Frontier Airlines is inviting all Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards members to Gold status. You don’t need status with Southwest to match into Gold – you only need to be a member. That’s pretty unprecedented. And it’s only available through April 30.
Frontier has (4) elite status levels – Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Gold members receive priority customer service, family pooling of points, a free carry-on bag as well as free seat assignments (preferred seat at booking, and premium seat if available at check-in). Their extra legroom / blocked middle seats are free within 4 hours of departure.
As with past Frontier status matches, there’s an application fee. It costs $40. Status will be valid until December 31. But if you take a single flight you can make that up. And the offer is valid even for members who have received Frontier status matches before.
And if you don’t have any airline status, leverage basic Southwest membership for Frontier Gold status and use that to match with some other airlines as well.
If you aren’t already a member, start by joining Frontier Miles and then submit your match request. But bear in mind you do already have to be a Rapid Rewards member. They aren’t trying to drive new signups for Southwest.
I think this is great strategy. Customers are unhappy with Southwest for adding checked bag fees and generally walking back their entire differentiated business model, laying off employees for the first time, and going back on the CEO’s word from just a few months ago about what they had planned.
It’s the perfect time for competitors to capitalize on that dissatisfaction – as American and Delta are doing with more generous than usual status match offers. But this takes it to the next level, and also qualifies as expert trolling. I love it!
Of course once you hit Gold status with Frontier you’re earning points faster towards higher levels of status. Plus, points from their co-brand credit card count towards status too.
Frontier is shite. 99% of passengers are okay but each frontier plane carries over 200 passengers. So the expectation is 2 insufferable passengers per flight. These classless piles of filth will do everything from yelling to pushing. They’ll shit diarrhea all over the lavatory.
I’ve also experienced at least one nasty staff member at each touch point. At LGA, with two gate agents, one is nice and calm, but the other is nasty as if she’s suffering from vaginitis. Same with the flight crew, one screams at passengers louder than you’d scream if you found out you had chlamydia.
Don’t get me started on the awful seats which hurt your back. They make legacy airline slimline seats feel like first class.
Sorry. I meant cabin crew. The flight crew, mercifully, is professional and upstanding. They may be Trump supporters though. But that’s going to be true of any US airline.
No Frontier for me, but the status match is intriguing. We have been WN loyalists forever but given the awful changes since the hostile takeover we are looking elsewhere. Gary can you explore just what Gold status might mean for status matching at other airlines ?
Other than the $40, the only downside seems to be that you’d then have to fly Frontier. Bah!
(At least their liveries are colorful.)
@Unintimidated — Go easy on referring to your fellow human beings as ‘filth,’ no matter how poorly they misbehave. Perhaps, referring to them as ‘peasants’ is more appropriate. /s
Also, who cares what affiliations the crew or anyone else is for that matter. (So long as the pilot isn’t wearing a literal hat. @L737, that’s a callback!) Judge lest ye be judged.
Gold status means nothing considering Frontier would have to pay me to even come near to their aircraft. Once was enough to make me sick. They can keep it.
This is awesome. Just signed up! If I can find a flight using my GoWild Pass then this will help me save on all those fees.
Pairs well with the $249 unlimited annual flight pass they sold earlier this year.
Given the industry and consumer opinion of Frontier, Gary, I’m surprised their Gold level can be status matched to anything. What can one match Frontier Gold to on a more reputable airline?
@1990 — Good callback! Frontier pilot wore a MAGA if I recall correctly.
I’d do this but the $40 is not worth it since I never plan on actually flying them, ha
I agree with the others. Status matching is the only part that interests me
@L737 — Right! Or, should I say, far-right!
On Frontier, honestly, I haven’t flown them since the 2000s. They used to have affordable Economy fares from Florida-Colorado. Great for ski season. They were flying Airbus when most US carriers were Boeing. I liked the animals on the tail. Southwest was a main competitor for those routes. For a little while, United tried a low-cost subsidiary, called ‘TED’ (Delta did something similar with ‘Song,’ mostly NY-FL, using 757s). Before that, in the 90s, I recall taking TWA, but it wasn’t nonstop, you had to route through St. Louis, which was not my favorite. Oh, then they went bust. How fitting. Bah!
Not to get too off-topic, but there are other examples of odd subsidiaries and LCCs that seem to have formed during economic downturns. In the early 2000s, Air Canada had this short-lived ‘purple’ version of itself, called ‘Tango’. Overseas, Singapore still owns Scoot, and Qantas owns Jetstar, and those each appear to be ‘here to stay,’ but I’d certainly prefer the real thing to those LCCs. Of course, if you enjoy the movie Rainman, at least “Qantas never crashed.” Anyway, I wonder what new startups, bankruptcies, and/or mergers await us in these coming years.
Haven’t flown them since they got rid of the chocolate chip cookies.
@HS Midwest Express..?
@Unintimidated Every flight you are on the math says there is one “classless piles of filth” on the flight taking your seat.
How do they verify if I signed up for our Southwest account after the 16th? And is there any other status match with them available if I can redeem for this? I would like to get gold. And I have status with some other airlines