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Some thoughts. A. How is this economical? For me, just looking at going on a trip from MSP (Minneapolis Saint-Paul) to ATL (Atlanta Georgia) on a cheap Wednesd

Some thoughts. A. How is this economical? For me, just looking at going on a trip from MSP (Minneapolis Saint-Paul) to ATL (Atlanta Georgia) on a cheap Wednesday (11/23) would cost $309 round-trip, $463 if it was on a Friday (11/25), $543 on a Monday (11/21). This pass pays for itself too quickly if I don't need any of the unavailable days. I suppose it renews at $2K a year, but that's still a "if you fly ~5 times a year it pays for itself" kind of thing... B. Does this incentivize more frequent flying? C. It reminds me of the AAirpass mistake... D. Seems like everything as a subscription these days... including air travel now! E. Does not include bags, the quiet gotcha to prevent this turning into a lifestyle... Otherwise, I'd just fly somewhere, walk around a city for fun, sleep at the airport, fly home the next day... I suppose I still could, if I only bring a small personal item 'no larger than 14” x 18” x 8”' that can fit under the seat to avoid additional fees. But that's not very large.

StrictDabbler 4y ago
There was a series of stories a while back about the effect that the AAirpass (unlimited lifetime flights with American Airlines) had on stockbroker Steven Rothstein. The pass cost $250,000. It was based on his age and how much they expected a person to fly per year. They eventually allowed him to add a companion fare for $150,000. Rothstein would go to Paris for lunch, or kick around Tokyo for an afternoon, etc. He did this for thirty years and obviously cost them a ton. Eventually they found a terms-of-service excuse to cancel his pass based on his booking patterns. (Using his companion fare for extra baggage, etc) Losing an ability he'd had for thirty years left him completely hollowed out. I mention this because I could easily afford to buy two of these Frontier passes at this introductory price, just to see how much I'd use it. $1200 is a steal. But that kick up to $4000 for renewal... now we're talking serious money. And the price is likely to go up every year until the program breaks even, on average. Can one justify that emotional risk? Edit: Hadn't processed that you can't guarantee you'll be able to get home. At that point this is just a weird publicity stunt.
spyckie2 4y ago
Yup no bags and probably significant taxes / fees per flight… still can be a good deal but not nearly as good as it looks
- gjsman-1000 4y ago
  For sure... which they don't address. For example, the TSA actually charges $5.60 per passenger per flight for their "security" services [1]. Is that included when they say you'll only pay $0.01 for the fare? I doubt it. [1] Never mind that the TSA is security theater and professional spies had (Edit: 95%!) success in sneaking mock bombs and weapons past them in the TSA's own tests...
lelandfe 4y ago
You can only book one way flights and only “the day before flight departure” - and there’s a lot of blackout days. So these are normally unfilled seats.
- gjsman-1000 4y ago
  You'd basically have to be either willing to pay for lots of hotels... or go on a week-or-so long "adventure" where you just book flights to random places, stay at the airport, and fly somewhere random again, until you finally manage to get a chance to fly home. Good luck fitting your clothes into the tiny backpack space though unless you want to pay luggage. Probably would make for a great YouTube series though for the right person. Basically seems built for getting a ton of subscribers quickly on a really low budget for the adventurous. "What random US place are we flying to today? We literally don't know because we can only book the day before..." Or it could be a challenge - "By completely random booking and just a backpack, can we visit all 50 states and Puerto Rico for under $3000 total?" I mean, in theory, you could. $599 for the pass, let's say $20 in fees per flight [$1000 for 50 flights]. Clothing and sleeping overnight at every airport could be an issue requiring an occasional hotel night... But if you could pack multiple flights in a day, and schedule flights between flights... Then it might not be so much of an issue.

StrictDabbler 4y ago

There was a series of stories a while back about the effect that the AAirpass (unlimited lifetime flights with American Airlines) had on stockbroker Steven Rothstein. The pass cost $250,000. It was based on his age and how much they expected a person to fly per year. They eventually allowed him to add a companion fare for $150,000. Rothstein would go to Paris for lunch, or kick around Tokyo for an afternoon, etc. He did this for thirty years and obviously cost them a ton. Eventually they found a terms-of-service excuse to cancel his pass based on his booking patterns. (Using his companion fare for extra baggage, etc) Losing an ability he'd had for thirty years left him completely hollowed out. I mention this because I could easily afford to buy two of these Frontier passes at this introductory price, just to see how much I'd use it. $1200 is a steal. But that kick up to $4000 for renewal... now we're talking serious money. And the price is likely to go up every year until the program breaks even, on average. Can one justify that emotional risk? Edit: Hadn't processed that you can't guarantee you'll be able to get home. At that point this is just a weird publicity stunt.

spyckie2 4y ago

Yup no bags and probably significant taxes / fees per flight… still can be a good deal but not nearly as good as it looks

gjsman-1000 4y ago
For sure... which they don't address. For example, the TSA actually charges $5.60 per passenger per flight for their "security" services [1]. Is that included when they say you'll only pay $0.01 for the fare? I doubt it. [1] Never mind that the TSA is security theater and professional spies had (Edit: 95%!) success in sneaking mock bombs and weapons past them in the TSA's own tests...

lelandfe 4y ago

You can only book one way flights and only “the day before flight departure” - and there’s a lot of blackout days. So these are normally unfilled seats.

gjsman-1000 4y ago
You'd basically have to be either willing to pay for lots of hotels... or go on a week-or-so long "adventure" where you just book flights to random places, stay at the airport, and fly somewhere random again, until you finally manage to get a chance to fly home. Good luck fitting your clothes into the tiny backpack space though unless you want to pay luggage. Probably would make for a great YouTube series though for the right person. Basically seems built for getting a ton of subscribers quickly on a really low budget for the adventurous. "What random US place are we flying to today? We literally don't know because we can only book the day before..." Or it could be a challenge - "By completely random booking and just a backpack, can we visit all 50 states and Puerto Rico for under $3000 total?" I mean, in theory, you could. $599 for the pass, let's say $20 in fees per flight [$1000 for 50 flights]. Clothing and sleeping overnight at every airport could be an issue requiring an occasional hotel night... But if you could pack multiple flights in a day, and schedule flights between flights... Then it might not be so much of an issue.