Update 11/19: Frontier has now increased the price of their GoWild! pass from $599 to $799.
Update 11/18: Frontier has updated the terms of the the GoWild! pass and it now includes international destinations. Frontier actually has a decent route map in Mexico, The Caribbean and Central America, so this could make the pass “more” appealing for some…especially if you fly out of Denver or Orlando, which have the largest concentration of international non-stops. (h/t: reader Htown Harry)
A few weeks ago Frontier announced that it would be launching a GoWild! all-you-can-fly pass. Details were limited at the time – including how much they’d charge for it – but we now have full details about the pass because it’s gone on sale today.
At $599 $799 for a limited number of passes, some people will definitely be able to get good value from them. However, be aware that there’s a catch. Well, several of them.
The Deal
- Buy a Frontier GoWild! all-you-can-fly pass for
$599$799. - Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- Search & book on FlyFrontier.com the day before flight departure.
- Your pass will be valid for one year beginning May 2, 2023.
- For each flight, you’ll pay $0.01 in airfare plus applicable taxes, fees, and charges at the time of booking.
- When you book, you can also purchase options like bags, seats, and other ancillary products for each flight to customize your travel.
- Flights are subject to blackout periods:
- 2023: May 25, 26, 29; June 29, 30; July 1-5, 8, 9; August 31; September 1, 4; October 5, 6, 9; November 18, 22, 24-27; December 16, 17, 22-24, 26-31;
- 2024: January 1, 15; February 15, 16, 19; March 3, 10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31; April 5-7, 12-14. Blackout dates for May 2024 and beyond will be posted in advance of accepting any enrollments for pass periods which cover those dates.
- Flights and seats are subject to availability; last seat availability is not guaranteed.
- Travel not eligible to earn miles or status.
- Travel qualifies as activity and will extend your FRONTIER Miles expiration
- The GoWild! Pass is non-transferable. The pass holder is the only allowed passenger to travel with GoWild! Pass privileges.
- Your Pass will automatically renew for successive one-year terms unless you cancel
Quick Thoughts
When writing about this deal a few weeks ago, I was skeptical about how good the pass would be in reality. That’s because Frontier used some vague wording to describe some of the features of the GoWild! pass which made it seem like there would be a bunch of catches and restrictions when using the pass.
Sure enough, that is indeed the case. We’ll start with the pricing. There are a limited number of GoWild! passes available for $599 $799 that are valid for one year. Once those have sold out, and at renewal, you’re looking at a $1,999 cost per year for one of these passes. I doubt anyone would willingly invest $2k in an opportunity to torture yourself fly Frontier an unlimited number of times in a year, so that $2k price point is likely just there for anchoring to make people think $599 $799 is a steal.
One of the bullet points in the announcement said “Bookings confirmed ahead of travel.” That was some of the vague wording that led me to speculate the following:
Maybe it should be taken at face value – that there’s no need to worry about the pass only being valid on standby flights. However, it could also mean that you’ll only be able to book flights within a week of when you want to travel. They’re being truthful that your bookings will be confirmed ahead of your travel, just not as far ahead as you might like. Or maybe it’ll be the other end of the spectrum – that you’ll need to book your flights at least 3 months ahead of your required travel dates.
It turns out that the GoWild! pass is even more restrictive than that. That’s because you can’t book your flight until the day before departure. That’ll be a deal killer for anyone who’d like to know more than 24 hours in advance that there’ll definitely be a seat available to get where they need to go. I guess it could make for a fun Choose Your Own Adventure-style experience though. Want to get away for the weekend? Let’s spin the Frontier roulette wheel and see which flights have a seat available.
Other features (or more like bugs) include:
- The fact that travel using a GoWild! pass won’t earn miles or status
- That in addition to taxes and fees, there can/will be extra “charges”
- That there are 57 blackout days which are likely days when you’d be most likely to want to travel
- The fact that you’re paying $599 now for a pass that won’t be useable for another six months
- That Frontier will auto-renew your pass next year and charge you $1,999 for the privilege. It’s not clear how easy it is to turn off auto-renew or cancel your pass next year, nor what would happen if they charge your card earlier than expected
Overall, this Frontier GoWild! pass has the potential to be great for a small subsection of people who have a ton of flexibility with their travel dates and even destination. For everyone else though, $599 $799 is a large investment for a pass that could be hard to use.
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Did any one get the credit card ProMotion from frontier while they were on the plane?
Yes I did
I am ADD so to not be able to speak to a person on the phone makes reservations difficult with Frontier. I purchased the go wild and worried I won’t be able to book flights. Not sure what to do. It’s an expense I really couldn’t afford but have the flexibility they mentioned.
Please comment
Thank you!
You will need the money for free and taxes. If things are tight you might do better booking regular flights.
How to I cancel the gowild pass?
I made a mistake and deleted my go pass from my email. I call frontier and chatted with a representative only ask for my confirmation number. The representative asked for the last four of my card used. I gave it to the representative and a few minutes later my pass was. Canceled without a refund. The representative canceled my pass without my permission. I only wanted my conformation number . I purchased two pass on the 18Th of November. I would like my pass back.
Hi, what phone number did you call?
How are baggages handled with the Go Wild offer?
Can I get a pass for $599?
They updated the offer today – international destinations are now included, with those flights offering one week advance reservations instead of only one day. That can be used to eliminate the return flight booking risk as long as you don’t plan to spend a full week at the destination.
That definitely makes for a better deal for those based in ATL, MCO, DEN, PHL and other cities with direct international flights.
For those of us in cities without direct flights to Frontier international destinations, not so much.
I’m at IAH, with no non-stop international flights available on Frontier. Their bookable international routings from IAH mostly take me through ATL or MCO with an overnight layover / change of planes. So in one sense there is a minimal benefit for me because their southbound international flights appear to leave early in the morning from ATL, MCO or east coast cities. (Except SJU has a single day routing from IAH, but that was already included in the pass.)
I’ll take this as good news anyway – mo’ destination choices is always mo’ better.
Having plenty of SW points available for “safety” reservations on domestic positioning flights and tremendous schedule flexibility, I expect to piece together an interesting Frontier multi-city tour that allows for daylight and evening time in cities I might want to visit on my way to or from a few days on the beach.
For example, I am interested in riding the 125mph Brightline passenger train that is scheduled to connect West Palm Beach to the MCO terminal in Orlando sometime in 2023. I hope to navigate through Frontier’s March 2024 blackout dates for an IAH-ATL-PBI first leg to catch a baseball spring training game or two on the west coast, followed by a train ride to MCO, then a flight to one of Frontier’s six direct Carribean destinations…
I understand those who aren’t excited about Frontier flights, but I’m a retired solo traveler who is not put off by the puzzle-solving and improvisation required with this pass. (Or with optimizing travel redemptions in general.)
typo: should be east coast.
Even at 2k its far cheap if you fly. 10 times. Thats 5 vacations for 400$… fly 100 times for $20 each direction.
Dont be a hater cause its frontier. Its a step forward for people who fly twice a week.
Can someone please explain the “seats” to me? Isn’t that part of a flight, being able to sit down? Am I missing something?
Thanks for anyone who can explain this to me
Seats means like window upgrades or even first class. The package is just a basic seat given.
It means seat selection on Frontier.
It’s an ultra budget airline so you typically get assigned randomly unless you pay to select which seat you want.
If you actually do the math, this pass is as decieving as it can get. For example, my one way ticket from PDX-LAS broke down this: $4.29 for airfare/ $29.09 in taxes and surcharges. Not to mention Frontier is instituting strict adhereance to their “personal item” allowance. I just dont see the math shaking out on this. Not to mention the terms dicate that flights will be released and available for booking 24 hours prior to departure, So not only will you be charged 90% of the total airfare anyway, you will have whats considered “unfillable or unsellable seats” as part of this pass. People need to consider this airline is as cheap and profit minded as you can get, there should be red flags when they offer something as appealing as this.Someones gotta pay those dividends frontier investors for the blown spirit merger. lol
This, you are absolutely correct. I got a RT flight DSM -> DEN for about $100 and only $20 of that was airfare and the rest was taxes. Not to mention my backpack that I consistently use as a “personal” item without issue became an issue. $75 each way. This is actually a trash deal.
I mean, if they’re still charging the online booking fee that frequently makes up the majority of the actual ticket price, then this pass is literally worthless.
Good news!
They’ve posted an FAQ:
“HOW MUCH DO TAXES, FEES, AND CHARGES COST PER FLIGHT?In addition to a fare of $0.01 for each segment booked, government and airport imposed taxes, fees and charges will apply as in effect at the time of booking and are the responsibility of the passholder. An additional carrier interface charge will not apply to GoWild! Pass tickets at the time of booking. Current government and airport taxes, fees and charges start at approximately $14.60 per person, per flight.”
And not to mention that Frontier has THE worst customer support on the face of the planet. I sent them an inquiry by email more than THREE weeks ago. Still no response. I waited for over THREE hours for an online chat, no agent came online. I waited on hold on the phone for over an hour, nobody picked up. Eff Frontier.
Your flights with this pass WILL NOT be FREE due to taxes and fees AND your savings can be minimal due to Frontier’s pricing structure for flights. A few thoughts:
Ah, now I see the buried “carrier imposed fees”.
Here’s a fare I just dummy booked – without a seat selection and bringing only a personal item – that supports your $80 number, more or less.
Denver
To
Houston (Hobby)
Flight 710
$38.98Jan 17, 2023 9:08 AM
$1.28Airfare
$37.70Taxes & Carrier Imposed Fees
Houston (Hobby)
To
Denver
Flight 711
$45.98Jan 20, 2023 12:14 PM
$7.80Airfare
$38.18Taxes & Carrier Imposed Fees
I like the idea, but not knowing about the return flight troubles me. If it’s Thursday night and I see an open seat somewhere for Friday night.. am I not guaranteed to get a return flight before Monday?
Correct, so far as I can tell. Mitigate by booking an award flight on another airline for the return on Sunday, then check on Saturday for a Sunday return on Frontier that allows you to cancel the award booking…
You lost me at ‘Frontier’
HaHa me Too I gave one away ( Paid Fees too) RT to Denver it was upper class 40K. I got the card as Joke but No non-stop to Vegas so Who cares. VB
Hard pass.
It sounds basically similar to non-rev standby travel except you will get confirmed the day before. Depending on the fees they want to charge, this could be way more attractive to someone who has status.
With the 24 hour booking restriction, why do they need all those blackout dates? Seems like if they aren’t allowing booking until 24 hours before the flight, they’d allow you to book any remaining seats…
Cancelling the auto-renew before the end of year one doesn’t look difficult. 12.d.2 in the terms and conditions:
ENROLLMENT WILL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW FOR SUCCESSIVE ONE-YEAR TERMS AT THE THEN EFFECTIVE RETAIL PRICE (THE “RENEWAL PRICE”) UNLESS YOU CANCEL THE GoWild! Pass™ WITHIN YOUR FRONTIER MILES ACCOUNT PROFILE ON THE SITE BEFORE MIDNIGHT MOUNTAIN TIME ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE END OF THE CURRENT TERM
I am in that small subset of great flexibility on times and destinations, with a desire to travel somewhere in the US six or eight times in year. (I recently retired). I figure I will break even at four RT flights.
The other subset that may find this particularly attractive are those with some flexibility who happen to live in the Frontier hub cities of LAS, DEN or ORL. “It’s Thursday, honey, let’s see where we can fly to for dinner and a show this weekend…” Those who go to Vegas few times a year might bite, too.
Stranding risk on a return flight is a concern with the next-day booking restriction.
My basic strategy for mitigating that will be to book flights as I usually do, mostly well in advance with miles on other airlines. I’ll make it pair of one-ways if Frontier also serves that city pair. The day before the flight, either outbound or return, I will check to see if I can book a comparable taxes-only flight on Frontier. If so, cancel the award flight and redeposit the miles.
“I figure I will break even at four RT flights.”
Keep in mind that taxes and fees are not included in the pass.
That would mean that each leg would need to price at $75+ before taxes/fees to break even for 4 RTs (or 8 legs). I find that Frontier base fares typically price much lower than $75/leg.
I’d estimate that a more realistic valuation is $25/leg. So I’d estimate that 12 RTs would be the break even point. But then there are trade-offs with locking in your travel dates much further in advance.
As fas as I can tell, this pass provides the best value for people who travel a lot and make last-minute bookings.
You’re right. I dug a little deeper and found I agree that my breakeven will likely be a higher than four RT’s.
Using Google flights and their price graph feature, I checked Frontier prices for a four-day RT to the four direct destinations from my home airport between Jan 2023 through March 2023. That’s not in the pass’ window, of course, but I wanted to get a sense of pricing variations and ranges.
In low-volume January, your math looks OK. The best prices to DEN, LAS, ATL and MCO hold on almost days, at $78 to $99 RT with taxes. A few days it gets up to $159 RT.
February has days at that price, too, but there are many more days at $120-$218.
March, on the other hand, is showing expensive fares at this time. For every city, the cheapest Frontier round trip in March was north of $200. Granted, the blackout list in March 2024 shows about half of the days in March are unbookable, but it suggests a value sweet spot is likely during relatively busy shoulder periods outside the blackout dates.
Overall, I think four RTs breakeven looks OK for me on the base airfare comparison. Others will need to keep in mind that I traveled on Frontier with only a small suitcase that meets their size criteria for a underseat personal item, thus avoiding carryon or checked baggage fees.
The reason I think I may be low: I will likely pay for some seat upgrades along the way. At 6’2″, that bag under the seat and Frontier’s short seat pitch is uncomfortable on a longer flight unless there is room to put my bag under an adjacent empty seat or up in the bin.
Maybe your conclusion should be revised to include “…and are under 5’9″ tall”? 🙂
Frontier now has $30+ worth of fees on every flight segment and they often have sales where the fare is less than $10. If they say it’s a $49 fare it’s really $14 and fees. Pretty useless.
I’m with you, which is why I bought the pass tonight. I’m not retired, but work 100% remote and am fine with the calculated risk. From my airport (DSM) it should take me even less RTs to break even.
Will they still be Flying or crashing 12 months from now and will the FEEs Change ??? V Bernie