Frontier Airlines | Colorado in 40 Cents

                     Flying is damn cheap this time of the year! But that wasn't why we flew...

If it wasn't for winning the $300 Gift Voucher with Frontier Airlines, we could have never had dreamt of flying into Colorado during the testing times of Covid-19 and then road tripping across the state. Ranging from Snow to Hot Springs to Canyons to Sand Dunes, it took me by surprise how underrated Colorado was and how well talked about in forums and groups. I was also so much at ease with their mandatory mask mandate in most places. Despite the fires that took off just as we left, we got lucky that we had a great time. Oh boy, Colorado turned out to be such a diverse state! 

Could we have postponed this trip? 

                                                              Denver Airport was busy!

Yes and No. You may call me a fool to be indulgent and taking this trip. But, with current visa uncertainties for immigrants on H1/H4 like us and recent predictions of Covid surges in winters, we took a chance to what was perhaps destined for long! And ended up paying just the extra 40 cents for our tickets :). Today,  I am glad that I could be a guiding light for those planning their travel in the state in 2021 if all goes well.

Why hope to me is all about taking more chances!

By now, you must be astounded at our cheapest ever flight to anywhere. I still fondly remember it was one of those cold days in winters in November 2019 in Jersey, when Frontier had announced on Facebook that they would be starting their flights from Newark. To celebrate it, they had mentioned giveaways and contests on their page. As my curiosity would have it, I ended up going to the nearest location of the contest located next to our home at Port Imperial Ferry Terminal. 

Now, my friend and I have often debated in the past that some folks are born luckier. I believe that the more chances we take, the more choices we encounter and the luckier we get. I have never seen a 'no' as a hindrance, and it has worked wonders because unlike most people who believe all of this is a fluke or they aren't lucky enough, I think we all have free will and choices, and my life has been more series of wise choices than plain luck. 

I and my hubby are yin and yang. We are a great mix of practicality and imagination. I typically persist, and he gives in to my persistence & optimism on most days. 

During this contest, when I went to the Ferry Terminal, they were having a cute game of collecting flying fake currencies in a booth type setup. I was drawn towards the excitement people had when many of them won gift vouchers based on how many they collected from the booth. I immediately participated and won $50. I called my hubby to come as soon as possible should he wins some. And he wins $250. That's a total of $300 gift voucher right away. Kudos to Frontier for coming up with such an idea!

Now, this isn't very unusual for airlines to give giveaways or to have random sales. A friend of mine suggested to me a long time ago that I like all airline pages. Another friend of mine had flown to Guatemala for $1!

My Frontier Experience

It's a basic airline that does its job from flying from A to B. Don't expect Treats and Plush seats from this airline, and you should be good. Usually, it is very cheap to fly with them but since we had booked just a week in advance and that too on a Columbus day long weekend we ended up getting a higher fare(still lower than other airlines) than usual which was around $115 round trip per person from Newark to Denver. So, here are a few things to consider: 

a) You are allowed to carry personal luggage for complimentary. However, carry-ons and check-ins are paid. We had to check-in our tent equipment and we paid for that.

b) You have an option to choose seats for a cost but we opted to not go for it. That worked great because when we web checked in 24 hours prior, we got our seats together in the airline free and preassigned.

c) There are no food services on the plane and since our flight was about 5 hours, we carried food from the airport.

d), Unlike international airlines, you will not be getting a mask kit on the flight. However, you are supposed to wear them. 

e) We had our flight arrive 30 min early than the destined time and our luggage arrived safe and undented.

My Past Frontier Experience

Not up to the mark past experiences often let us judge any airline unfairly. Till about a year back, I was hesitant about flying them, even when Billings and Bozeman in Montana had the cheapest fare during TBEX i.e $100 round trip, and even when my friends flew to Cancun Mexico for very cheap in them. The reason being, my first winter flight from Milwaukee to Vegas with Frontier made us wait forever at the airport due to snow accumulation at their gates. None of the crew had any idea when it would get resolved. Our return flight also was canceled without informing us and we ended up paying 3 times more on a last-minute airline flight. That left us sore and raged. But that was then in 2015. Things may have changed.

Should we be flying Frontier again?

Of course yes, it is cheapest on most routes and now with Southwest charging way extra than they used to be, it is a good alternative option.

Thankfully Frontier was considerate towards us during these times and extended the validity of our coupons from July 2020 to 2021, and that enabled us to explore Colorado in Oct. 

                    Denver Airport is so huge, that we have to take another shuttle train to the baggage.

                                      Self-Checkout at most places is an added convenience. 

                         We rented our car at Alamo. Shuttle buses to the rentals run to-fro from the Airport. 

Let's start with Denver, shall we?