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Frontier Status Match

Frontier Airlines is offering a status match to 15 airlines and 15 hotels. I haven’t flown Frontier in years, in fact, it’s been so long I can’t remember if it was Spirit or Frontier where my nose almost touched the seat in front of me. So why in the heck did I status match? 1…Why not, and 2…I’ll explain why I may start flying Frontier more often.

You can go here to Status Match – it does cost $49 FYI

It’s really quick and you can match up to their top tier status…which I did and within 72 hours you should know if you’re accepted.

What are the benefits of Frontier Airlines elite status?

The biggest advantage is all of the nickel and dime-ing gets folded in the higher your status. In you’re matching to top tier you’ll get comped Discount Den which provides for some further discounts.

Which Airlines can I match, and what’s the corresponding status?

Here’s a list of the 15 airlines and their status match opportunities.

Which Hotels can I Status Match from and corresponding status?

Note that the highest status you can match to from a hotel is Elite 50k

Frontier seating is tight but status helps

It seems every airline nickels and dimes these days and Frontier is certainly no exception, in fact I’d say they are quite creative in ways of adding cost to a base fare. But the biggest issue I have after all of those nickels and dimes is space. Often times, Frontier will price out marginally cheaper but the seats are so close to one another. Look at the pitch on this Frontier A321 vs American 28 to 31 vs 31/32 in econ.

BUT… the stretch seats, which are complimentary for some elite status members is much roomier and can be selected when booking free of charge. The pitch is the same or more than on AA first class. Note the width is the same so it’s more like Main Cabin Extra with more leg room.

Why I’m going for it

I haven’t flown Frontier Airlines in years, in fact, I can’t even remember the last time I flew them. So why?

Why not?

The most obvious…why not? A free status is a free status and who knows if I’ll fly Frontier, but if I don’t have to pay all the fees for seat selection, bag fees, and even pop into a stretch seat…I’ll take it.

I don’t really care about flying first class domestically unless it’s on a transcon flight of more than 5 hours. Otherwise…it’s nice, but I’m perfectly happy in economy.

Cheap flights may put me in Frontier more often…

Frontier offers some outrageously cheap flights and if 100k status avoids most the nickel and diming and allows me to choose bigger seats… I’ll jump.

Look at this flight from Atlanta to LGA… $20 in Discount Den which is comped to 100k status – which I’ll match to from Air Canada 75k. Most of all the nickel and dime-ing is avoided via this status match. Why on earth would I not book a 2 hour, $20 flight vs a full service airline?

Airlines are moving aggressively to pure revenue

American set a new stage with its recent revamp of Aadvantage. You can be Executive Platinum without ever stepping foot on a plane, and the airline is more revenue based than it ever has been. I doubt I’ll hit any of the revenue requirements to hit my Platinum Pro status for next year, perhaps with partner flights, but the incentive to keep me on AA is gone for the most part.

As a result, I’ll hunt even more for cheap domestic economy seats and use flexible currencies like Amex, Chase, Bilt, Cap1, and Citi to fly flat when going abroad.

Go here if you’re looking to match status