Frontier Airlines: Book through us or pay the price

[MileHigh]

Denver-based carrier but when I fly, they don't go where I need to go directly so it's rare I fly them.

Still, if you book through Kayak or Expedia or Travelocity or other sites, you'll have to endure a) no seat selection until check-in; b) extra fees; c) only get credit for half the frequent flyer miles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/frontier-is-latest-airline-to-sidestep-online-travel-agencies-with-direct-booking-discounts/2012/09/12/843aeb62-fcf9-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html

 

[LongTimeListener]

More power to 'em if they can do it. I know I'll be checking if the need arises.

I don't understand why you call it an "extra fee." It's just as easily a "discount" for booking through the Frontier website, and the other perks are very common loyalty programs. It's one way Southwest keeps its prices low, they never pay a middleman.

The only way I see this being a bad thing is if I own stock in Kayak or Expedia or Travelocity or other sites.

 

[Cubbiebum]

More power to 'em if they can do it. I know I'll be checking if the need arises.

I don't understand why you call it an "extra fee." It's just as easily a "discount" for booking through the Frontier website, and the other perks are very common loyalty programs. It's one way Southwest keeps its prices low, they never pay a middleman.

The only way I see this being a bad thing is if I own stock in Kayak or Expedia or Travelocity or other sites.

Do you work for an airline?

It's an extra fee, one that didn't exist before. Frontier is a crap airline anyways. I live in North Dakota and have to fly them from time to time and they constantly have delays because their planes suck. Not as bad as Great Lakes but still bad.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

In the ****hole airline competition, they still lag behind Allegiant.

My wife and kids are flying to visit her hometown next month, and Allegiant is the only airline that flies there direct. There's a $60 fee to book online and a $90 fee to book by phone. She decided to avoid the fee by going to the airport and buying the tickets at the desk. The hours of the ticket desk: 6pm - 9pm, Sunday and Monday. She got there at 6pm Sunday and had about 30 people in front of her in line. After about 15 minutes she was up to 29th in line, and she left.

 

[LongTimeListener]

More power to 'em if they can do it. I know I'll be checking if the need arises.

I don't understand why you call it an "extra fee." It's just as easily a "discount" for booking through the Frontier website, and the other perks are very common loyalty programs. It's one way Southwest keeps its prices low, they never pay a middleman.

The only way I see this being a bad thing is if I own stock in Kayak or Expedia or Travelocity or other sites.

Do you work for an airline?

It's an extra fee, one that didn't exist before. Frontier is a crap airline anyways. I live in North Dakota and have to fly them from time to time and they constantly have delays because their planes suck. Not as bad as Great Lakes but still bad.

I don't work for an airline.

I also don't understand why an airline should be obligated to make business easier for its competitors, which Kayak and the others are in the ticket-selling area.

Forget extra fees or discounts. It is cheaper to buy a ticket on Frontier's website than it is on Kayak. That's all I see here.

If you're selling a house, do you think it should be mandatory to hire a realtor and pay the 6 percent? Or can you sell it on your own, reduce the cost and make it more attractive to a buyer, and still make more profit?

 

[deskslave]

Expedia et al are a rip off anyway. All they're doing is culling the prices from the airlines. I typically use them to figure out what's cheapest, then book directly from the airline, thereby saving the Expedia fee.

Not to mention the last time I booked through Expedia, a flight got canceled and it was a nightmare to get the money back.

 

[FileNotFound]

As a way-too-frequent traveler, I never use Expedia, Kayak, et al for anything other than comparing options for times and prices. Then I'll go to the airline's site to book my chosen options.

Hotels for years have not awarded loyalty points on rooms booked through Expedia. You can save some money by booking hotels through Expedia, but if your priority is racking up loyalty points (mine is, because I'm usually spending other people's money on hotels anyway), you want to stick with booking through the hotel's site.

 

[heyabbott]

Expedia et al are a rip off anyway. All they're doing is culling the prices from the airlines. I typically use them to figure out what's cheapest, then book directly from the airline, thereby saving the Expedia fee.

Not to mention the last time I booked through Expedia, a flight got canceled and it was a nightmare to get the money back.

I now do this whenver I can, and with Hotels also. I booked a 2 night stay in a hotel thru Hotels.com. I finished my business early and attempted to check out a day early. The hotel wouldn't let me check out, they said since I booked the room thru Hotels.com I had to seek my money back for the second night from the online seller. At one point on the phone with Hotels.com they said they wouldn't refund my money because I was actuaaly, physically, calling them from the hotel room from which I wanted to check out. They had the hotel manager go to the room to see if I was there. ( I wasn't)

 

[Mark2010]

I hate flying worse than a trip to the dentist.

Long lines, extra fees to check a bag, getting all but naked to get through security, planes with seats that are too small and jammed so tight there's hardly room to breathe, claustrophobia, vommitting, etc. Give me a car, train or bus anytime, please.

 

[YankeeFan]

I hate flying worse than a trip to the dentist.

Long lines, extra fees to check a bag, getting all but naked to get through security, planes with seats that are too small and jammed so tight there's hardly room to breathe, claustrophobia, vommitting, etc. Give me a car, train or bus anytime, please.

You're on the No Fly List, aren't you?

 

[Cosmo]

Expedia et al are a rip off anyway. All they're doing is culling the prices from the airlines. I typically use them to figure out what's cheapest, then book directly from the airline, thereby saving the Expedia fee.

Not to mention the last time I booked through Expedia, a flight got canceled and it was a nightmare to get the money back.

I now do this whenver I can, and with Hotels also. I booked a 2 night stay in a hotel thru Hotels.com. I finished my business early and attempted to check out a day early. The hotel wouldn't let me check out, they said since I booked the room thru Hotels.com I had to seek my money back for the second night from the online seller. At one point on the phone with Hotels.com they said they wouldn't refund my money because I was actuaaly, physically, calling them from the hotel room from which I wanted to check out. They had the hotel manager go to the room to see if I was there. ( I wasn't)

On a business trip several years ago, I booked through Hotels.com to get a cheaper rate on a room. Figured I was saving the company some money, so why not? Here's why not. The company almost didn't reimburse me because the hotel wouldn't give me a receipt for my stay because I didn't actually pay the hotel anything. All the money was through Hotels.com. Had to fight to prove I actually went to the hotel and stay there. Needless to say, I do everything straight through Marriott's site now.

Our company now goes through Orbitz for Business, but I only use it for flight reservations, which is paid through a separate account. I had no problems getting miles credited to my FF account through Delta despite going through Orbitz, so that was good.