The Frontier Airlines MasterCard is the official rewards credit card of Frontier Airlines. This card is best suited to people who routinely fly with Frontier Airlines and want a simple and quick way to earn airline mileage and rewards. The Frontier Airlines MasterCard is issued by Barclaycard.
Frontier Airlines is a low fare airline with a primary hub based out of Denver International Airport (DEN). It has routes to over 80 destinations in the United States as well as flights to Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. In addition to Denver (DEN), airports with frequent Frontier Flights include Atlanta (ATL), Cleveland (CLE), Washington DC (IAD), Orlando (ORL), Phoenix (PHX), and Salt Lake City (SLC). The value of this card’s benefits is in direct proportion to whether you use Frontier Airlines for your travel needs (or plan to in the future) and how much you regularly spend on travel. If you don’t live near an airport that Frontier Airlines serves or don’t fly that often, your ability to earn rewards will be severely diminished.
The Frontier Airlines MasterCard is currently offering new cardholders the opportunity to earn 40,000 bonus miles upon approval. Card members must make at least $500 in eligible purchases on the card within the first 90 days of activation. Returns and/or credits will not count towards the required amount. Cardholders must also pay the $69 annual fee to be eligible to receive the bonus mileage. The 40,000 bonus miles are enough to redeem two domestic roundtrip award flights. (Card member is responsible for any fees and taxes.)
New members can take advantage of a 0% introductory APR for 15 months on balance transfers. To qualify, balance transfer requests must be submitted and post to your account within 45 days from the date your account is opened. After this time, a variable APR of 15.99% or 24.99% will be applied to balance transfers. Your specific APR is determined at the time of approval and is based on your creditworthiness. A balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the total amount of the transfer (whichever is greater) is applied to all balance transfers including those made during the 0% introductory APR offer.
There is no introductory APR available on purchases. The APR will be a variable 15.99% or 24.99%, depending on your creditworthiness.
Cardholders earn double miles for every dollar spent on purchases made at FlyFrontier.com and an additional one mile per dollar spent on all other purchases made with the Frontier Airlines MasterCard.
Other benefits of this card include:
- No blackout dates for available award seats
- Complimentary online FICO score
- Award redemption fee waiver
- Miles can be redeemed at many rental car companies
Card members also get the following benefits which are standard with a World MasterCard:
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance
- 24/7 emergency assistance with MasterCard Global Service
- Reimbursement for delayed or lost baggage
- $200,000 Worldwide Automatic Travel Accident Insurance
- $0 fraud liability
This card charges a 3% foreign transaction fee for any purchases made on the card while traveling outside of the U.S.
The Frontier Airlines MasterCard has an annual fee of $69.
The Facts
Here we’ve broken down the specifics of the Frontier Airlines MasterCard to help when deciding whether it’s worth signing up.
The Good
Signup bonus:
New card members can earn 40,000 bonus miles by spending a minimum of $500 on the card within the first 90 days of opening an account. This time period begins as soon as you are approved for the Frontier Airlines MasterCard and all qualifying purchases must post to your account before the end of the 90 days. Returns and credits made during this period will be deducted from the $500 spending threshold. Also, cardholders must pay the annual fee of $69 to be eligible to receive the bonus mileage reward. The actual amount of time you have to make the required purchases may be less than 90 days depending on when you receive your card.
Balance Transfer Promotional Period:
The Frontier Airlines MasterCard is offering new members the opportunity to receive a 0% annual percentage rate on balance transfers which are made within the first 45 days of opening your account. This special promotional APR is applied for the first 15 billing cycles. The APR after this will be 15.99% or 24.99% depending on your creditworthiness. This is determined at the time you are approved for the card. A balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the total amount of the transfer (whichever is greater) is applied to all balance transfers including those made during the 0% introductory APR offer.
Signup bonus miles equate to two roundtrip award flights:
If you qualify and receive the 40,000 bonus miles they can be redeemed for two roundtrip award flights. The taxes and fees, which start from $22.40, are your responsibility.
Simple rewards program:
Cardholders earn double miles for every dollar spent on purchases made at FlyFrontier.com and an additional one mile per dollar spent on all other purchases made with the Frontier Airlines MasterCard.
Note: You must make at least one purchase on your card every six months to keep your miles from expiring.
No blackout dates:
The miles you earn using your Frontier Airlines MasterCard can be redeemed at any time for a Frontier Airlines flight as long as award seats are available. Card members may book reward travel once a minimum of 20,000 miles have been earned and deposited into their account.
Award redemption fee waiver:
Card members are not charged a redemption fee when booking an award ticket. You must pay any applicable fees and taxes with your Frontier Airlines MasterCard to qualify for this perk. Fees start at $5.60 for a one-way ticket.
Complimentary FICO score:
Cardholders have 24/7 access to their FICO score online. There are no charges or hidden fees for this service.
Mileage can be redeemed for rental cars:
The miles card members earn can be used at many major car rental companies. These include:
- Avis
- Hertz
- National
Each company has its own terms and conditions for mileage redemption.
The Bad:
No priority boarding and no free checked bags:
Priority boarding is not available so if you are a frequent flier who appreciates this perk, you may want to seriously consider this fact. Also, card members do not receive a free checked bag with this card. If you travel often, these baggage fees can really add up quickly.
Foreign Transaction Fees:
If you use this card to make purchases outside of the U.S., you will be charged a 3% foreign transaction fee on the total price of each purchase. If you often travel abroad, these fees can accumulate very quickly.
Annual fee:
The Frontier Airlines MasterCard comes with an annual fee of $69 which is not waived. Additionally, this fee must be paid in order to be eligible to receive the signup mileage bonus.
The Ugly:
Limited flights and destinations:
Frontier Airlines touts itself as a low fare airline and as such, it does not have the same routes and destinations that the major airlines offer. Unless you routinely fly Frontier Airlines and are able to take advantage of their EarlyReturns frequent flier program to accumulate miles, the additional miles earned with this credit card will not provide many benefits.