TL;DR: Aspiring jet setters can now rating Frontier’s GoWild! all-you-can-fly summer time move for $399(Opens in a brand new window)(opens in a brand new tab). Learn on for all the chaotic caveats and fantastic print.
Frontier is letting passengers fly as a lot as they need all summer time for a flat price that matches the common price of a single round-trip home flight(Opens in a brand new window).
The recently-announced GoWild! all-you-can-fly summer time move(Opens in a brand new window)(opens in a brand new tab) is the shorter model of Frontier’s already-existing annual move. Slightly than $1,299 for limitless flights all through your complete 12 months, the one-time $399 buy of a summer time move (plus one cent in charges for every journey) unlocks limitless flights to each home and worldwide Frontier locations between Might 2 and September 30. Frontier serves greater than 100 airports throughout the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America, with new places often being launched to the lineup.
Earlier than you ask, sure, we have now the identical query: Is Frontier for actual proper now?
On paper, it seems like a tremendous deal. Many people have begrudgingly coughed up the same quantity for a single roundtrip flight at the very least as soon as. That was in all probability an extra-common expertise throughout the unprecedented airfare spikes in 2022. Bankrate’s evaluation of final 12 months’s Bureau of Labor Statistics(Opens in a brand new window) discovered that the common value of a “whole lot” roundtrip home flight was $398 — up $100 from 2021. There is no query that an ultra-accessible summer time move might be a severe trip hack at a time when the whole lot, travel-related or not, is costlier.
However you’d nonetheless be proper to be skeptical. Frontier’s repute for arbitrary baggage charges and sketchy customer support — plus the normal drama of canceled flights(Opens in a brand new window) by all airways that has plagued journey for some time now — makes the premise of limitless flights sound too good to be true.
If you happen to’re planning on touring lots this summer time, the GoWild! move simply may prevent some cash.
Credit score: Frontier Airways
Frontier’s new summer time move is legit, however not with out its caveats
The primary piece of fantastic print to think about is the shortage of wiggle room the move affords planning-wise. GoWild! solely covers home flights booked *checks notes* the day earlier than and worldwide flights booked 10 days or much less earlier than. No reserving previous 24 hours means no reserving roundtrip. As an alternative, you’d technically need to guide your flight again on the final day of your journey, and 1. Hope that Frontier has a flight residence that works in your schedule and resort or rental check-out occasions or 2. Be all the way down to pay for a non-Frontier flight. (Linked itineraries are included granted there are nonetheless seats accessible.)
Not all airports take part, both. For example, Frontier doesn’t serve LAX. The “limitless” calendar can be topic to blackout intervals, together with Memorial Day itself and the Friday earlier than, the Fourth of July and surrounding days, and different random dates that might throw a wrench into plans.
If one thing goes mistaken, do not rely on dwell customer support
All airways include their fair proportion of cancellation or delay woes. Whereas lower-cost airways like Frontier and Spirit face the brunt of inconvenience-related airline memes, Frontier truly canceled fewer flights than Southwest, American, and United between the summer time of 2021 and 2022(Opens in a brand new window). It was additionally one of many airways with the least mishandled baggage points.
If one thing does go awry throughout your Frontier journey, nonetheless, good luck with a well timed decision. Again in November 2022, Frontier determined {that a} dwell customer support cellphone line(Opens in a brand new window) wasn’t that necessary. Prospects with considerations can both attempt the ever-helpful dwell chat software on-line or discuss to an worker on the airport.
Frontier’s baggage coverage has…baggage
Until you’ll be able to pack the whole lot you may want in a bag that matches underneath the seat in entrance of you, you may be paying greater than “$0.01 in airfare plus relevant taxes” per flight.
Whereas most airways solely make you pay for checked baggage and permit a private merchandise and a carry-on merchandise without cost, Frontier prices for the carry-on. (So does Spirit.)
The coverage is stingy but tolerable for those who do not fly that always. However for the quantity of flying that you will probably be squeezing in to make the GoWild! move definitely worth the cash, you may find yourself spending an additional few hundred bucks on high of the $399 over the course of the summer time.
Budgeting for a carry-on bag can be extra of a tough estimate than a confirmed calculation with Frontier. It is because the airline adjustments what it prices for non-personal objects relying in your flight date, time, distance, and so on. A carry-on might price as little as $30 for those who add it on the time of reserving, although that quantity can attain between $50 and $90. It relies on how Frontier’s Bag Value Checker is feeling that day.
Social media(Opens in a brand new window) is filled with Frontier passengers complaining that they had been charged for a carry-on that they swear is private item-sized. Whereas dimension restrictions are listed on-line and pattern compartments to measure your baggage must be current at your gate, many individuals have been hit with shock charges proper earlier than getting on the aircraft.
Is the GoWild! summer time move price it?
If you happen to had been already planning on doing fairly a little bit of jet-setting this summer time or would be on the transfer if it had been extra inexpensive, $399 for all or most of your aircraft tickets is tough to move up. The move can be a no brainer for those who had been already researching an enormous dream vacation spot journey and know that your flight would have been greater than $399 anyway.
However you may need to be OK with flying by the seat of your pants. Airplane pun very supposed.
Whether or not the (lack of) superior reserving discover is sufficient cushion relies on your particular plans — and your stress ranges. For flights inside the U.S., not having the ability to guide greater than 24 hours prematurely means reserving a roundtrip flight is off the desk — so you may have to consider the potential for not having stable return plans while you depart. That won’t trigger as a lot of a scramble for those who’re visiting somebody with a versatile schedule. However for those who’re coping with a rental with strict checkout occasions or a hardcore cancelation coverage, a backup plan with backup funds is critical.
The fantastic print, annoying baggage charges, and normal planning chaos do not take away from the props Frontier deserves for making journey this accessible — particularly throughout inflation. The GoWild! move might current severe exploring alternatives for individuals who weren’t frequent vacationers earlier than, or might be somebody’s key to touring overseas for the very first time. Now, get on that passport utility.
