OT: Frontier Airlines

[KeithK7624]

has anyone flown on them? Flights are cheap, and I understand they charge for everything, but if I'm going away for a weekend putting a bag under the seat shouldn't be an issue. Other than nickeling and dimeing for everything, what have your overall experiences been?

 

[RBNY87]

A very good experience. Just going to a small airport is a lot less stressful. Parking is exremely cheap which might make up for any nickel and diming.

 

[bigbirdRU]

If your'e flying out of trenton the convenience alone is worth it. Flew with them once, would definitely do it again.

 

[RU4Real]

This pops up every now and again, and the feedback is pretty consistent.

Frontier out of TTN is extremely convenient, as well as being inexpensive. The drawbacks are:

• Small terminal, which resembles a night club inside a sardine can if there's more than 1 flight scheduled to depart at around the same time
• Lack of available "backup" flights. Most routes are not 7 days a week and none of them are more than once a day. So if your flight gets cancelled, you have a serious scheduling issue
• For those passengers who may be prone to motion sickness, the departure and approach at TTN is a pretty radical thing for an Airbus
• There is no jetway, so boarding and deplaning is done the old-fashioned way - with stairs, outside. Fine for more people most of the time, but not so much if someone in your party is stair challenged or if it's raining

 

[RUSK97]

Make sure you have flexibility in your schedule. Definitely don't fly them for business. They don't have a ton of flights. I flew them once and on the return segment, the flight was canceled due to mechanical reasons. They rebooked me on the next flight out - two days later.

 

[rutexan84]

Can't be as bad as Spirit.

 

[KeithK7624]

I should have added the girlfriend is going to Duke for law school so she'll be flying in and out of RDU...

 

[withoutregard]

if your trip has flexibility they can work, I tried them for business and got burned with rescheduling as others have said, personally I could never fly them again for a business trip

 

[Abro1975]

Last summer I flew Frontier to RDU and back. Took a 6:30 am, pretty early but good experience. Early return flight back. But for $49 each way, I couldn't complain. Both were on time. No frills for sure. I brought a brown bag sandwich on board, and only needed a carry on for my 3 day trip.

I should have added the girlfriend is going to Duke for law school so she'll be flying in and out of RDU...

 

[PSU_Nut]

has anyone flown on them? Flights are cheap, and I understand they charge for everything, but if I'm going away for a weekend putting a bag under the seat shouldn't be an issue. Other than nickeling and dimeing for everything, what have your overall experiences been?

Flown them once. Went ahead and upgraded to the plus seats. Usually it only a few dollars more and gets you free baggage, priority boarding, front of the plane seats and free direct tv. Well worth it. My flight it was an additional $40 round trip.

 

[MoreCowbellRU]

flew out of TTN with my daughter a few months ago to FLA and would absolutely do it again without hesitation. The limited schedule would keep me from using them if I had no flexibility.

Terminal and flight were fine.

 

[RUforester72]

I have flown them a lot in the west. No problems and decent connections.

 

[RUaMoose]

I'm flying to Orlando, 9/11 on Frontier. First time I will be using TTN

 

[jmc11201]

Flown to Trenton from Minneapolis a few times....only had one issue with the boarding process as one extra person somehow ended up on the flight. It was a ticketing issue and led to an hour+ delay and was fairly aggravating, but I'm pretty sure that could happen on any airline.

Personally, I like that they fly Airbus jets as opposed to regional jets, and considering every airline nickel and dimes you these days, paying for a checked bag doesn't make them any worse than Delta or others. I've heard horror stories about Spirit getting super-uptight with carry-on bags and things of that sort, but never had an issue with Frontier...I'll usually carry on a backpack and throw it under the seat for no charge.

They do charge for beverage service and things like that, but considering the cost and the Airbus planes, I'm very willing to fly with them.

 

[garyrc70]

One awful experience. they cancelled about 12 hours before takeoff. Had no backup flights that day. They were begging me to tale a refund (which I did) and I ended up paying twice as much on Delta to keep on schedule..

 

[RUaMoose]

Flown to Trenton from Minneapolis a few times....only had one issue with the boarding process as one extra person somehow ended up on the flight. It was a ticketing issue and led to an hour+ delay and was fairly aggravating, but I'm pretty sure that could happen on any airline.

Personally, I like that they fly Airbus jets as opposed to regional jets, and considering every airline nickel and dimes you these days, paying for a checked bag doesn't make them any worse than Delta or others. I've heard horror stories about Spirit getting super-uptight with carry-on bags and things of that sort, but never had an issue with Frontier...I'll usually carry on a backpack and throw it under the seat for no charge.

They do charge for beverage service and things like that, but considering the cost and the Airbus planes, I'm very willing to fly with them.

I have to fly to Raleigh next week from Newark on United. I made reservations through my comany's travel site and noticed my seat assignment going there was rejected. I was instructed to call the airline. They tell me I have to pay an extra $33 to guarantee my seat. I ask her to give me a seat that doesn't require an extra fee. There were about a dozen seats left, mostly "middle" seats. She says there are none but that the flight was not "oversold" so I "should" have no issue getting a seat. This didn't give me a warm and fuzzy so I had to cough up anther $33 just to play it safe. Nickel and diming indeed. Btw, the carry on bag limit size is 22"X14"X9". So I have to break out a tape measure just to make sure I can carry on my small suitcase.

 

[jmc11201]

I have to fly to Raleigh next week from Newark on United. I made reservations through my comany's travel site and noticed my seat assignment going there was rejected. I was instructed to call the airline. They tell me I have to pay an extra $33 to guarantee my seat. I ask her to give me a seat that doesn't require an extra fee. There were about a dozen seats left, mostly "middle" seats. She says there are none but that the flight was not "oversold" so I "should" have no issue getting a seat. This didn't give me a warm and fuzzy so I had to cough up anther $33 just to play it safe. Nickel and diming indeed. Btw, the carry on bag limit size is 22"X14"X9". So I have to break out a tape measure just to make sure I can carry on my small suitcase.

As it relates to Frontier, if you check in online, you can pick and choose your seat for an extra fee ($5-$20 or so). If you are travelling with someone and want to be guaranteed to be next to them, you can pay up a bit, but I never have and always ended up next to my wife anyway. I always figure it is a short enough flight and if we don't end up next to each other, it isn't a big deal.

 

[BigLou]

My traveling group booked Frontier for the Michigan game on the day the flights became available. Basic round trip was $135. Add $20 each way for extended leg room. Sweet!. Screw you United Airlines.

 

[bchops]

Have used them to fly from TTN to RDU- watch the prices though- for Thanksgiving it was cheaper to fly United than Frontier with all of the add on prices. We usually pay for the bags when booking to save a little money. I would recommend then=m. BTW- the Friday flight to Detroit to the Michigan -RU game has been sold out for a few weeks.

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Used them in June for an Atlanta-Trenton round trip and other than the lack of frills it was the same as any other flight I've ever taken.

 

[T2Kplus10]

This pops up every now and again, and the feedback is pretty consistent.

Frontier out of TTN is extremely convenient, as well as being inexpensive. The drawbacks are:

• Small terminal, which resembles a night club inside a sardine can if there's more than 1 flight scheduled to depart at around the same time
• Lack of available "backup" flights. Most routes are not 7 days a week and none of them are more than once a day. So if your flight gets cancelled, you have a serious scheduling issue
• For those passengers who may be prone to motion sickness, the departure and approach at TTN is a pretty radical thing for an Airbus
• There is no jetway, so boarding and deplaning is done the old-fashioned way - with stairs, outside. Fine for more people most of the time, but not so much if someone in your party is stair challenged or if it's raining

Can you explain bullet #3 a bit more? It there an issue with the approach/flight route or length of the runaway?

Back in 2002, GWB held a rally for then Senate candidate Forester and used TTN for Air Force One (so I guess it can accommodate a 747 in the right conditions).

 

[RU4Real]

Can you explain bullet #3 a bit more? It there an issue with the approach/flight route or length of the runaway?

Back in 2002, GWB held a rally for then Senate candidate Forester and used TTN for Air Force One (so I guess it can accommodate a 747 in the right conditions).

For what it's worth, I ducked into TTN about 10 minutes before AF1 came in that day and watched it blow half its tires on the rollout.

But to your question, the Class C airspace around TTN extends for a 5 nm radius, to 4000'.

Since all commercial flights are positively controlled, they typically cannot descend below 4000' prior to entering TTN's controlled airspace - otherwise, they run the risk of collision with VFR traffic in uncontrolled airspace.

This means they have to lose 4000' of altitude in roughly 5 miles. They generally extend that distance by throwing a couple of turns into the initial approach, but it's still pretty steep.

 

[jmc11201]

As a simpleton, the landings do feel slightly more aggressive to me, but not to the point that I have ever felt scared or unsafe.

 

[mikebal9]

Sitting in a terminal in Tampa waiting for my Frontier flight home. It's delayed 45 minutes. The positive is that I knew this hours ago so if I had something to do, we could have delayed our arrival to the airport. Their flight to Philly is delayed 90 minutes.

 

[RU4Real]

Sitting in a terminal in Tampa waiting for my Frontier flight home. It's delayed 45 minutes. The positive is that I knew this hours ago so if I had something to do, we could have delayed our arrival to the airport. Their flight to Philly is delayed 90 minutes.

the Washington Center ATC facility suffered a power outage and computer failure this morning. All air traffic above 10,000' was shut down in the entire sector - basically nothing could enter the airspace between Raleigh NC and Philadelphia, from the ocean west to the WV-OH border.

It was like this for 3 hours. They just started clearing it up about an hour and a half ago.