It had been nearly a decade since I last flew Frontier, so I was excited to see that the airline had a perfectly-timed flight from SFO to Orange County that would let me get on the airline again on my return from United’s event. (It’s been a couple weeks, so you may have forgotten about the outbound part of the trip already.) Even better, the fare was a cheap $59.98 — for some reason the Basic fare was the same as the Economy fare with a carry-on and seat assignment — so there was no reason to turn this down. Sure, I could have used the extra 500 miles in my quest to get Alaska Airlines status, but it wasn’t worth the extra cost.
I downloaded the Frontier app before I left home, because I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t get dinged with any extra fees. The app worked fine to check me in. The only problem was that it said the Frontier Miles number on the reservation wasn’t valid. This made no sense, because the number entered matched the number it displayed as being tied to my account. I decided I didn’t care enough to try to follow up on this, because the 600 miles or so wouldn’t have done anything for me anyway.
After the United event, I hitched a ride with a friend back to the terminals. Frontier flies out of the A gates in the International Terminal at SFO, so this took me back to the old days when I’d fly JetBlue down to Long Beach from the same gates. After passing through a completely empty security line, I walked all the way to the end and down the escalators to that nostalgic spot.,
Frontier called for boarding about 45 minutes before departure, and I was pleasantly surprised to see I was in group 1. Then I realized that pretty much everyone is in group 1. If you’ve paid for a carry-on — I didn’t need to, but remember, the price was the same for me — that’s your group. Everyone else boards later in groups 2-5.
I stopped to admire Hazel the Chipmunk on the tail and then went down the jet bridge.
Frontier 3582
April 2, 2025
From San Francisco
➤ Scheduled Departure: 1259p
➤ Actual Departure: 1255p
➤ From Gate: A14
➤ Wheels Up: 105p
➤ From Runway: 1L
To Orange County
➤ Wheels Down: 206p
➤ On Runway: 20R
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 235p
➤ Actual Arrival: 232p
➤ At Gate: 9
Aircraft
➤ Type: Airbus A320-251N
➤ Delivered: August 30, 2018
➤ Registered: N332FR, msn 8307
➤ Livery: Hazel the Chipmunk
Flight
➤ Cabin: Coach in Seat 14A
➤ Load: ~95% Full
➤ Flight Time: 1h1m
In this photo below, you can see something very important… absolutely nothing notable.
It’s an airline with an airplane and it gets you places. Sure, there is a little nod to Hazel when you walk in, but a friendly flight attendant was there to greet us, and it felt like boarding any other airline.
Once I made the turn, I could see the fancier extra legroom seats with the middles blocked in the front couple rows.
I kept going back to find my seat behind the exit. I thought it was strange that a woman was standing up in that row wearing a black hoodie and scrolling through her phone, but it was even weirder when she let out a long “heeeeeeeeey” as the guy in front of me walked by. Turns out, she was a flight attendant, but it sure didn’t look that way.
I got to my row right behind the exit — the first row that didn’t require an extra payment — and took my seat. The first thing I noticed is that the seat pitch is perfectly good. There really was no issue at all with that.
The second thing I noticed was that the seat was hard. I mean, REALLY hard. I had a sore butt before we even pushed off the gate. To me, this was the only real issue with Frontier. It was fine for an hour flight, but would I fly that across the country? No. It was that hard.
I thumbed through the onboard menu and found something I didn’t know existed. Move over BuzzBallz, make room for the BuzzBox.
Despite the ridiculous price, I briefly thought about trying one. Then I remembered that I had to drive home, and these things are potent. I quickly decided that was a bad idea.
We pushed back a couple minutes early and made our way to the runway. There was no line, so we were airborne quickly. It was a very pretty day over the City as we circled around to head back southeast.
As we continued the climb, the flight attendants came through selling their wares. Nobody in my row bought anything, though the guy on the aisle asked if it cost money for EVERYTHING. I feel like he wanted some water but wasn’t willing to pay.
The rest of the flight was uneventful up at cruise. The neo is a nice ride, and Hazel seemed to be enjoying herself as she gazed back along the California coast.
But then, a few minutes before our descent, the show began. Flight attendant Kyle was an absolute samurai master with the credit card pitch.
He came on by saying that we’d start descending in about 10 minutes, so he wanted everyone to know that they should get up now to use the bathroom before the seatbelt sign came on. Otherwise, “I’ll have to pretend I’m mad at you for getting up.” Then he started talking about how they have to clean up the cabin to prepare the next flight. He was all about creating some urgency. That’s when the card pitch began.
Kyle said he hated doing these spiels, but Frontier had just improved the benefits of the new card and he wanted to let us all in on it because it really was such a great deal. This gave him the opportunity to say that bags were now included, and then casually dropped in (I’m paraphrasing), “I guess since Southwest stopped, we figured we’d pick it up.” Then he said that they’d already had other flights that day, so he only had 15 to 20 applications left. He told us that he hoped he’d have enough to get to those in the back, and then he pointed to people as if they were already raising their hands. This guy was good.
After going through the whole pitch, one of the other flight attendants — neither was the one wearing the hoodie, by the way — came through with the applications. Kyle kept coming back on the PA, giving people tips on how to fill the application out, and at one point saying they were now down to only 4 applications left. Then it dropped further to 2 or 3.
Once we were over the ocean again, almost at final descent, they collected the applications and then said something like, “oh by the way, we’ll have more of those applications at the front when you get off the plane if you’re interested.” Uh huh. Amazing how those magically appeared.
I couldn’t help but admire the hustle. This guy was skilled, and it was better entertainment than you get on most flights. By the time he was done, we were back over land and getting ready to circle back around to land at John Wayne. The winds were gusting, and we could feel it on approach, but it was a nice and firm touchdown right on the numbers.
Unfortunately, we were early, so we went to the penalty box. We still ended up blocking in a couple minutes before scheduled arrival, so all was well. I walked off the airplane, went to my car, and headed home. Frontier was perfectly fine with the exception of that seat. It is so hard that it really starts to hurt after awhile. But if the price is right and the flight is short enough? I wouldn’t think twice about flying the airline.
29 comments on “Flying Frontier is Perfectly Good… Except for That Seat (Trip Report)”
All airlines are fine for short hops in nice weather where IRROPS are not a consideration. The test comes in for those 10% of flights when things don’t go according to plan.
Agreed. I flew them once recently without any problem, but I made sure I had a coherent answer for what to do if the flight cancelled.
Part of the problem is that infrequent fliers with tight budgets are both the people most likely to find LCCs attractive and the least likely to easily pivot to a good backup plan if their flight gets messed up.
Spot on, very concise way to put it.
While there are certainly some frequent leisure travelers who fly (U)LCCs, such as retirees visting family & friends domestically with somewhat flexible schedules if IRROPS happen, I suspect that many people who are more frequent fliers and/or avgeeks lean towards booking away from the (U)LCCs if possible.
The seats look exactly like the Airbus EOW on American. I don’t have back problems until I sit in these seats, and then my back aches for hours after I get off the flight. Happens if I sit in First or coach on those planes.
being subjected to credit card pitches on any airline is worse than a hard seat
1000% agree
Each time I fly Frontier or Spirit, I take my own seat cushion. Lesson learned the first time flying from LAS to ORD.
You’re allowed to leave the state now?
I’ve flown Frontier across the country several times. The seats suck, the price makes it easier to tolerate. The problem is their service when things go wrong. I’ve been burned too often to try them again.
Is the hard seat a result of the smaller, condensed seat bottom cushion height because of the overwing exit door? Or are all coach seats on that type of Frontier’s aircraft, in all rows, uncomfortably hard? I’m curious and haven’t experienced that on Frontier.
Jefe – I was not in an exit row. These are the normal coach seats.
Oh, ugh. That’s horrible. I expect they get a lot of complaints about their seats. Does FN have a plan to replace that type of seat on their aircraft?
JefeFA – Not that I know of.
The seat is my biggest issue with Frontier. If anything it looks like things has improved a lot since my last and only time flown with them. I recall the seat I had was very plasticy, like the kind of stacking plastic chairs you can get for $10. It was hard, uncomfortable, and frankly feels not safe to me.
CF,
Does every airline that flies the NEO use the same seat? I flew on one on AA and my butt ached for a few days. With many people complaining are the airlines doing anything to fix this?
Angry Bob – No, airlines can use different seats. I have flown the AA neo and it is far more comfortable than this was.
Looks like Frontier probably has the least padded seat you can get:
https://www.recaro-as.com/en/press/press-releases/details/recaro-aircraft-seating-sl3710-seat-makes-its-north-american-debut-on-frontier-airlines-a320neo-aircraft.html
Other seat options are available from Airbus for the NEO family, but I can’t seem to find an easy button answer on what those seats are right now.
Your savvy fliers have nailed to problem with Frontier and Spirit, IROPs! Last weekend we had a friend flying Boston to RDU for long weekend. Boston canceled and trip ruined. Infrequent service and no interline agreements make travel on either a challenge.
I travel everywhere with a 1″ gel seat cushion that usually lives in my car. It counts as a medical device so you don’t have to worry about it taking up too much space or being too heavy for a carryon. I flew Frontier last year and was so glad I had it.
Spirit also has very hard seats – but seemingly only on some aircraft. I flew four segments on NK recently and two had the uncomfortable seats while two had normal seats. Maybe Frontier also has a mix. Would make it a lot easier to fly these airlines if you didn’t have to worry about seat comfort.
This just goes to show that most of us can put up with almost anything for an hour or so.
Well said. Some of you, since the majority still flies a major carrier.
This trip reads like a nightmare with hard benches for seats and someone selling junk on the PA. No thanks.
Mary.
Isn’t the main function of an airline to get people and goods from one place to another? Asking for a friend – and trying to be facetious, not sarcastic. LOL
Frontier started using a different seat about 3-4 years ago – no retrofits, new aircraft only – that is surprisingly a bit more comfortable and all seats have a real tray table vs the little metal “tablet stand” that most rows on the older seats have. It’s the same model as what Southwest has said they are switching to. Not perfect, but still much better than the seat you had. I think the majority of the fleet has it now simply because how many deliveries F9 has taken the past few years.
A320ceo / 321ceo are all old seats, 321neo are all new seats, 320neo is about 50/50.
Given the style of the tray table in front of the seat in the photo, this looks like the new Recaro seats. The old ones (Acro IIRC) had a different tray table on the extra legroom seats, and the one in the photo matches what I recall when flying Frontier (in an extra legroom seat) around Christmas last year.
So the Southwest seats are hopefully *not* the same ones. I was on a newer MAX yesterday and the seats seemed fine, better than the extra legroom F9 seats (based on padding).
Southwest appears to have selected the BL3710 (aka Recaro R2), Frontier had the SL3710 (aka Recaro R1). https://www.recaro-as.com/en/press/press-releases/details/SouthwestBL3710.html. Which I gather is a step-up from the SL3710, but then looking at the pictures the cushions looks pretty similar, R2 maybe just adds seat power.
Ben – Yes, this is the new seat I was on. The old ones are the tiny-tray ones, right? I just had that on HA from HNL to LIH, but I really don’t mind on a 20 minute flight.
Appreciate this review by CF. Since I live in the SF Bay Area and make occasional travels to Socal, I’m always trying to find an airline with decent pricing for intra California flights. As CF mentioned a while back, airfares within California absolutely and ridiculously out of control. Frontier may not be a bad alternative to AS or WN for just an hour flight. I’m just tired of the high airfares.
Isn’t the main function of an airline to get people and goods from one place to another? Apparently, Frontier does that. LOL