Frontier Doubles Down on Pursuing Carry-On 'Shoplifters'

A recent Senate investigation report found Frontier and Spirit Airlines paid $26 million to gate agents between 2022 and 2023 to catch customers who failed to pay luggage fees, per the AP. Spirit says it ended that practice at the end of September, reports Reuters. But Frontier—found to have paid personnel $10 for each bag a passenger was forced to check—only seems to be doubling down. "These are shoplifters, these are people that are stealing," CEO Barry Biffle told Reuters of the fliers earlier this week, ahead of airline executives responding to the report before a Senate panel. To allow them to carry on would not be "equitable to everyone who follows the rules."

"Airlines these days view their customers as little more than walking piggy banks to be shaken down for every possible dime," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said at the Wednesday hearing. Responding to a question about baggage fees, Frontier Chief Commercial Officer Robert Schroeter noted "our job is to generate the most revenue we can so we can keep profitable," per the AP. Unlike most carriers, low-fare Frontier requires fliers to pay up to $99 to use an overhead bin. Some 64% of its $3.5 billion in passenger revenue in 2023 came from ancillary charges added on to the base fare for things like luggage, seat assignments, and snacks, Quartz reports.

The airline is now looking to draw higher fares, announcing Tuesday that it plans to offer first-class-style seating on all flights by late 2025. "There's a percentage of our customers willing to pay more for comfort," Biffle told Reuters. Echoing Delta CEO Ed Bastian and Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan, Biffle also said the airline industry stood to benefit under President-elect Trump's lax approach to airline regulation. There's "going to be kind of [an] unshackling," Biffle said. "We're going to focus on things that matter ... like safety, and stop worrying about regulating prices and regulating experiences." (More Frontier Airlines stories.)