Frontier Airlines

Keith Tanner wrote:

z31maniac wrote: Meh. The only difference I ever notice is how they board the planes. Just big taxis in the sky. I take whatever airline will get me to my destination at the desired time.

That's because you're used to the US-based airlines and haven't been exposed to airlines in the rest of the world. Even flying Air Canada is a breath of fresh air compared to the race to the bottom in the US. I find American quite entertaining with their boarding procedure. I counted something like 11 or 17 levels of privilege before they moved on to Zone 1. Mostly various frequent flyer groups or holders of magic credit cards. Takes FOREVER.

Could be.

The thing that irks me the most, I've never been on any airline that boards the plane back to front. How does that not make the most sense?

There's some interesting logic to the best way to fill a plane. Back to front is actually quite slow, because you get tied up in people trying to stow carry-ons all in the same places at the same time. Front to back is worse, but not dramatically.

Science! Page 7 has the explanation of the "load from back" problem. https://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.0733.pdf

But then the airlines jack up the ideal order by playing with privilege. Here's the official boarding order from American Airlines. 12 groups before you get to Group 1, and 15 before you get to Group 2. Each one of those messes with the ideal boarding order.

T.J. wrote: In reply to mtn: Where are you headed? Looks like the destination is Wilmington, and this time of year I'm guessing beach vacation.

Wilmington for my brothers wedding. And hopefully fishing the day before.

My last flight on Spirit was to Panama about 3 years ago. It was pathetic.

I knew I had entered the Twilight Zone when the stewardess got on the PA system and tried to lead all the passengers in an "I hate Spirit" chant. They were giving away vouchers for free flights, and no one was taking the vouchers!

I'd rather be boiled in oil.

Frontier is not much better.

I'm glad I've only flown once, and don't intend to again until I have a trip with a 24 hour drive. All told, driving to the airport, security, layovers, and everything took as long as if we just drove straight to our destination. But it was free tickets for our honeymoon.

You are flying through the air at 36,000ft at better than 600kts. Meeeeehhhh, but my seat is too hard and they charged me for peanuts.

There was a time less than 150 years ago when half your family died of dysentery getting to Oregon.

Thanks guys for the tips and answers. I ended up just paying the nearly $400 in add ons. Its just the cost of a direct flight from CLE to CUN these days I guess. Its also better than getting stuck in Charlotte or Houston for a day, which happens every time we have a connecting flight!

Regardless, less than 48 hours until the family vacation. I've never been so excited to get away.

Hehehe relevant article from The Onion

In reply to Appleseed:

Oh hey Louie, didn't know you posted here

Hah I used to maintain their ERJ-145s when they were part of Republic.

Frontier has an... interesting history. I was part of one of their ERP roll outs which "streamlined their workflow processes and slimmed their parts useage." These studies are frequently cited by PGMT books. The reality of the matter is parts use fell off after the initial hit because all the mechanics ordered something like 6x more fasteners than they needed every time they placed an order since the system was difficult to deal with. Maintenance was only done on time when we didn't have to order parts.

So yea there's a reason they've changed hands a whole lot.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago:

Truth is truth Dah-Wich.

Cheap air fare canoe deleted

The one issue with Frontier/Spirit, etc is that they only fly certain routes every 2-3 days.  If there's a mechanical issue or a weather delay, they can't just move you onto the next flight a few hours later.  There's a chance you may be stuck waiting at your own expense for a few more days.  If there's somewhere you really need to be (a wedding, or home for work, etc), consider extra money to fly a more traditional carrier.  SWMBO got stuck in Miami due to a mechanical function on Spirit.  They actually put her up in a nice hotel for another day or two...I'm sure she negotiated better treatment than the other passengers.  

I Flew Frontier for thanksgiving travel.  Saw a girl (young adult, but particularly childish) get saucy with the flight attendant after she was informed that she'd have to pay for an upgrade if she wanted to stay in the empty exit row seat she had moved into.   The flight attendant wasn't having it.  Once it seemed like this little conflict may delay our departure, the entire back half of the plane started heckling the girl until she moved.  The rules and attitudes almost invite this kind of thing.  Some people expect TGIF service when they only pay for McDonalds.  Or maybe they're just so pissed off when they realize they have to pay for their carry-on bag that they blow up at the slightest problem.

Im locking this old thread that just draws spam.