I love a deal, especially one involving a plane ticket. I've been flying budget airlines almost exclusively for the last eight years and have no intentions of stopping any time soon.
Frontier Airlines announces major changes, shifts to revenue-based earnings and overhauled elite tiers
24.10.2023 - 16:19 / thepointsguy.com / Frontier Airlines / Airlines
If you live near an airport served by Frontier Airlines, listen up. Today, the low-cost carrier known for its a la carte pricing, frequent status matches and all-you-can-fly passes has announced a major overhaul to its Frontier Miles loyalty program. This includes a new revenue-based model for earning miles and status plus a revamped elite program. Most changes are set to be implemented in early January 2024, according to Frontier.
There's a lot to unpack here, so let's dive in.
The first aspect of the changes involves the program's earning rates. This applies to accruing both redeemable Frontier miles you can use toward future trips as well as how you qualify for Frontier Airlines elite status.
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Under the current program, you earn mileage and credit toward Frontier elite status based on the distance you fly (an increasing rarity in the world of airline loyalty programs). In other words, 1 mile flown on a Frontier plane gives you 1 redeemable mile and 1 elite-qualifying mile — regardless of what you pay for your ticket.
For example, this one-way flight from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Denver International Airport (DEN) would earn 1,545 miles.
Under the new program, this will change dramatically, as it's following the trend of shifting to revenue-based mileage accrual.
Starting in early 2024, you'll earn miles based on the dollar amount of your ticket plus any additional products you purchase — including bags, seat assignments and bundles of optional services. The earning rates start at 10 miles per dollar spent for non-elites and climb as high as 20 miles per dollar spent for top-tier 100K elites (though this is changing to Diamond status — more to come on this shortly).
However, this has the potential to significantly diminish the miles you earn (and progress you can make toward status) on low-priced itineraries, since the flight itself only earns miles on the base price of the ticket plus the "Carrier Interface Charge" of up to $23 per passenger, per segment.
No option to call: Frontier Airlines axes its customer service helpline
In other words, that Orlando-to-Denver flight detailed above would earn just 333 miles for non-elite travelers in the new program and just 666 for top-tier Diamond members who don't purchase any ancillary products.
And this is even worse for Discount Den members, as your earning rate is based on the same formula — and the airfare price for this flight drops to just $0.07 with the discount.
Of course, the calculus changes significantly for high-priced tickets — like this holiday flight on the same route (MCO-DEN):
For this itinerary, your earning rate would jump to at least
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
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