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The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard® is currently offering its best sign up bonus I’ve ever seen: 40,000 EarlyReturns miles after spending $500 in the first 90 days of cardmembership.
This huge sign up bonus, especially for such a tiny minimum spending requirement, is enough for:
- Two roundtrips anywhere in the US that Frontier flies, including Alaska (30,000 miles).
- One roundtrip anywhere Frontier flies, including Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean (30,000 miles).
Frontier Airlines is the ninth-largest airline in the United States with a hub in Denver and service to Alaska, Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica.

Frontier is rarely–if ever–discussed on miles blogs because it’s small, doesn’t have first class, doesn’t fly longhaul flights, and has a paltry elite program. But there is tremendous value on the Frontier award chart for domestic travelers and travelers to the Caribbean and Mexico.
Here’s the award chart:
Four things jump out at me from the chart, all positive:
- Among region-to-region mileage programs, Frontier has the cheapest domestic awards. All the legacy carriers charge 25,000 miles roundtrip; Frontier charges 20,000 miles.
- Frontier has the cheapest awards to Mexico and Central America. Frontier charges 30,000 miles roundtrip. The big boys charge 35,000 miles. (American charges 25,000 miles roundtrip during a two month off peak window in the fall.)
- Frontier awards can be flown as one ways for half the price of roundtrip awards, so 10k miles each way domestically and 15k abroad. This puts Frontier in the good company of United and American, and looking down on Delta and US Airways, which charge the roundtrip price for one way redemptions.
- Frontier awards don’t include any fuel surcharges, just government taxes.
How do you book a Frontier award? What trick did I discover to show more award availability? What peak demand route this summer has gold mine award space? Who should and who should not get the Frontier card? How can you save 5,000 miles on a Frontier award? Which transferable point transfers to Frontier miles?
Booking Awards
Awards can easily be booked online at flyfrontier.com. Just perform any flight search and check the Redeem Miles box. You have to be signed in to search, so sign up for an EarlyReturns account here.
I’ll give an example of a domestic flight and an international flight search and one big tip.
Denver to Alaska June 2014
To perform an award search, simply click the Redeem Miles check box at the top of the Book a Flight screen.
Award space is stunningly good this summer from Denver to Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.
All the days marked “10,000 miles” have “Standard” award space that costs only 10,000 miles and $2.50 one way.
Denver <-> Anchorage
Denver <-> Fairbanks
This level of award space in the peak of summer to Alaska is surprising. United, which is often generous with award space, has no Saver award space in any cabin on any flight between Denver and Alaska this June!
While United would want 50,000 miles roundtrip (its “Standard” award price) in economy for Denver to Anchorage, you can use only 20,000 Frontier miles roundtrip. The availability and price lead me to say that flying to Alaska is one of the best uses of Frontier miles.
Denver to San Jose, Costa Rica May 2014
The flights to Costa Rica also have fantastic award space at an amazing 30,000 miles roundtrip + $19 in taxes!
One Huge Trick with Frontier Award Booking
I first uncovered this glitch/trick one year ago, and it persists.
If you do an award search, you’ll often be given the bad news that only the day you searched for has “Standard” (low price) award space, and that all surrounding days have “CHOICE” (double price) award space.
Don’t believe it! Click on all the surrounding days to get the full award space picture.
For instance, look at this award search from Los Angeles to Orlando for May 9, 2014. It shows that all days are at the 20,000 miles one way “CHOICE” price.
But if I click the words “Thu. May 08”, I see that in fact there are “Standard” 10,000 mile one way itineraries that day.
Repeating the trick by clicking on every day that week, I see that there is “Standard” 10,000 mile award space on four out of the seven days.
Clicking day-by-day, it’s very easy to construct a great trip from Los Angeles to Orlando for only 20,000 miles and $5 roundtrip.
From my searches, I can say that Frontier has:
- a cheap award chart
- a great route network to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and hard-to-reach parts of the US
- oodles of space (as long as you click day-by-day!)
- no fuel surcharges
Getting EarlyReturns Miles
The three main ways to get EarlyReturns miles are:
- Apply for The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard with 40,000 bonus EarlyReturns miles after spending $500 in the first 90 days
- Transfer Membership Rewards at a 1:1 ratio
- Fly Frontier
The Credit Card with 40,000 Bonus Miles
The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard offers a 40,000 mile bonus after $500 in purchases in the first 90 days.
The miles stretch even farther than you might think because cardholders also get a 5,000 mile discount on companion awards.
That means if the cardholder books a ticket, he can take one companion for 15,000 miles more.
That means the 40,000 mile sign up bonus is good for two roundtrip domestic awards anywhere Frontier flies including Alaska with 10,000 miles left over.
The card also earns double miles on Frontier purchases and has a $69 annual fee.
Offer details:
- 0% Intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months. After that, a variable APR, currently 15.99% or 24.99% based on credit worthiness
- Earn 40,000 bonus miles after spending $500 in purchases in the first 90 days
- Earn up to 10,000 bonus miles on balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) in the first 90 days
- Earn Double miles on purchases at FlyFrontier.com and 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases
- No blackout dates! Book any roundtrip award flight on Frontier starting at 20,000 miles (subject to fees/taxes from $5)
- $69 Annual Fee
Membership Rewards Transfers
American Express Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to Frontier.
American Express collects $6 per 10,000 Membership Rewards transferred to Frontier like it does for transfers to other US-based airlines.
I have never made a transfer. Frontier says it is usually instant but can take up to 24 hours. Frontier will let you hold an award ticket for 24 hours while you wait for a Membership Rewards transfer.
I explained the earnings structure for paid tickets here. The gist is that you have to book paid flights on flyfrontier.com to get full mileage credit. If you go through a third-party travel site, you will not earn full mileage credit for your paid tickets.
Who Should and Who Should Not Get the Frontier Credit Card
Because there’s a limit to how much credit each bank will extend to a person, I always compare offers to other offers from the same bank. Barclaycard has two other great rewards cards.
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® with 40,000 bonus miles after spending $3k in the first three month
- US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 US Airways miles after first purchase
In terms of sign up bonuses, the US Airways Premier World MasterCard is the best of the three if you want to fly First Class or Business Class, since you can use it book incredible aspirational awards on any of its worldwide partners. For instance, I just used US Airways miles to book a First Class award to the World Cup in Brazil this summer.
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® is the best of the three if you want to fly economy class somewhere that Frontier doesn’t fly. Arrival miles can be used on any airline on any flight with no blackouts. This card also has the best earnings structure of the three cards, earning 2.22% back toward travel on all purchases.
The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard is the best of the three if you want to fly somewhere Frontier flies, and there is award space on the route. Neither of the other two cards’ sign up bonuses get you two roundtrip to Alaska or cross-country like the Frontier card’s sign up bonus can.
The last thing to consider here is your timing. If you want to get more than one of these cards, start with the US Airways Premier World MasterCard. US Airways has already legally merged with American Airlines, so this card will disappear in the very near future. Get that sign up bonus while you still can. You can either use the miles quickly on US Airways’ chart with Star Alliance partners or they will be converted to American Airlines miles. Both are good outcomes.
Recap
Frontier Airlines has an amazing award chart if you want to fly where it flies–Denver, under-served US airports, Alaska, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Jamaica.
Frontier’s miles price is lower than all the legacy carriers to all of its destinations. Frontier has incredible award space on all the routes I searched. Frontier doesn’t charge any fuel surcharges on any awards.
If you can handle economy flights–and I can on Frontier’s sub-five-hour flights–Frontier even has a decent economy product because of the DirecTV at every seat.
Frontier is a viable Membership Rewards transfer option if you want to fly to its destinations. And I’ve added the Frontier credit card to my future applications’ list.
All of this makes the The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard with 40,000 bonus miles after spending $500 in the first three months an awesome value!
Application Link: The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard
Further Reading
- More info about the Frontier elite program, the inflight experience, and award searches from the MileValue post The Incredible Frontier Award Chart.
- Route Map
- Award Chart
- Award Search (don’t forget to sign up for an account first)
- In Flight Menu
- Application Link: The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
Editing note: In #4 on the things-that-jump-out-on-the-chart list, I think you mean to say, “Frontier awards don’t have any fuel surcharges.”
I’m assuming from the silence in the blog post that there are no opportunities for using Frontier miles with any partners. Too bad, since they left my home airport. It looks like a decent program for some.
Correct, no partner options.
Frontier has got to be one of the worst airlines right now. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with them over the last year and hear a lot of horror stories from other people flying them. Living in Denver though sometimes they are the best option, although I will usually only fly them if they are half the price of any other airline or if the flight time fits my schedule best. Lets hope they end up getting bought out by someone like Alaska Air.
They were bought by a private equity group trying to take them to ultra-low cost territory. Expect more of the same or worse.
I’ve redeemed MR for Frontier miles and been able to get good value for them (4 tix to MX @ 30K per).
Also: the 5,000 mile discount on cardholder companion award redemptions is only available when the cardholder purchases a revenue ticket. It is not available when the cardholder redeems miles for his/her flight. (Note language in fine print: Companion must travel “on the same flight as cardholder’s **paid** ticket”
Expect a devaluation, though, in F9’s chart/service (paid carry-ons?) since they just got bought by the same group that owns/manages Spirit.
I think the paid carry ons are more of a gimmick to get you to book from flyfrontier.com instead of other sites to which Frontier has to pay a commission. Currently the carry on is free if you book on flyfrontier.com, and I expect that to continue. I do agree that service will get worse, but for Point A to Point B, I always book the lowest price regardless of service.
Never flown Fronteir.
On Florida-Denver-AK r.t. 20K awards,
are Denver overnights allowed?
If yes, how many at most?
I don’t think stopovers are allowed. If they were, you’d have to book them by phone.
I believe DirectTV is a thing of the past – either been removed already or will be as part of Frontier’s cost-cutting drive to mirror Spirit.
They are selling 37500 miles for 625 right now, not bad if one plans on doing the alaska redemption
https://buy.points.com/marketing/frontier/
I saw that researching this post. I’m going to post it tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
[…] I ran down the gems on the Frontier chart. Frontier charges only 10k miles each way for Standard awards within the US, and Frontier flies to […]
I JUST got the Frontier Mastercard since I go to Colorado and Utah frequently. I’ll be going in March for a wedding with a companion. So when I meet the $500 spending requirement (asap) if I pay full fare for a ticket, then my companion can fly for a 5000 discount on the points, correct? If we book through flyfrontier.com, then will both of us be eligible for a free carry on?
I agree with the comments – I flew Frontier in Sept, 2011, and it was GREAT! My daughter flew at Christmas and had a totally different experience. Hopefully they’ll come around or offer some really good fares.
That’s my understanding.
[…] Frontier for its 20k mile awards to Alaska and incredible award space within the US, Mexico, Costa R… […]
[…] Frontier: 20k mile awards to Alaska plus incredible award space within the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Car… […]
[…] I noted in “Frontier World MasterCard with 40,000 Bonus Miles after Spending $500 Means Two Free Domestic Roundt…“, Frontier has incredible award space to Alaska for only 10k miles per person each […]
Curious if there’s an easier way to search than the obvious initial search, then forward week by week. There NEVER seems to be low-level award availability unless one endpoint is Denver.
[…] Don’t forget when searching for award space on flyfrontier.com that the calendar display is often incorrect! Just by clicking day-by-day, you’ll uncover a lot more Standard award space than just by trusting the calendar. (For more info, see the One Huge Trick with Frontier Award Booking section of this post.) […]
[…] Award booking is very easy on flyfrontier.com, and I explained it screen-by-screen here. […]
Frontier miles are good for 18 months, but can this be extended if there is activity or does it work like airtran where they just expire at a date 18 months out with no way to extend it?
[…] Frontier: 20k mile awards to Alaska plus incredible award space within the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Car… […]
[…] I noted in “Frontier World MasterCard with 40,000 Bonus Miles after Spending $500 Means Two Free Domestic Roundt…“, Frontier has incredible award space to Alaska for only 10k miles per person each […]
[…] Frontier: 10k miles each way to Alaska and 15k to Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean […]