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What’s Frontier elite standing value in 2023?

Frontier Airways is a low-cost provider that serves the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. You may be shocked on the excessive worth we’ve placed on Frontier elite standing, however that’s as a result of it’s been form of falsely inflated. Right here’s why.

Frontier is a kind of airways that expenses for almost every part — and it expenses lots. For instance, you possibly can pay $60 every manner for a carry-on bag. In some circumstances, you’ll even need to pay a payment of as much as $75 only for the privilege of redeeming your miles for an award flight.

Even Frontier’s entry-level elite standing waives a majority of these charges and might due to this fact prevent tons of cash when you fly often. Many different airways don’t cost for issues like carry-on baggage within the first place, so their entry-level elite statuses received’t prevent as a lot cash.

Associated: Every part it’s best to know earlier than flying Frontier Airways

Nonetheless, when you’re a Frontier fan, or when you could be if it weren’t so wild about charges, Frontier elite standing is for you.

Methodology

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Do not forget that our valuations in these elite standing guides characterize only one method to determine what elite standing is value. It could be utterly completely different from the way you worth the advantages every airline gives.

All this to say: The greenback quantities at which we’ve arrived usually are not divinely chiseled right into a stone pill. Regulate our assumptions based on your distinctive journey habits. For instance, when you by no means carry a carry-on bag, your private valuation of Frontier elite standing could also be a number of hundred {dollars} under our quantity.

Frontier awards elite qualifying miles based mostly on the space you fly. For instance, when you have been to e book a round-trip flight from Cincinnati to Las Vegas, you’ll fly 3,365 miles — and due to this fact earn:

  • 3,365 redeemable miles.
  • 3,365 elite qualifying miles.

With this incomes construction in thoughts, listed here are our assumptions for this submit:

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  • The typical distance of your flights is 750 miles.
  • You’ll earn 20% extra qualifying miles than the minimal requirement for every tier.

Right here’s one other assumption: We’ll estimate the worth of Frontier miles to be 1.2 cents every when calculating the worth of some advantages under. That is barely larger than TPG’s valuation of Frontier miles, however that’s as a result of elite standing gives waived award redemption charges — which, as you’ll see, can immediately improve the worth of your miles.

Lastly, we are going to around the values of all advantages to the closest $5.

Associated: Frontier Airways’ Children Fly Free: The definitive information

Frontier elite standing tiers

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Frontier has three elite standing tiers with various (and surprisingly useful) advantages. Right here’s what you possibly can anticipate.

Advantages Elite 20k Elite 50k Elite 100k
Qualification 20,000 qualifying miles or 25 flight segments yearly. 50,000 qualifying miles or 50 flight segments yearly. 100,000 qualifying miles or 100 flight segments yearly.
Redeemable mileage incomes on Frontier flights 1 mile per mile flown. 1.25 miles per mile flown. 1.5 miles per mile flown.
Carry-on
Seat task
Household pooling
Precedence boarding
Waived redemption charges
Waived journey charges
Final Seat availability
Stretch seating At check-in.
Household seating
Low cost Den membership 50% off.
Checked bag
Household standing (the Works bundle)

So, what are these advantages value to the frequent Frontier flyer?

Elite 20k: $2,095

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Elite 20k is Frontier’s easiest-to-earn elite standing. You’ll need to fly 20,000 miles (or 25 segments) with Frontier to earn it.

That may sound like lots, however Frontier offers you elite qualifying miles based mostly on the space you fly. You may theoretically earn this standing with as little as 4 transcontinental round-trip flights. For those who journey even a marginal quantity on Frontier every year, this standing is inside attain.

We’re assuming you fly 24,000 miles for this valuation, with a median flight distance of 750 miles. That’s a median of 32 one-way flights.

Profit particulars Worth
Carry-on Carry-on baggage tends to value at the least $60 every manner, even when bought prematurely. We’ll assume you carry a carry-on for 75% of your flights, and your common carry-on value is $60. $1,440.
Seat task Seat task costs begin at $11 per passenger (and might value $30-plus). For those who’re touring with buddies or household, you received’t be capable of select their seats at no cost — solely your individual. Due to this, not all vacationers will choose to pay the payment. We’ll assume this profit gives a median worth of $5 per flight. $160.
Household pooling You may mix miles with as much as eight different Frontier members at no cost, with no minimal or most limits. That is particularly useful if a member has “stranded” miles that they’ll’t use themselves. $15.
Precedence boarding Frontier expenses between $6 and $12 one-way for this privilege. It’s truly a reasonably essential profit if you wish to make sure you’ve bought overhead bin area to your carry-on bag. We’ll worth this at $5 per flight, as it’s possible you’ll not in any other case pay for this profit. $160.
Waived award redemption charges Relying on whenever you e book your award flight, you possibly can be hit with a steep payment:

  • 180-plus days earlier than journey: $0.
  • 21-179 days earlier than journey: $15.
  • 7-20 days earlier than journey: $50.
  • Lower than six days earlier than journey: $75.

We’ll assume you employ this profit 3 times per yr: as soon as 21-179 days out from departure, as soon as 7-20 days out and as soon as inside six days of departure.

$140.
Waived journey charges Numerous journey charges not apply to elite standing members, reminiscent of the decision heart reservation payment, same-day confirmed payment and same-day standby payment. $100.
Final Seat availability Final Seat is a redemption tier that’s 2,500 miles costlier (one-way) than a Commonplace award seat, and 12,500 miles costlier than a Worth award seat. We don’t advocate utilizing your miles this fashion, however it may be useful in a pinch. $15.
Stretch seating Stretch seating is most well-liked seats with extra legroom. You’ll obtain a free improve to Stretch seating at check-in if there’s one out there. We’ll assume a low success price, and provides a price of $2 per flight. $65.
Whole: $2,095.

Elite 50k: $5,825

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Elite 50k is Frontier’s mid-tier standing. You should fly 50,000 miles (or 50 segments) with Frontier to attain it.

We’re assuming you’ll fly 60,000 miles, with a median flight distance of 750 miles. That’s a median of 80 one-way flights.

Profit particulars Worth
Redeemable mileage incomes on Frontier flights You’ll obtain a 25% bonus on the redeemable miles you earn (1.25 miles per mile flown). This profit doesn’t improve the variety of elite qualifying miles you’ll earn. $180.
Carry-on Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $3,600.
Seat task Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. You may even e book Stretch seating at checkout — you don’t have to attend till check-in. This drastically improves your success price; we’ll increase the worth to $12 per flight. $960.
Household pooling Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $20.
Precedence boarding Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $400.
Waived award redemption charges Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $175.
Waived journey charges Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $140.
Final Seat availability Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $20.
Household seating You and as much as eight companions in your reservation can all obtain advance seat assignments at no cost — together with Stretch seating. This profit is big, however we’ll mood its worth as a result of we’ve already listed advance seat assignments for you. $300.
Low cost Den membership You’ll obtain 50% off a Low cost Den membership, which prices $59.99 per yr (and an preliminary $40 enrollment payment when you’re not at the moment a member). Low cost Den unlocks decrease fares. $30.
Whole worth $5,825.

Elite 100k: $12,270

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Elite 100k is Frontier’s highest elite standing. You should fly a whopping 100,000 miles (or 100 segments) to achieve Elite 100k.

We’re assuming you’ll fly 120,000 miles, with a median flight distance of 750 miles. That’s a median of 160 one-way flights.

Profit particulars Worth
Redeemable mileage incomes on Frontier flights You’ll obtain a 50% bonus on the redeemable miles you earn (1.5 miles per mile flown). Once more, this profit doesn’t improve the variety of elite qualifying miles you’ll earn. $600.
Checked bag You’ll obtain a free checked bag weighing as much as 40 kilos. Most baggage value at the least $55. We’ll assume you examine a bag for 30% of your flights at a price of $55 per bag. $2,640.
Carry-on Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. Nevertheless, since you now obtain a free checked bag, we’ll assume you carry a bag much less typically — for 45% of your flights. $4,320.
Seat task Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $1,920.
Household pooling Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $25.
Precedence boarding Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $800.
Waived award redemption charges Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $350.
Waived journey charges Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $280.
Final Seat availability Identical profit, extra frequent utilization. $25.
Low cost Den membership Low cost Den membership is totally free with Elite 100k. $60.
Household standing (the Works bundle) The Works bundle gives the next advantages for as much as eight vacationers:

  • One carry-on bag.
  • One checked bag.
  • Seat assignments (together with Stretch).
  • Precedence boarding.
  • Flight flexibility and refundability.

We’ll mood this profit’s worth as we’ve already accounted for related advantages for you.

$1,250.
Whole worth $12,270.

What if I’m ranging from scratch?

The worth at which we’ve arrived assumes you’ll use Frontier elite standing for a whole yr. For those who’re ranging from scratch, you received’t get this worth throughout your first yr, as you received’t get these advantages till after you’ve achieved elite standing. That can virtually definitely be months and months into the yr.

To assist, we’ve taken the above valuations and transformed them to a price per elite qualifying mile, as follows:

  • Elite 20k: $2,095 / 24,000 = 8.7 cents per qualifying mile.
  • Elite 50k: $5,825 / 60,000 = 9.7 cents per qualifying mile.
  • Elite 100k: $12,270 / 120,000 = 10 cents per qualifying mile.

For instance, when you can obtain 105,000 qualifying miles, you’d get no advantages from the primary 19,999 miles you fly. You’d then get pleasure from Elite 20k advantages for the following 30,000 miles flown (at a price of 8.7 cents per mile). At this level you’ll have earned Elite 50k standing, and reap these advantages for the following 50,000 miles (at a price of 9.7 cents per mile). Lastly, you’ll have achieved Elite 100k standing and revel in these advantages for the remaining 5,000 miles (at a price of 10 cents per mile).

In different phrases, when you’re ranging from scratch and you work that you just’ll earn 105,00 elite qualifying miles in 2023, you’d get $7,960 value of advantages from Frontier elite standing.

You’ll want to modify the numbers above for every tier based mostly by yourself private valuation. For instance, For those who by no means journey with buddies or household, your valuation could possibly be a whole bunch of {dollars} much less. Likewise, when you solely journey with a backpack, you’ll seemingly not profit from the carry-on or checked bag advantages.

Associated: Tips on how to change or cancel a Frontier Airways flight

Is it value pursuing Frontier elite standing?

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This reply relies upon fully in your journey habits. These (admittedly astronomical) projected financial savings are based mostly on regularly utilizing all the advantages afforded to you. Briefly, when you fly Frontier often, this elite standing successfully turns the airline into a daily non-low-cost provider with all of the charges which can be waived.

Listed here are some overarching inquiries to ponder earlier than you decide to Frontier elite standing.

Will you truly use these advantages?

As talked about earlier, these perks solely have worth when you truly use them. Therefore, a frequent Frontier flyer that all the time checks a bag or brings a carry-on is much extra prone to get 1000’s of {dollars} in worth from Frontier versus a traveler who solely travels with a backpack. Run the numbers and see if loyalty to Frontier is definitely value your time based mostly on how typically you may truly use the included advantages.

Does Frontier serve the areas you journey to?

Frontier doesn’t provide the ubiquity of different airways like United Airways, American Airways and Delta Air Traces. It doesn’t fly to locations like Europe, Asia and Africa. It typically serves secondary airports that cater to low-cost airways as an alternative of main hubs.

If Frontier will get you to the place you wish to go, elite standing is value attaining. If the airline solely takes you to 50% of the locations you plan to go, it could possibly be value incomes elite standing with a extra outstanding airline as an alternative.

Associated: Which low-cost provider do you have to fly? Evaluating Frontier Airways and Spirit Airways

What’s the incremental worth of 1 tier over the following?

It’s attainable that you possibly can wind up inside putting distance of the following standing tier. You’ll want to think about whether or not the advantages are value pushing for it. There’s no sense in going out of your manner for perks that don’t matter to you.

How delicate are you to cost and comfort?

This passion is stuffed with trade-offs, some of the widespread being the choice to make use of your most well-liked airline when it’s not probably the most handy or most cost-effective. Would you e book a one-stop Frontier flight if Southwest had a extra handy nonstop possibility? If the reply isn’t any, it will not be value going out of your method to earn Frontier standing — or any elite standing, for that matter.

Are you able to get pleasure from elitelike perks with a bank card?

The Frontier Airways World Mastercard® comes with a number of advantages that you just’ll in any other case want to succeed in Elite 20k standing for:

  • You may pool your factors with as much as eight family and friends members.
  • You received’t be charged for award redemptions for reserving journey inside 180 days (which once more prices between $15 and $75).
  • Zone 2 precedence boarding.

As well as, the cardboard earns 1 elite qualifying mile per greenback you spend — even when it’s not on Frontier purchases. This implies the cardboard is an absolute gem that will help you obtain elite standing quicker. For those who spend on the cardboard, you could possibly cut back your value and energy required to earn Frontier elite standing considerably.

The Frontier Airways World Mastercard incurs an $89 annual payment. Nevertheless, it additionally comes with an annual $100 flight voucher after you spend $2,500 on purchases every account anniversary yr.

The knowledge for the Frontier card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.

Associated: The very best bank cards to succeed in elite standing

Backside line

Frontier is understood for including charges for every part from seat assignments to baggage. Nevertheless, when you can obtain even the bottom Frontier standing, Elite 20k, flying Frontier instantly turns into more cost effective. You’ll get issues like free seat choice, a free carry-on bag, precedence boarding and a number of other different perks that will in any other case value you over $100 on a one-way ticket.

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