Articles tagged “frontier airlines”

Spirit's Ben Baldanza appears to be a kinder, gentler Michael O'Leary. Baldanza takes inspiration from Ryanair's market share as Spirit is slated to add about 90 additional planes by 2021 to help take a much bigger piece of the pie.

Frontier may have discovered that its attempt to get more direct purchases wasn't worth lost business from customers turned off by the $100 baggage charge, or it may hope to score popularity points by bucking the extra-fees trend. Either way, this is a win for Priceline, which now boasts one more reason to book through its site instead of the airline's.

Customers are sure to complain about these new fees, but if they want the low fares these companies offer, they have to play the game.

Frontier is trying to become a Spirit-like airline, apparently without the wild advertising, as Frontier has recently begun charging passengers for soft drinks, online check-ins, and a bevy of other fees. It will, of course, be interesting to find out who the potential buyer is.

At some juncture, there will be a tipping point when passengers rebel against bag fees. There is no sign that this is imminent, however.

The airline-OTA fight is as old as online travel, but it is picking up. Metasearch sites, such as Kayak and Google Flight Search, are a key battleground as some airlines establish special rules to avoid comparisons with competitors.

This is only for the passengers booking through third party sites, so a smart strategy to bring in users to its own site to book.

Frontier has been piling up losses and parent-company Republic Airways has been looking to shed Frontier.

This dispute could last for awhile, but eventually Expedia and Frontier will come to an agreement.

By focusing on low costs and betting on passengers' flexible itineraries, Frontier thinks it can succeed where others have failed. It's success may lead to a reconsideration of small regional airports.