Review of Frontier Airlines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Houston in Economy

Frontier Airlines | F9 3194 Dallas (DFW) - Houston (IAH)

Greetings, 

Frontier is a Ultra Low Cost Carrier (ULCC) and usually a cheap one at that, they offer low fares that entitles you to one free personal item bag and a seat assigned at random on the aircraft. Additional bags (including carry on bags,) seat assignment, and any other amenities are at an additional charge. Our tickets were very cheap as I purchased them at the airport counter a week prior. 

Now don't get me wrong… I am fine with ultra low cost airlines like Spirit and Frontier. They help make air travel more affordable, can be a good choice if you pack light, play by their rules, and set your expectations accordingly. This way, I have flown Frontier over 40 times. But Frontier is still my least liked airline for a reason while I still prefer Spirit as my choice for low cost no frills travel.  

Frontier started their IAH - DFW route quite recently, in the past, airfare between the two cities was quite steep until Frontier entered the market. Most people would rather drive between the two, as both cities are very much so car dependent and the drive is roughly 4 hours. Megabus, Greyhound Bus Lines, and FlixBus offer regular service but bus fares have been quite steep compared to pre-Covid. Spirit also served this route back in 2014, but ended service shortly after, in August of 2024, they too resumed this route twice daily again. 

Check-in, good morning from DFW

My parents and I had a mid morning flight to Houston IAH. I checked in on the app and we all got seats in separate rows, in rows 14, 18 and 24. Despite the flight being not nearly full. Window for me, and middle seat for both my parents. My parents and I were unbothered by this, due to how short the flight is.

Frontier's main check in counters are in Terminal E at Dallas DFW, but they do operate from both terminal D and E. We arrived via Uber a good 1.5 hours prior. The check-in for Frontier was not too busy, since I prefer having a paper copy the boarding pass, I tried to get it printed from the kiosk, and received a 'reservation not found message.'  

This was no surprise to me, Frontier quietly removed the ability to check in and print boarding passes on those kiosks, I had noticed a similar trend at IAH, DEN, and PHX a few months ago. The agent did confirm there was no way to print a paper copy of the boarding pass from the machines and that only bag tags are printed from it, she did say I can try at the counter. I asked if I will be charged the $25 agent fee, to which I'm told, "honestly…I don't really know."  

This is in contrast to Spirit, where you can print your boarding pass from the self service kiosk at no charge. 

The check in agent was pleasant, I informed her that I am already checked in and just wanted a paper copy of our boarding passes, so she prints me the passes without charging me. I did also ask if my parents and I can be seated together, and was told if she moves us, she has to charge me, so I should try asking at the gate. She did also confirm the flight was almost half empty, with many rows vacant. 

Security was quick and uneventful, other than a high schooler and a woman who claims to be his teacher be interrogated. The airside was significantly busier compared to the landside. By now, our flight was delayed by 18 minutes, but I knew this was going to change, our inbound aircraft had not left Atlanta ATL yet, and was delayed over an hour at its origin. 

After ensuring my parents were comfortable on a couch, I head off to do some spotting at terminal D and enjoy the views of the tarmac from the Skylink train. 

Our Aircraft: N353FR arriving over an hour late from ATL

The most stressful part of flying with Frontier: boarding time

Due to the delay, boarding began quite late, interestingly, there were 3 gate agents for our flight. 

An agent named Morgan starts off with her pre-boarding announcement, then she shouted at an elderly woman in a wheelchair, "Why yall even in line? What do you want?" and shoos them away. 

Afterwards, a man approached her and requests if he can be moved to a window seat as a courtesy. He explained that his flight from DFW - IAH was cancelled yesterday (which I later found out many of the passengers on our flight were rebooked from yesterdays cancelled flight) and Morgan tells him that he will have to pay. The man had a window seat on yesterdays cancelled flight so he asks again, rather politely, to which Morgan says he needs to pay again by changing it on the Frontier app and "Go… just go…I ain't dealing with people like you today. Fly another airline." then she mutters "f*ck off" to which her coworkers laugh, so Morgan says to them, "I told yall I aint dealing with these people today" Mind you this was in plain view of the passengers. Yikes. 

Feeling discouraged, I still went up to ask about if my parents and I can be seated together, "You can change it on the app. I already told yall"  I managed to read her name on the name tag that she stuffed mostly beneath her vest, so I responded with a, "Understandable, thank you Miss Morgan" to which she glances up and glares at me before saying welcome. 

After my parents took a bathroom break, we line up to board, by now boarding was near completed in that short amount of time, and this was when I understood why our nearly half empty A320neo had 3 gate agents. Morgan was scanning boarding passes, while another agent walked up and down the line to see whos personal item looked too large, and the third gate agent was watching over people shove their personal item bag in the sizer, all while Morgan and the other agent kept passing comments like "The boarding gate is about to be closed"  "There isn't much time left" to those who were repacking their bags. Frontier does charge $99 for a carry on bag at the gate, the gate agents receive a $20 commission per bag charged.

Thankfully, my parents and I were prepared, our trip was very short and we packed accordingly. Thus were let through, but Morgan did shout at me "Is this lady travelling with you?" after she scanned our boarding passes. The last thing we heard was "Yall I'm about to close this gate" to the woman who was repacking her noticeably overstuffed personal item. 

Welcome aboard + the seat

Our ride to Houston IAH is on N353FR, a 5 year old A320NEO named 'Blanco, the polar bear' a rather fitting name since blanco means 'white' in Spanish. The aircraft is in a single cabin layout with 186 seats in a 3 by 3 layout, with 3 lavatories.

The first few rows and exit rows feature extra legroom, while seats marketed as 'Upfront Plus' feature a blocked middle seat and extra legroom, similar to European business class. 

The crew who welcomed us onboard were rather professional and pleasant, I asked if my parents and I could snag the empty row, to which I was kindly told we can take row 20 as it is vacant. 

The aircraft in general felt sloppy, with trash strewn about, I even saw one seat with an entire fast food bag shoved in the seat pocket, but this is to be expected as our aircraft was running late and the turnaround time for our aircraft was short. 

The park bench seat, manufactured by Acro Aircraft seating, were fine but bare bones, as to be expected from Frontier. The seats are firm, do not recline, are fitted with a tiny table not capable to hold up a laptop, and have no amenities apart from a seat pocket. This means no power outlets either. 

The backrest is in an angled 'pre-reclined' position so you are not propped upright in a 90 degree angle. Despite the tight 28 inch seat pitch, the concave backrest shape and the ultra thin design meant legroom was actually not too bad, at 5'9, my knees hardly touched the seat in front of me.

I don't love that the headrest area tapers forward a bit, which essentially pushes your head forward. Apart from the seat cushion and headrest area, these seats are minimally padded. 

All in all, for a short flight, these seats are perfectly fine, but for longer flights, they can feel quite uncomfortable. 

As you can see, knee space is roomier towards the sides of the backrest, but was more limited towards the middle of the backrest: 

These Acro Ultra Slimline seats are very similar to what you can find on Spirit's A321ceo, A319, and some of their A320 fleet. Allegiant also has the same seat model on most of their fleet. 

However, the ones on Frontier are worse than Spirit, since Spirit uses elastic 'bungee cord' like straps as seat pockets, which is better for legroom and knee space compared to the bulky seatback pockets on Frontier's version of these seats. 

Also worth noting, Frontier's newer A320neo fleet along with A321neo are fitted with newer seats, the Recaro SL3710 seats, with an improved tray table design. 

I have experienced both versions of Frontier's standard seats, and found that the older Acro seats feel roomier, but the Recaro seats feel better padded and more cramped. 

After the boarding was completed, flight attendants came around and allowed passengers to move to the empty rows as long as it was in the back half of the aircraft, per weight and balance purposes. My parents had a row to themselves, while I saw numerous passengers have entire rows to themselves. 

A man nearby wanted to be seated with his travel companion in row 8, the flight attendant sympathetically told him due to weight and balance purposes, he can not move towards that part of the aircraft, but after takeoff, they can sit together. 

For sure, the cabin crew on this flight were a stark contrast compared to the gate agents. 

Departure: Until next time DFW

At 10:15AM, 1 hour and 17 minutes after our scheduled departure, we pushback and departed from runway 17R, which offered great views of the terminals. Here is a still shot of Terminal D, with some international activity going on: 

Korean Air KE 32 to Seoul ICN 

Qatar Airways arrived in from Doha DOH at 9:50AM and will depart at 7:55PM to DOH as flight QR730

Japan Airlines JL11 to Tokyo HND

Emirates EK222 to Dubai DXB

Inflight

As Frontier's business model suggests, the only free items are basically cups of water, ice, and hot water. Frontier also has a buy on board menu with pre-packaged snacks and even bottled water for sale. There are no fresh or hot food items for sale, other than instant noodles.

There are no additional amenities for sale, thus there is no WiFi onboard. 

The crew did not do a service run but did make an announcement to press the call button if we wish to purchase anything. Upon request, the kind crew member did provide me a cup of hot water for free, which I used to prepare my own tea that I bought onboard. 

The lavatories on the A320neo are more cramped compared to older A320 aircraft, due to the Airbus space-flex configuration. However, they were smartly designed to be marginally roomier than the atrocious lavatories on newer 737 aircraft, and they even put an indent under the sink area so your knees have some space if you are sitting whilst using the toilet. 

Approach and landing at IAH

During descent, we flew past north of IAH airport, but most of the view was obstructed by clouds. 

We touch down just shy of one hour behind schedule on runway 26L, but our ordeal is not over yet. Our gate was occupied. Frontier has a bizarre situation at IAH where their check in and bag claim is in terminal A, but they use several gates at terminal A and D for their operations.  We reached to a halt in front of terminal D, and were told the ground crew is still at terminal A.  

Our gate was visibly vacant while another Frontier aircraft occupied gate D14, eventually the seatbelt sign was switched off and passengers were allowed to get up while we waited. A man got up to get his bag and left the overhead compartment open, to which the flight attendant politely says over the PA "could you please close the overhead compartment" followed by a "thank you" 

After waiting on the ground for 40 minutes, the flight attendants rush through the cabin asking everyone to fasten their seatbelt and we finally park at gate D10, a full 1 hour and 35 after our arrival time. 

An announcement was made that we parked at terminal D while baggage claim was in terminal A, therefore, those who need to claim checked baggage will need to use the train, some passengers did grumble in frustration. 

During the deplaning process, I overheard multiple passengers chat about how they were on yesterdays cancelled DFW - IAH flight and that Frontier did provide them overnight accommodations. 

I also overheard the woman in the wheelchair and her husband mention how rude the gate agent (Morgan) was to them, the flight attendant empathetically wished them a better day and seemed apologetic of their experience. 

Frontier has a rather bizarre setup at IAH airport. My outbound IAH - DFW flight was out of gate D14, and back in April, my IAH - DEN flight was out of gate D9. This is despite the fact that Frontier technically operates from terminal A, where their bag claim and check in counters are located. This can be hassle for those with checked bags since the two terminals are not physically connected and are on literal opposite ends of the airport.

There is a landside Subway train along with a airside Skyway train that connects all the terminals, but still, terminal D has no check in counter for Frontier.  I suppose gate space is limited in terminal A, resulting in this unusual setup. 

My brother was almost outside to pick us up, thus I did not have much time to take pictures.

Ok so this will sound weird but terminal D does not have a dedicated arrivals area. International airlines arriving in terminal D handle CBP customs and arrivals in terminal E, thus international arrivals is technically in terminal E. But our flight was a domestic arrival, so I explained to my brother to pick us up from the departures level. 

Random note: I do like that there was a free hot water dispenser available in terminal D between gate D9 and D10.