Flying Frontier quickly? Be sure you test in on-line – or get to the airport a lot earlier in case you want a boarding go or should test a bag.
In social media announcement on Tuesday, Frontier Airways mentioned it is going to quickly shut its check-in counters and bag drop areas one hour earlier than the scheduled departure of every flight. That new coverage takes impact Aug. 16. Exhibiting up too late doubtless means you will merely miss the flight.
“We proceed to be dedicated to getting you and your luggage to your vacation spot with out interruption,” Frontier mentioned within the tweet saying the coverage change. The airline has not defined the coverage change any additional.
That may pressure Frontier flyers to get to the airport earlier than most main U.S. airways, most of which will not enable check-ins about half-hour earlier than departure and cease checking luggage 45 minutes earlier than home flights. And in contrast to these airways, that check-in window closes an hour forward of departure no matter whether or not you are checking a bag or simply attempting to test in for the flight.
It is simply another excuse to test in in your Frontier flight on-line or through the airline’s smartphone app. Except you qualify for an exemption, the airline fees $25 every method for “airport agent help” to test in on the airport.
Learn subsequent: All the things You Have to Know About Frontier Baggage Charges
What’s driving this modification? The identical factor that drives Frontier and different price range airways: Reducing prices.
By shifting brokers away from check-in desks earlier, they’ll minimize down on staffing. It might additionally assist guarantee Frontier will get luggage loaded onto planes extra reliably.
It is simply Frontier’s newest minimize to buyer help. Late final 12 months, the airline ended its customer support cellphone line altogether: E-mail, reside chat, and social media are actually the one methods for purchasers to achieve Frontier and get assist.
However Frontier’s flight community makes it well-positioned for this sort of coverage change.
For one, Frontier does not function many “hubs” with many flights coming and going all day lengthy, which implies they do not want workers at check-in desks all day lengthy, both. At our house airport of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), as an example, there are sometimes solely two or three outbound Frontier flights per day.
Backside Line
If it’s essential to test a bag earlier than your upcoming Frontier flight, you would possibly must get to the airport a little bit earlier. And in case you want a paper boarding go, you will must get there earlier, too.
Beginning Aug 16, Frontier will shut its check-in and bag drop counters one hour previous to departure, the earliest pre-departure closure among the many U.S. airways.