F9 to Start Charging up to $100 for Carry On and $2 for beverages..Yikes.

Frontier Airlines plans to start charging up to $100 for a carry-on bag and $2 for coffee or soda, although its announcement on Wednesday did say that passengers will get to keep the whole can.

The new carry-on fee is for bags in the overhead bin, so small bags under the seat will still be free. Frontier said it will charge $25 if the fee is paid in advance, $100 if travelers wait to pay until they're at the gate.

Frontier spokeswoman Kate O'Malley said the $100 fee is to get travelers to take care of the charge in advance. "We don't want to charge that," she said.
Airlines began charging for the first and second checked bags in 2008. Passengers trying to avoid those fees have been stuffing as much as they can into carry-on baggage stashed in overhead bins, meaning those bins often run out of space. Fees are one way to get passengers to bring less on board.

Frontier is also following Spirit's $2 charge for coffee, tea, soda, or juice. Frontier said passengers who get soda or juice can keep the whole can, and it will give coffee refills for free. It will still give away water. US Airways briefly tried charging for beverages in 2008 but backed down seven months later after passengers complained and no other major airline followed

What really bugs me is their response to the Consumerist. A very simple question was asked, and they kept dodging it. Frontier Now Offering Confusing Range Of Carry-On Fees If You Don’t Book Through Its Site

Since it's not mentioned above, the carry-on fee only applies if you booked outside of Frontier's website (Expedia or what have you) and the fee could also be as low as $25 if you encounter it. Wonder if they'd charge it to pax originally booked on another airline, then rebooked to F9 due to irrops or something?

The low cost carriers of the world do not have interline agreements in the event of irrops or oversales. The only exception that I'm aware of is B6 & AA but it seems to be on a case by case basis.

I've seen a lot of people on mixed UA/F9 itineraries, actually. For that matter, my brother in law was on an F9 flight, misconnected on his flight to MSN, so they changed him to UA.

I have to wonder how long this will last before they change the policy. I know I wouldn't want to be a gate agent telling a customer that they have to pay $100 for their carry on or they don't get to board. As to the drink charges, didn't US try that a few years ago? It didn't go over well and lost them business. I can't remember how long that lasted but it seems to me that it was less than 6 months.

Exactly, Donna. And yes, US Airways did try to pull that one, but it didn't work so well. 6 months sounds about right, I think they were just hoping that other carriers would follow like they did with bag fees at the time. Needless to say, they didn't.

So, when is Frontier merging with Spirit? :D

Watch out Frontier Flight Attendants...advertisements are coming to your aprons by year's end.