Frontier Airlines is starting an online-auction and shopping website where the currency is frequent-flier miles, not dollars.
The bidding and buying are open only to Frontier frequent fliers who fly the most – Frontier’s 50,000 Ascent and Summit members.
The standard way to become an Ascent member is to fly at least 15,000 miles within a calendar year. Those who fly 25,000 miles in a calendar year reach the Summit level.
The new Frontier shopping site is the More Store. It has a decidedly upscale tone compared with Frontier’s campy commercials with talking animals.
Available for auction or sale are items from Frontier’s marketing partners: Colorado Rockies baseball-game tickets, and restaurant certificates and luggage from eBags. Many marketing partners are Colorado businesses and organizations.
For the store’s opening, Frontier is putting up for auction a new Mercedes M-class SUV from Murray Motor Imports at a starting bid of 10,000 miles.
The most Frontier miles held by one person is about 300,000, Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said.
The More Store is not the first website where you can bid on items with frequent-flier miles. Continental Airlines, for example, started a OnePass online-auction website in 2002, co-branded with eBay. Items recently up for bid include a “Harry Potter” book, a Presidents Club membership and a vacation to Puerto Rico.
Still, Frontier executives hope the online auction and website will help differentiate it from competitors and attract more loyal frequent fliers.
Competitor United Airlines does not have a frequent-flier auction website.
But members of competing airlines’ frequent-flier programs had “all these things that they were striving for,” Frontier spokesman Andrew Hudson said.
Frontier’s frequent-flier program, with more than a million members, has some advantages over other airline-loyalty programs. For example, Frontier frequent fliers can get a free trip with as few as 15,000 miles.
But the Frontier frequent-flier program, started in 2001 and called Early Returns, also has disadvantages. Unlike United, Frontier doesn’t fly to Europe. Frontier does not have first class or business class, so travelers cannot upgrade. It would take about a $5 million investment to create first-class seats, Hodas said.
“The United program is so strong, so established and (has) so many millions of members that that’s very difficult for Frontier to overcome,” said Terry Trippler, airline expert at CheapSeats.com.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
More online: Frontier Airlines’ More Store.
