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News | Frontier Charges for Carry-on Bags and Drinks.

Jake Redman May 2, 2013


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After a mad dash to write what we thought was a breaking news, we see that BoardingArea pal GhettoIFE had delivered comprehensive coverage of this story many hours ago. Check out his take on these changes. [Ours after the jump]…

Frontier Airlines yesterday used flowery language to announce a new fee that charges certain passengers up to $100 for their carry-on bags…

But wait, it’s really not THAT bad. That’s essentially what the airline is telling us and to an extent it’s true. If you book your ticket at their website, FlyFrontier.com, You’re still allowed one carry-on for free. If you book at a 3rd party site like Orbitz you’ll be charged $25-$100, the lowest fees realized when checking in at the airlines website. The highest fees happen when you wait until you’re at the gate to drag your bulging-with-souvenirs bag aboard.

They really want you to use their website.

In addition to being able to skip some of these fees by using FlyFrontier.com, you can also avoid fees by buying more expensive, but more flexible fares like “Classic” and upward. Here’s the breakdown of the fees associated with this “enhancement”:

Frontier
There was no fee for copying this image from the official press release at FlyFrontier.com. [Image: FlyFrontier.com]
Another “enhancement” is that higher-fares and elite members of the airlines “EarlyRewards” program continue to enjoy complimentary beverages. Lower fares and elite-less help food the bill for the airlines transformation to an “Ultra Low Cost Carrier” (different from a “low FARE carrier” by definition). Here’s what they say:

“As part of the transformation into an Ultra Low Cost Carrier, Frontier will begin charging for onboard beverages this summer. Effective July 1, 2013, customers who purchase Economy or Basic fares will be charged $1.99 for coffee, tea, soda and juice. All on-board purchases continue to require a credit or debit card.”

Awhile back we sampled the Frontier product in one of their “Stretch” (extra legroom) seats. While we liked the service and thought some of these seats provided a reasonable amount of added legroom, the one we got wasn’t great.

The new carry-on charges aren’t much of a deterrent unless you’re determined to use outside sites to book your trip and continue a trend that might cause other airlines to follow suit. The beverage charges are a prickly annoyance simply because they’ll be able to price it like sports stadiums. At 35,000 feet, Where else are you going to buy a Coke?

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Jake Redman
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Jake Redman

Modhop Host & Founder Jake Redman brings years of global exploration and travel tips to the podcast and our videos at Modhop. Jake is also a Producer and Host for SiriusXM.

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