Frontier Airlines today said it is adding blackout dates to its frequent-flier program.
The blackout dates go into effect on Frontier’s EarlyReturns program July 1. Frontier’s contiguous U.S. and Canada blackout dates will be June 29, July 8, Sept. 3, Nov. 21, Nov. 25, Dec. 21, Dec. 24, Dec. 26 and Dec. 30.
Mexico, Costa Rica and Anchorage flights have different blackout dates. The blackout dates are different for 2008.
EarlyReturns members at the elite Ascent and Summit levels can still use miles on blackout dates by redeeming more miles – 30,000 miles for a roundtrip contiguous U.S. or Canada flight, for example.
The airline also is switching to a different system for determining how many seats are available for frequent-flier redemption on each flight. Instead of a set number of seats on each flight, the number of seats will be “based on consumer demand for that flight,” as of July 1, according to Frontier.
“We’re going to be basically freeing up 30 percent more seats for redemption,” said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas. “This new system allows us to more dynamically determine, ‘OK, this flight’s going to be 60 percent full, so we can allocate more seats for our frequent-flier program.'”
But, for the fullest flights, there probably will be fewer seats available for mileage redemption under the new system.
“There’s still flights that we’re going to predict are going to be 99 percent full, so that number’s not necessarily going to increase for that particular flight,” Hodas said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-954-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
