In my current trip to US, I decided to make an impulsive visit to Denver. Well, impulsive in the sense that I just decided to go and not so impulsive in the sense that I was not flying off the next day but the following week. Given that it was a last minute addition to my visit, I had to decide how I was going to find my way to Denver from sunny San Francisco. I had either the road or air option to consider.
The road option was either by bus, train or drive myself. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about this because it would take at least 2 days and nights, through the rocky mountains and across two states. So I decided to look around for flights to Denver at a reasonable price.
I tried the major airlines, such as United Airline, American Airlines etc but they were all too expensive. They were asking for around 450 dollars return! Finally, I chanced upon Frontier airlines on the Cheaptickets.com website, and they were offering about 260 dollars return! I couldn't believe my luck and was wondering what was the catch? Well, no catch! So, I happily booked the ticket and lived to write an op about Frontier Airline.
A little history about Frontier Airlines. It started in the summer of 1994 and it is marketed as an affordable fare airline with its hub in Denver. That just means that all flights originate in Denver. So, a flight from somewhere to anywhere would require a stopover in Denver. If I had booked a flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas, I would have had to fly to Denver first on both legs. Now, this seems a bit silly, considering that it would mean flying halfway across US before flying south to Las Vegas for a trip which would take an hour and a half by direct flight would end up taking up half a day of flying. But I digress.
Frontier Airline flies to about 37 cities across the US. These cities are in the major states of California, Seattle, Oregon, Florida, Washington, New York, Nevada, Utah, Chicago etc. Within California, it services 6 airports (6 cities)!
Check in ======== Anyway, I booked my eticket and was ready to set off for Denver with Frontier Airlines. I arrived at the domestic terminal of San Francisco airport and was happy to see no queue at the Frontier check-in counters. The service was fast and efficient. My seat was already pre-allocated at booking, all I needed to do was to show my passport as my identification and showed them my one carry on bag. Passengers with checked in bags had to ferry their bags to the US custom officer at the custom counter who seems to give the bags a strip-search before the bags are allowed to leave.
Boarding ======== I was at the boarding gate an hour before the flight. A habit of mine, I wanted to see the plane before I actually fly in it. But guess what? The plane wasn't there! I doubled checked my boarding pass to ensure that I was at the right gate. I checked the arrival board and noticed a flight from Denver arriving in half an hour's time at the same gate. Cutting a bit close, I thought. The plane arrived and disembarked its passengers. I was told its an Airbus. Doesn't look too flash nor haggard. Its a white plane with the name Frontier in large along its side. The interesting part was the tail. It had a picture of a penguin. Was that the mascot of the company I wondered? Apparently not. At Denver airport, I spied on the other frontier planes and they all had different animals on them.
We were finally allowed to board 15 minutes before departure and by then, I was eager to be on my way.
Interior of the Plane ===================== It was clean. The plane had two rows of 3 seats on each side of the aisle. From what I saw, there were only about 25 rows of seats. I had a window seat towards the back of the plane. The washroom was also towards the back of the plane. The seat was semi large and comfortable. The flight was not full so I was allowed to stretch out across all three seats.
Flight ====== The flight from San Francisco to Denver was about two and a half hours. The air stewards were all very friendly. The pre-flight safety routine was as usual, except that the life jackets were either under the seats or under the arm rests. Like most US flights, food's not a priority. I was given a bag of crisps and a can of soft drink for the flight.
What I enjoyed most was the scenery from my seat. I could see the vast Yosemite National Park as we flew overhead, the peaks were still covered in snow. It was just beautiful.
Both the take-off and landing were smooth. The flight itself was rather bumpy. I simply assume it was because the plane was small and turbulence had a greater effect. Despite the late boarding, the flight took off in time and landed in Denver on schedule.
Cost ==== As I mentioned before, I was able to buy a return ticket from San Francisco to Denver for about 260 dollars (including tax). This was compared to the quoted price of around 450 dollars on United Airlines.
I realised that there are price differences between Cheaptickets.com and the Frontier website. One would think that booking directly with the airline would be cheaper but not so here. The same ticket cost about 40 to 50 dollars more on the Frontier website.
Conclusion ========== I would recommend Frontier Airline if you intend to fly from somewhere in the US to Denver. I'm not sure if I will recommend using Frontier to get from one place to another, say San Francisco to Florida because it means stopping at Denver. Overall, I would say it is affordable, compared to the larger airlines such as United and American Airlines. Furthermore, Frontier airlines does not have any form of bankruptcy hanging over its head, having last won the best low-fare airline in 2002.
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
