How to make the best of flying Frontier Airlines

I recently flew on Frontier Airlines and the experience was pretty interesting to say the least!

I won't bore you with all the details, but the TLDR is:
My return trip was cancelled, re-booked for next day, Frontier paid me for overnight Hotel and Breakfast, cancelled the flight again, I had to fly back on United instead on my own dime, got a refund from Frontier, got $900 in vouchers from Frontier, used all the vouchers, wife got to go to Las Vegas, and I never sat on hold for more than 10 minutes.  In the end I actually came out ahead on the deal.

I never paid for seats and everyone sat together. 

Compare that to your own Frontier story!

From what I read on Twitter and Facebook lately, your story is probably a lot worse!
Mine could have been as well, but I got creative. 

Here are my tips for you, and hopefully you will be able to survive a Frontier Airlines flight a little easier, and even beat them at their own game. 
1. Don't select seats. First of all, there is no guarantee you will get the seat you selected, so why pay and extra $25 just to be disappointed? Second, who really cares where you sit, you flew this airline to save money right? Here's the trick: When you are at the gate (after check-in), ask if they can switch your seat so you can sit with your husband/wife/mistress/kid whatever. They will either do it or not. They did for me.

2. If you are checking a bag or don't have a seat assignment, YOU NEED TO GET TO THE AIRPORT EARLY! This is a clear Frontier rule that if you are not checked in 45 minutes before the flight you are not getting on! Follow the rules. Don't whine about it on Facebook. If you don't want to wait in line to check in, then select your seat at on-line check-in and pay for carry-on luggage. Then you don't have to visit the ticket counter.  You must have your boarding pass PRINTED. They don't do smart-phone tickets. Don't whine about that on facebook either. Or paying for a carry-on. YOU ARE FLYING A DISCOUNT AIRLINE, REMEMBER!

3. Plan for the worst! Assume your flight will be at least 30 minutes late, if not 6 hours or could be cancelled. So make sure you have some FLEXIBILITY in your schedule. If you are going to a wedding or funeral the same day, DO NOT FLY FRONTIER. And don't whine about how you missed your wedding or job interview or the surgery to remove your son's extra pinky toe on facebook, nobody wants to hear it. You've been warned.

4. Track the Airplane BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR THE AIRPORT, or the prior day, even better: Figure out where your plane is coming from, where it was before that, and before that, all the way back to Denver if need be. Use Flightstats.com Start tracking the plane as it goes from airport to airport. If its delayed, you will know before everyone because you're smarter than the Frontier website! If its seriously delayed, go on facebook and twitter and search for people complaining about it. Search twitter for #frontierairlines. Reply to their emails or tweets and find out the details. I had a woman tweet me pictures of the mechanic working on the plane, or more like with his hands in his pockets.
This way you don't waste your time huffing and puffing and bothering the gate agents, "I'm missing my vacation", you already know whats going on better than they do!

5. When the flight is late
If your flight is up to 2 hours late, you won the lottery! Enjoy your flight!
If your flight 2 to 4 hours late, you get a $30 voucher.
If your flight is more than 3 hours late you can cancel and get a refund, even for Economy flights.
If your flight is 4-6 hours late, you get a $75 voucher and a meal!
If your flight is 6 hours or more late or Cancelled, you get $150 voucher and a meal voucher AND you have the option to cancel your flight if you want and get a refund even for Economy tickets!
If your flight is CANCELLED here is where the fun starts. First of all, you are owed a $150 voucher for a cancelled flight. And you can get a refund. If it is cancelled for more than one day in a row, the $150 vouchers build up for every day it is cancelled and you don't cancel and ask for a refund. Once you cancel then you keep the vouchers and get a refund. Good to go, buy a ticket on another airline, of course for MORE MONEY, you're not going to find $21 or $79 or even $120 tickets anywhere else, this is the game you are playing, and there is risk.

You should already know the flight is going to be cancelled because you are following the plane on Flightstats.com website and facebook and twitter.
When they announce the flight is cancelled you get your ass to the ticket counter in the main terminal before everyone else because you don't want to stand in that line. You will be the first one in line to get the hotel voucher, or cancel your ticket and get a refund if you want.  Now if you can't wait and need to re-book on another airline, go ahead and do that from the comfort of a hotel room and relax. Then call frontier and cancel your flight. They will give you $150 voucher as well as a refund.

6. HOW TO CALL FRONTIER: Holy shit don't call the complaint number! If you do that you are a retard and please don't post on Facebook how you stayed on hold for over 3 hours and then were disconnected, what kind of idiot does that? Apparently a LOT.

Call the main Frontier number 800-432-1359 for reservations available 24x7.
Don't pick any of the first options on the menu. Go to the second menu. Pick some obscure option like "Problem with website" or "I lost my child" or "I found a very personal item in the seat pocket".  All the queues go to the same call centers, but the obscure ones have maybe 30 second wait time vs 45 minutes. All the customer service reps have the ability to help you, they all get the same damn calls like "My flight is cancelled you guys suck and owe me your first born". Don't do that. Be nice.
And if you get a message saying "Transferring you to Baggage Dept" thats not true! Its just to get people to hang up! Don't fall for it!
If you have 2 people sitting around in the airport or hotel, have both people call and use different options and see which one wins. What else you gonna do anyway, post another whiny post to facebook and complain to your neighbor?
If you choose to call, and need a new reservation, or want to use a voucher, they make you listen to all the rules and regulation details in a automated 2 minute recording after the person books it for you. If there is a hell, I imagine this recording is what you have to listen to before you get breakfast every day. Small price to pay though, don't give up!

7. DON'T CALL FRONTIER. If you want real help, post on facebook frontier website BUT NOT TO COMPLAIN!  Yes you will have to "Like" the site to post on it. I bet the 2 people that have the jobs to reply to customers on facebook get paid more than pilots (and most likely are related to the owners) because they answer those posts super fast and if you give them details on what you need help with they actually fix it super fast! Those 2 people ROCK! Love them! Don't complain in general like "My flight was cancelled and now I'm screwed. Never flying Frontier again" Nobody wants to hear that and it doesn't give them anything to do because it has no details. Tell them what you want! "My flight 1001 was cancelled today and I would like a refund. Could someone please do that for me today? Thank you." BOOM. Refund. Vouchers. Unicorns and Rainbows of skittles.
Try it.

IF you have a lot of time you can send an email to frontier customer service but it will take at least 10 days to get a response. They even tell you that in facebook posts! I wouldn't do that. Send an email to facebook@frontier.com first and I bet you get a response within 24 hours. Try facebook or calling with the tricks I wrote before.

8. How to redeem vouchers: Of course they make this difficult as hell. They send you an email saying there is a magical forest full of unicorns along with your Electronic Travel Certificate, but they don't give you the actual voucher numbers. Time to play hide and seek!
This is the part that took the longest time for me. To get the numbers takes multiple steps. Follow the steps in the email they send you. It won't work though if you have a middle name. Seriously. If you have a middle name then you have to get them to remove the middle name from the Electronic Travel Certificate because I bet someone in IT quit and they can't find the source code. Try contacting them through one of the methods I described above and they can fix it for you. You can do it! Don't think they didn't send you vouchers, its part of the legal Contract of Carriage and they won't fuck around with that. http://www.flyfrontier.com/customer-service/faqs/contract-of-carriage-faqs

9. Purse, carry on, or checked bag? Seriously, do you need ALL THAT STUFF? Learn to pack LIGHT. This is my pet peeve of travelling in general. People bring too much stuff. I pack extremely light. No more than a backpack for a week. You can't take a backpack on a Frontier flight though, have to pay minimum $30 for that. Cheapest way to go is a laptop bag. They don't charge for that. But don't bring a purse also or you will get charged! If you can put one change of clothes in the laptop bag and layer up on your body, you are good for a weekend. More than that and you are better off checking a bag. Its only $15 at online check-in. Good to go. If you are repeating your destination multiple times stash clothes there and next time don't bring any. Don't take a carry-on, unless you want to spend $30 each way. May as well fly Southwest then.

Bottom line, if you are a person with a quick temper, on a tight timeline, or haven't traveled since before Sept 11, 2001, pick a different airline. If you LOVE A GREAT DEAL, and can FOLLOW THE RULES, you can "beat the house" at their own game and come out ahead!

Stop posting your whining to facebook "I can't believe they charge $30 for a checked bag! I am so mad! I will never fly Frontier again!" Then don't, pay more, and leave the seat for me.