I typically fly Southwest because it is usually the cheapest option, plus you get two free checked bags, and you don't get nickeled and dimed with fees.
Granted, those cheaper fares are generally from BWI, which is about an hour away from me. Add in the parking cost and it adds up a bit, which has caused me to actually figure out if paying a little more to fly out of IAD is better (Dulles is only about 13 miles away from my house).
I had some Southwest flight credits to use before the end of November, so I was scheduling a November trip to Las Vegas. I was originally flying out of BWI, but then saw a Frontier fare that was pretty good coming back, $68.99. I could have gotten the fare even cheaper if I waited a week, but alas, I booked the fare I liked. In the future, I'll know that Frontier runs sales quite often.
I did pay a little more for the WN flight from IAD (around $60 more), but factoring in the two hour travel time, and the parking cost, I think it was worth it.
So, this is about my Frontier flight, which was scheduled to depart at 6:40 AM on Tuesday, November 13.
I got to McCarran around 5:30 AM, plenty of time to get to the gate at Terminal 3. I have TSA Pre, so the security line went very quickly. I did check in around 6:40 AM on Monday morning and got seat 29A, a window, so I was happy with that. I've been told that it is best to check in late to get a better seat.
We boarded ahead of schedule, so I was pretty happy about that. That is, until they made an announcement that we had a mechanical issue. There was a problem with the wheel on the trash cart, so we had to wait. Wow, really? Eventually we taxied out around 7:05 AM, so around 25 minutes late. The flight was uneventful, and we landed at IAD around 2:35 PM, about 26 minutes late.
Now, about the plane. You do have to pay for everything "extra", meaning a good seat, checked bags, carry-on bags, snacks. At least you don't have to pay for the toilet (yet). You do get a "personal item" for free. Knowing this, I went out and purchased the
BoardingBlue Rolling Personal Item at a total of $48.84. It is not a high quality bag, but not overstuffing it, it did fit in the personal item box:
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| Perfect! |
I did manage to get four days worth of clothes in that bag, including three pairs of jeans (which are ridiculously bulky). Any trip longer than that and I think I'll have to pay for a bag, or do laundry (which I've done before on my January trip). I don't think this bag would handle being thrown around by baggage handlers, but for carrying on a plane, it seems to be perfect.
I think for future trips (if there are future trips on Frontier, Spirit, or other carrier where I could only take a personal item), I may invest in some packing cubes to help. I also had a little assistance with the baggage rules. I use a bi-pap, which as medical equipment does not count towards your baggage limit, so I was able to pack a few things in that bag. I also cheated a bit, and wore a small backpack under a hockey sweater. I only had two t-shirt in it, I think, plus some snacks. I don't think it mattered though, as I wasn't asked about any of the bags I had (although YMMV). My plan was to store my "personal item" in the bin and put the bi-pap case under the seat (since it was smaller) anyway. I was told that there is typically a decent amount of bin space, as people do not want to pay for carry-ons, but there was no bin space in my area at the back of the plane, and fortunately, I was able to get the bag in a bin a few rows toward the front.
We were flying Harp Seal:
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| You can't beat that, eh? |
The cheap seats are indeed cheap, as this picture illustrates:
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| Bare bones seat |
Yeah, that tray "table" is pretty tiny:
At least I'm short, so I didn't have an issue with legroom:
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| Sometimes, it's good to be short! |
I didn't find the seat horribly uncomfortable at first, but as the flight went on, I did find myself squirming a bit. It was a full flight, so I had people next to me, who I did have to inconvenience once towards the end of the flight.
There is no wifi, so no in-flight entertainment, I just had my iPod with me. I did see that on my Southwest flight out, they just started offering free movies and TV, so I did catch up on Ant Man and the Wasp on my flight out. For comparison, here was my legroom on that Southwest flight:
Seatguru says that the Frontier flight I took was on an Airbus A320, the economy seat has a pitch of 28"-29" and a width of 18". My Southwest flight was a Boeing 737-700, with a seat pitch of 31" and a width of 17".
Every flight experience is different, but my first impression of Frontier is positive. I have another flight with them in January, so hopefully that experience will be as good or better.
