrive on time will depend upon a few factors, such as maintenance, where you are flying from and where the plane is flying from before arriving at your home airport. Not once have I ever experienced a Southwest flight leaving or arriving on time. On the flip side, many others have experienced the exact opposite of what I just described. So, the best advice I can give is that unless you can get on a flight that leaves first thing in the morning and has you arriving before noon, then I would just take your chances with what you have, hope that it works out for the best, and make a mental note to not schedule hard ticket events on travel days.
 
Tell me what your flight number and what airport you are departing. I can look on Flight Aware to see the past history of how their departure times have been from your airport.
 


If there is only one flight for that day on Frontier I would book Southwest (at least for the flight there). I would be more concerned about a cancellation than a delay. I've had delays on Southwest and Frontier so I tend to fly in the night before any big plans.
 
Here is the history for your flight The bold times are the actual time the plane took off. so over the past week other than today which was 20 minutes late leaving they pretty much have left on time or a head of schedule.
UPCOMING FLIGHTS
Date
Departure

EN ROUTE FLIGHT
Date
Departure
Arrival
Aircraft
Duration
Wednesday
20-Sep-2017
10:00AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:42PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 42m
PAST FLIGHTS
Date
Departure
Arrival
Aircraft
Duration
Monday
18-Sep-2017
09:48AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:29PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 41m
Saturday
16-Sep-2017
09:35AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:18PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 43m
Friday
15-Sep-2017
09:37AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:25PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 48m
Wednesday
13-Sep-2017
09:32AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:31PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 59m
Monday
11-Sep-2017
09:50AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:20PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
Cancelled
Saturday
09-Sep-2017
09:36AM CDTNashville Intl - BNA
12:20PM EDTOrlando Intl - MCO
A319
1h 44m
Join FlightAwareView more flight historyPurchase entire flight history for FFT1684
 


Thank you all for the help and feedback. That flight history doesn't look bad at all. We definitely messed up by choosing a flight so close to the hard ticket event start time. I think we just saw a cheap flight and lost our minds!
 
The only thing that Frontier is bad about is getting luggage to baggage claim quickly. I have had two family members recently to took two separate trips that had an hour wait at for their luggage to appear. So be prepared for that.
 
We flew Frontier once and did not have a good experience. Our flight out of Orlando was delayed 7 hours! If there is only one flight on Frontier out of your airport, I'd cancel and book SW.
 
AquamarineSteph is right. Any airline can have delays. We were delayed 8 hours on a Southwest flight several years ago. We almost didn't get out of the airport that night but they diverted a nonstop from Albany to come to Louisville and pick up the passengers who were still at the airport. Our original 5:30 pm landing didn't make it until 1:30 AM. That flight is precisely why I never book reservations that I can't cancel day of...you never know when there will be a flight delay.
 
We never used to even consider Frontier for flights to anywhere but they are adding 4 non-stop destinations from our Colorado Springs airport. So Frontier may now be a viable option even with their bad rep.

As for delays I had a horrible delay and route change with Delta from the Springs last fall and a bad experience with Southwest a few years ago so you never know what will happen to you versus anyone else!

If you do book Frontier I would seriously consider reading up below on how to minimize the extra charges and possible problems etc.

https://www.skyscanner.com/tips-and-inspiration/flying-frontier-airlines-guide

http://tripswithtykes.com/2017/06/19/frontier-airlines-tips/

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/...nes-savings-strategies-that-will-save-you-big

And there are many more if you Google Frontier.
 
So called Ultra Low Cost Carriers (ULCC) like Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant do not participate in interline agreements. An interline agreement allows one airline to transfer a ticket to another airline in the event of a cancelation or extreme delay. When things run smoothly, interline agreements are irrelevant. However, when problems arise, they can save you hundreds of dollars and/or many hours of frustration.

When a ULCC cancels a flight, their only obligation is to either refund your money (which may take days) or put you on the next available flight. The keyword in the sentence is "available". During a busy time, the next available flight might be the next day or even later. Typically, ULCCs will not pay for any additional costs incurred by the delay. That means you're on the hook for meals and/or hotels until they can get you on a flight.

The only way I'd fly on one of these airlines is if I had stellar travel insurance. Without that, you're gambling. It just takes one cancelation to negate any savings. If you have to get home that day, you're stuck paying the last-minute fare on another airline.

[Note: Southwest is another airline that does not use interline agreements. Due to Southwest's size, the lack of interline is not much of an issue. Southwest has 735 planes serving 99 destinations. In comparison, Frontier has 69 serving 62 destinations. As such, it's much easier for Southwest to recover when a flight gets canceled. They can more easily find a different plane, cabin crew member, or alternate routing to help get you to your destination.]
 
We ended up cancelling Frontier and getting an earlier arrival with Southwest. If we hadn't booked our arrival so close to the party start time it wouldn't have been an issue. That's on us though and not the airline.
 

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