Frontier Airlines Frontier Miles

What the government sources say about frequent flyer programmes

DOT's consumer guide describes frequent-traveler plans in general terms, noting that in most programmes members can also earn credit through specified hotels, rental-car companies and credit cards, and that awards are based on how often a passenger flies the sponsoring airline or its partner carriers. [4] It advises travellers to choose a programme before building a large balance and suggests the questions worth asking: whether the airline flies where the member wants to go, whether partner and commuter-carrier flying earns credit and can be used for awards, how many miles or trips a particular award requires, whether there is a minimum award per flight, whether there is a deadline for using accumulated miles, and how long any blackout periods run. [4] It also notes that airlines usually will not credit mileage flown before a passenger became a member. [4]

Two limits on awards are stated plainly. Carriers often restrict the number of seats on each flight that can be booked with programme awards, so a member may not get first- or second-choice dates or flights. [4] Awards can often be issued in the name of immediate family members, but selling or giving an award to someone not named on the award or travel document can lead to the ticket being confiscated and to a penalty against the member's account balance. [4]

Where Frontier's own terms begin

Each airline has specific rules that make up its contract of carriage, and those rules may differ between carriers. [4] For a US domestic programme, earning, award pricing, expiry, elite qualification, fees, partner participation and account administration belong to the airline's own terms. Programmes that change award prices, and the effect of such changes on a balance, are discussed in points devaluation and revenue-based earning.

Change is built into the model. DOT's guide says airlines reserve the right to make changes to their programmes, sometimes on short notice, that the number of miles required for a particular award might be raised, and that an existing balance may then have to be spent under the more restrictive rules. [4] It adds that a carrier may drop a route, stop serving a city, or end a tie-in with a particular airline or hotel chain. [4]

Federal rules do reach the paperwork. For domestic travel an airline may incorporate its contract terms by reference instead of printing them on the ticket, but it must then give conspicuous written notice that it is doing so and that those terms may include liability limitations, claim-filing deadlines and check-in deadlines. [4] If an airline incorporates terms by reference and does not give the required notice about a particular rule, the passenger is not bound by that rule. [4]

Government rules that sit outside the programme terms

Complaint deadlines come from DOT, not from a programme. DOT requires airlines to acknowledge consumer complaints within 30 days of receiving them and to send a written response addressing the complaint within 60 days of receiving it. [7] Airlines that fly to, from or within the United States must state on their websites how and where complaints can be submitted. [7] DOT advises giving the airline a chance to resolve a problem, at the airport or through its consumer office, before complaining to the department. [7]

Complaints also feed public data. DOT's aviation consumer protection office receives air travel service complaints and uses them to spot trends or areas of concern and to investigate and bring cases against airlines and ticket agents. [3] Apart from civil-rights complaints, DOT does not investigate every complaint received; it conducts targeted or sample reviews to assess compliance with aviation consumer protection requirements. [7] Each month DOT publishes an Air Travel Consumer Report containing the number of complaints received about each airline, together with airline-filed statistics on delays, cancellations, bumping and mishandled baggage, so that consumers can compare carriers' records. [7]

Exceptions and limits

• General wording, not a single carrier's rule. The government descriptions use terms such as most programmes, often and may, so they describe common practice across programmes rather than an obligation binding any one airline. [4]
• The guide is dated by design. DOT warns that airlines frequently change how they do business, so procedures described may already differ by the time a reader consults the guide, and the guide itself carries a notice that some or all of its information may have been superseded by statute or rulemaking and that continued reliance on it is not advised. [4]
• The reporting requirement has a geographic test. The website complaint-notice requirement applies to airlines that fly to, from or within the United States. [7]
• Complaint routing splits by subject. Aviation safety concerns are handled by the Federal Aviation Administration and aviation security concerns by the Transportation Security Administration, not by DOT's aviation consumer protection office. [7]
• Frontier Miles' earning rates, award prices, expiry rules, elite tiers and thresholds, fees, partner airlines, family or points-sharing arrangements, and any status-match or buy-miles terms were not in the sources used here and are not reported on this page. Any such figure should be read on Frontier's own terms before being relied on.

Related pages

Background and comparisons: best airline programmes for North America, how to earn miles and how to redeem miles. Terms used above: elite status, status points and the full glossary.

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026. All three sources are US Department of Transportation consumer-protection pages; Frontier's own programme terms were not among them. No other programme is covered here, including other US carriers' frequent flyer schemes and other low-cost carriers' programmes, and nothing on this page should be read as applying to them.

1. Aviation Consumer Protection, US Department of Transportation, checked 18 October 2026
2. Fly Rights: A Consumer Guide to Air Travel, US Department of Transportation, checked 18 October 2026
3. File a Consumer Complaint, US Department of Transportation, checked 18 October 2026