Frontier’s not-quite-hostile booking experience

When booking a last-minute trip ultra low cost carriers can often represent the ultimate value play. They offer a premium seating option often priced around (or below) the regular economy seats on other airlines. And so, after deciding to attend an event in Dallas just 20 hours prior to departure, I was pleased to see Frontier offering its relatively new Business Bundle option for my trip.

The upsell was $119. Booking a window seat and carry-on bag a la carte would be about $65 (or $59 for the same via the Economy Bundle). The extra $60 probably was not worth it unless I wanted to take advantage of the checked bags included in the offer, but I clicked anyways. If nothing else, it should be a good story to tell.

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Over-promising from the get-go

That plan fell apart pretty quickly, however, when I clicked through to the seat map. All eight of the UpFront Plus seats were already assigned for my desired flight.

After the trip I pressed Frontier on this situation. The carrier’s position is that “Customers purchasing the Business Bundle may choose any available seat on the aircraft, including UpFront Plus seating, and can view the seat map for their specific flights and select seats prior to completing their bundle purchase.” The carrier also notes the other benefits of the bundle, including checked bags, and says the “Bundle Feature Terms and Conditions are clearly displayed on the flight select page of FlyFrontier.com.”

The closest the carrier gets to full disclosure on this is a “(Subject to availability)” bit in the Choose Your Seat section of the T&Cs, which are on the selection page but require an extra click to display. It seems unlikely any other airline selling premium seats would get away with giving travelers the other benefits (often also a free checked bag or two) but not the seat. Frontier seems to think it is not false advertising. I’m not quite as convinced. This was one of a few semi-hostile to passenger experiences in the booking process.

Make it basic instead

Having seen the seat map, I now knew that the back half of the plane was nearly empty, just 20 hours from scheduled departure. My booking plan quickly pivoted to a pure basic economy play. I could pack what I needed in a small backpack that meets the carrier’s personal item rules, save some money, and still be relatively comfortable on the flight. This launched me into the “no, really, I mean it” phase of booking a basic economy ticket. Airlines do not make that easy.

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In my case Frontier further complicated the booking process by erroring out if I had my frequent flyer number in the reservation, though the error message never indicated that was the issue.

I expected to run the gauntlet of upsells throughout the booking process. Choosing to skip a bundled fare at the beginning makes that inevitable. Having to repeat that experience during the online check-in process is annoying, but presumably most consumers have let weeks or months lapse in that interim; in my case it was just minutes so the annoyance was fresh.

Frontier also does not offer mobile check-in or boarding passes without using the company’s app. Online check-in only offers the option to print a paper pass, not receive/use a digital version. No doubt implementing a digital option comes with some costs. But it is hard to not also see the choice of not making that available as a conscious effort to push app installs, benefitting the company far more than the consumer.

Scoring extra space on board

Keeping with my plan to not spend extra beyond the basic fare, I took my chances with the auto-assigned seat. I scored 27E. Presumably that was one of the cheapest available to book. And the airline hoped I’d pay the $20-30 incremental to swap from that middle seat to an aisle or window elsewhere on the plane. Having seen the mostly empty seat map, however, I did not.

Eventually a few more passengers checked in and were assigned seats, but the last 10 rows were still less than 50% occupied when I walked on to the plane at last call for boarding. Anyone traveling solo who wanted to (including me) was able to secure their own row once boarding completed.

The flight itself was, as expected/hoped for, uneventful.

My trip was operated by an A320neo with the older Acro seats on board rather than the newer Recaro R1 (formerly SL3710) which Frontier began to deploy in 2021. That meant a smaller tray table and arm rests, though I’m not sure the newer/larger version of either would have been beneficial. The seats offer little in the way of comfort or padding.

All catering options are buy-on-board, ranging from $4 sodas to $10 liquor minis. Shelf-stable snacks were also offered, but no fresh food. Fortunately I brought my own lunch for the trip.

And then, roughly four and a half hours after walking on to the plane in Boston, I was at the gate in Dallas.

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The trip was almost exactly as I expected it would be, which is a good thing. But the practice of selling the Business Bundle when the seats are sold out is sketchy. Still, I got more than I paid for thanks to the empty row, so I’m taking the win.