Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Ever since Frontier turned themselves into an Ultra Low-Cost Carrier (ULCC), they’ve been diversifying their route network and added more non-Denver service. Today, they announced service to an all-new location — San Juan, Puerto Rico — with service to two cities, neither of them Denver. One route makes sense to me, the other seems illogical at best.

Hola Puerto Rico!

This is Frontier’s first service to Puerto Rico, with daily flights to Orlando, FL (MCO) and Philadelphia, PA (PHL).

map-frontier-sju

New Frontier service from San Juan, PR. Map courtesy of gcmap.com

Per Frontier, service will operate as follows:

  • Flights will depart Orlando at 9:55pm and arrive in San Juan at 12:43am. The return flight leaves San Juan at 3:05am and gets to Orlando at 6:10am. This flight will operate daily (year round) with an Airbus A321, starting June 11.
  • Flights will depart Philadelphia at 9:15pm and arrive in San Juan at 1:23am. The return flight leaves San Juan at 2:25am and arrives back in Philadelphia t 6:43am. This flight will operate daily (seasonal) with an Airbus A321, starting June 11.

YIKES! I can’t imagine a flight leaving between 2:30 and 3:00am is going to be exciting to many people, but people love low fares, so I’m sure this will be somewhat popular.

Competition?

Yes–Frontier will face competition on both routes:

  • Orlando, FL (MCO): jetBlue, Southwest, and Spirit
  • Orlando, FL (SFB): Allegiant
  • Philadelphia, PA (PHL): American

Like I said above, Philadelphia makes sense. It’s a nonstop route with only one legacy carrier, meaning there is more opportunity for Frontier to siphon off some of the cheap seat flyers. Orlando, on the other hand, has four carrier serving the city, none of them legacies. I have a feeling one of the (now) five airlines will cry “uncle” soon.

Low introductory fares?

Frontier is offering special introductory fares as low as $39 on these new routes as of today at www.flyfrontier.com. For reference:

Frontier-SJU-sale

What to know

Remember, Frontier charges for bags and seats, which can really increase the price of your ticket. Even still, with those low fares, these tickets plus extras may still be cheaper than the competition.

(READ MORE:  The huge problem flying Frontier)

Also keep in mind that many of these new flights are sub-daily, which can present a problem when irregular operations hit. You can never plan for something like that, but it’s a good piece of knowledge to tuck away.

Conclusion

It’s always great when airlines add, rather than take away, routes. Let us know if you’ll be using these new routes out of your hometown.


Points With a Crew has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Points With a Crew and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them

User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.

BoardingArea