Why I'm Thrilled About Frontier Airline: Example 1

I'm officially in full planning mode for my summer trip to the Loire. The hardest part of my planning experience was, so far? Not the lodging, or the trans-Atlantic flight. It's booking the dopey flight to get to New York (Newark, actually) to get to that trans-Atlantic flight.

It’s one of Birmingham’s inconvenient features, that getting to and from here is difficult and often expensive. This was not always the case; there was a time when Southwest was considered a “budget” airline. $88 r/t to New Orleans…fantastic. The company I worked for years ago would take SW service options into their expansion decision.

That’s gone, of course; SWA is hardly a bargain, and generally raised their prices to be close to legacy carriers. Fair enough; they don’t charge bag fees or whatnot. But sadly, we don’t get the benefit of a low-cost carrier in BHM – no Jet Blue or Frontier to try to drive competition.

Result? We get one daily direct flight to New York (LGA), and typically it runs $350+. A connecting flight can be had for up to $100 less. It irritates me to no end that it’s $100 cheaper to take two flights and 3 extra hours, but that’s the result of lack of competition. Delta charges a premium for the convenience of a direct flight. Grumble.

Not that Delta's one direct is the most useful flight, for trans-Atlantic purposes. Follow me: The flight to NY takes off at 6:00 am, arriving at 9:30. Most flights leaving NY for Europe leave in the early evening: 5:00, perhaps, with another later one, usually.

That’s a long time to kill in NYC. So, decide what you want to do: you can try to spend it at an airport (hint, don’t do this); or, you can head into Manhattan/Brooklyn, see some sights, have a nice lunch, and then head out to the airport. Stash your bags at a local hotel, btw – they may ask for a holding fee, but usually they’ll do it.

Not bad, right? Downside: This is a long day. And if you don’t get a lot of sleep on the plane…well, your first day in Europe will be a very tiring one. It usually is regardless, but it’ll be worse, now. Anyway, up to you: really, it’s not a terrible option.

The return is similar; you’ll land around noon, and the direct flight to BHM leaves…well, they have one at 2:10 from LGA, which, if you land at 10 or 11, you can reach via a taxi. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the 8:30 one. Again, you can try to spend an afternoon in NYC, but you’ll be tired. Seems like a bit of a drag.

That’s why, in the end, a lot of us bite the bullet and drive to ATL, to reach NYC. Comparison: The direct flight option has me leaving home at 5:00 am, returning to home at 10:00 pm or so. $400/person, all in. The ATL option…has me leaving home at 8:00 am, returning to home at 9:00 pm. $300/person, all in (factoring parking or, as we do, a one way car rental each way). It’s a shorter trip, at a cheaper cost, but you have to be willing to make the drive. Again: irritating.

Shuttlesworth Airport is a lovely facility. I hope, hope that more airlines, not just Frontier, will decide to add  flight options for us; I suspect they’d be filled. But, until we manage some real local economic growth, our choices may remain slim. By the looks of it there's a greater chance of Huntsville being my departure point for my 2020 trip.