I Flew Frontier Airlines, And It Was Kind Of Awful

I flew Frontier Airlines for the first time yesterday and it is one of the biggest ultra low cost carriers in the US. If ULCCs can get you to your destination at a reasonable price, then you can't really complain. It is not a good experience to fly with American Airlines.

I wouldn't go forward with the airline based on my experience. I don't know if this is an issue with the airline or just the route I was flying or if I was just really unlucky. The experience made me want to work for American Airlines.

Why we booked Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines was the only airline with a nonstop flight that day. With the general travel chaos nowadays, flying nonstop and avoiding a major airport just seemed easier, so I gave Frontier Airlines a try.

Even though Frontier is an ultra low cost carrier, that doesn't mean they're always cheap. There was a one-way fare of 140 dollars. I had a full size carry-on and a checked bag, so the best value was to add "The Works Bundle," where for an extra$151 I received a carry-on, a checked bag, priority boarding, complimentary extra legroom seating, etc.

I wouldn't consider a nearly $300 one-way ticket to be low cost but it was convenient and there were better alternatives.

What I didn’t mind about Frontier Airlines

There were some positives and negatives to the Frontier experience.

There are some good things in the package.

• Even though the flight was in the evening, it operated on-time, and checked bags arrived less than 20 minutes after landing, which was impressive
• The legroom in the “Stretch” section of the cabin is phenomenal, better than Main Cabin Extra on American Airlines; the legroom in the other seats, however…
• The crew was generally well intentioned and tried to be professional

There are some things that I knew but didn't bother me. It's for example:

• Frontier has no power ports, no entertainment of any sort, no Wi-Fi, etc.; it seems kind of weird that none of this is on the carrier’s radar even in 2022, but whatever
• Frontier seats don’t recline, and are hard as rocks

I am not going to hold it against the airline because I was expecting it to go in.

What made Frontier Airlines bad

What was the reason for my dislike of Frontier Airlines? The people feel like they're patronizing and not professional. I would like to talk about both of those topics.

My fellow Frontier passengers

I have low expectations of the traveling public, and I have seen some things. Nothing prepared me for this flight. I haven't been stuck in a plane with a crowd like this before, but I'm not sure if it's the airline, the route, or a combination of both.

How do we start? I have never seen a bathroom like that on a flight. people didn't flush The floor was covered in pee. Some people didn't bother closing the door while in the bathroom Is it the worst of everything? People went into the bathroom without shoes.

There was a man who tried to go into the bathroom with a large bag of stuff. He kept trying despite the crew telling him he couldn't. He would line up for the bathroom at the spot where I sat.

A person sitting near us went to the bathroom without shoes on and tried to rest their feet on the back of the armrest.

The man sitting in front of me was watching something on his phone for most of the flight. Okay, perfect? He laughed out loud for an hour straight. I am talking about a loud laugh and not just a quiet laugh. It went on over and over and over. I was able to hear him even with earbuds on.

The entire boarding process was just weird. As the plane was about to leave, people pushed and shoved each other. Some of the commentary I heard from Frontier Airlines passengers was that they wouldn't fly with trash on Southwest Airlines. Let's move on with that...

The A320neo was just a few years old, but it felt like it had been there a long time.

The Frontier experience is patronizing & unprofessional

Ultra low cost carriers make their money on fees and it can be difficult to communicate that to customers so they know what to expect. Frontier's communication about this was patronizing.

Everyone can help prevent flight delays if you pay for your carry-on early. The airline tried to make it seem like it was a patriotic duty. That may be a good strategy for the customer base.

Frontier makes everything about the environment so offensive. Everything that sucks about the passenger experience is related to the environment. The pitch is 28′′. It is a pleasure to join American's greenest airline.

The checked bag limit was recently lowered from 50 pounds to 40 pounds, and the cost to increase the weight limit to 50 pounds was nearly double. Keeping carbon emissions low is part of that. There are signs that remind you of how green Frontier is.

The green that Frontier cares about is its own bottom line.

I wasn't sure about Frontier's staffing situation. The ground agents didn't have uniforms on. They did not have any uniforms at all. Is that a coincidence? Is this a way to save money?

The staff was friendly, but they didn't have basic customer service training. The gate agent was blowing his nose and sneezing into his hand while handling boarding passes and interacting with customers. The flight attendant was texting while standing near the passengers.

It was just weird.

Bottom line

I flew Frontier for the first time and it was terrible. The majority of the experience was what I was expecting, but what I didn't expect was the lack of basic decorum from the crowd onboard. I don't know if this is common on Frontier or if I just got unlucky on this flight. I have flown a lot of low cost carriers but this situation was bad.

The flight time was only 2 hours and 40 minutes.

What was your experience when you flew Frontier? I don't know if I got unlucky.