Frontier - PHL to MCO

[beccasmom]

PHL is our home airport. We fly SWA about 85% of the time. Their fares have increased and there are few non-stop flights to MCO, but their customer service is great IMHO. We fly American occasionally, usually with reward points. They are okay. I have a friend who is a fellow DVC member and travels to WDW much more often than we can. She uses Frontier a lot; says there are good savings by being one of their club members.

 

[maxaroni]

I think Frontier has a club you can join for cheaper flights and also I think you get other perks. If you will fly them often it might be worth looking into. I like that they have a different animal on each plane. small details lol

We flew Frontier years ago before they went discount and had a rabbit on our flight to Denver. Can't recall what the animal was coming home.

 

[maxaroni]

Thanks everyone. I have been driving myself crazy with all of this, do we go up to Trenton (30 minutes), PHL, which airline, fees, etc. Trenton didnt seem to have times that were convenient for this first trip to MCO. For this first time, we decided to go American and do more research and watch fares for the future. When we looked at the fact we would need to pay for carry on, it wasn't that far off of American....we were comfortable enough with the cost of American.

One reason we also were comfortable with American is the availability of planes, should a maintenance issue happen. We were coming home for Jamaica a few weeks ago, American, had a maintenance issue and no extra planes. Had to spend an extra night in Jamaica. With this being a quick getaway, we were a bit nervous of being on Frontier and no extra planes. Thinking that with PHL being a hub for American and MCO being a big and popular airport, we may have a better shot of not being in that situation again.

This is the first time we are not checking luggage and thinking we wouldn't be paying that fee, then seeing we'd be paying even carry on fees.

This is all getting too complicated and too much to figure out. LOL.

Good thought about BWI.

 

[Hasil72]

We've flown Frontier a few times with no problems at all! Most recent was in July. We were scheduled to drive but scored a $29 fare from PHL to MCO. Even with joining the Den, the fares plus seat fees and one bag fee, we paid under $500 RT for 4 of us. We each took a full backpack as our "personal item" and checked one suitcase for the rest of the nonsense. Plane was cleaner than the last SW flight we had. I know it can happen to anyone but our experiences with Frontier have been way better than our flights with Spirit out of AC or PHL. A few years ago we were unable to get an affordable flight out of PHL during Jersey Week so we drove to BWI and saved over $200pp even with the parking fees.

Good luck!

 

[maxaroni]

We've flown Frontier a few times with no problems at all! Most recent was in July. We were scheduled to drive but scored a $29 fare from PHL to MCO. Even with joining the Den, the fares plus seat fees and one bag fee, we paid under $500 RT for 4 of us. We each took a full backpack as our "personal item" and checked one suitcase for the rest of the nonsense. Plane was cleaner than the last SW flight we had. I know it can happen to anyone but our experiences with Frontier have been way better than our flights with Spirit out of AC or PHL. A few years ago we were unable to get an affordable flight out of PHL during Jersey Week so we drove to BWI and saved over $200pp even with the parking fees.

Good luck!

Thanks. I think what I am learning is to really watch for the sales and be flexible. This will be a trip we do often enough, but for the most part, we will look for a good fare and try and go at that point. I don't think this will be "vacation" , but 4 day weekends, unless we build vacation around seeing dad. This first trip to see my dad, I really didn't find much in the way of a deep discount/sale. We wanted to get down to see him, his new house and due to various obligations, we were a bit more limited to when we could go.

The next thing to figure out is how to get to the airport. DS24 said uber/lyft, DH said rapid rover. We have an early flight, weekday, so no one to take us.

 

[mousestruck]

I have flown Frontier (out of Trenton) several times for cheap fares - but mostly for family visits rather than vacation. All good experiences, though seats are not comfy. I avoid them for vacation because there are only one or two flights a day, so if there's a problem, you could lose days of your trip. Not worth the risk for us.

 

[RedAngie]

Just for kicks I was looking at Frontier fares PHL-MCO in December. There are certain days you can get a $68 round trip. Less if pay to join their Den Club.

 

[maxaroni]

Just for kicks I was looking at Frontier fares PHL-MCO in December. There are certain days you can get a $68 round trip. Less if pay to join their Den Club.

Thanks. I will need to work on this and play around a bit. I can deal with that price! My dad moved to Florida in August, so this is new for us. We are a small family, and first time living far from my dad. We’ve always been only a few miles apart and my parents, like us, always have lived in NJ. Just starting to navigate through all of the changes in our lives now. We don’t travel for business, have had no family to travel for and want to see my dad fairly regularly.

 

[Dis703]

What do use for your free personal item? Do you go with their size restrictions or is there an inch or so wiggle room?

We've used backpacks, diaper bags and my current favorite is a Vera Bradley Weekender. The upside of the Vera Bradley bags or something softer is that if they are a tiny bit bigger they are soft so they squish down. But they are pretty close to the actual size allowed and still fit with room underneath while allowing for quite a bit of stuff.