Update 2/11/21: Deal is available again. Hat tip to DWhite
The Offer
- Barclays is offering 50,000 miles after $500 in spend on the Frontier credit card
Card Details
- $79 annual fee not waived
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x at flyfrontier.com
- 3x on restaurant purchases
- 1x on all other purchases
- Earn 1 qualifying mile for every $1 spent
- Family pooling
- $100 flight voucher after you spend $2,500 or more on purchases during your card member year
Our Verdict
Standard bonus on this card is 40,000 miles, so this is an extra 10,000 miles. I don’t think this card is seriously worth considering when you have the Barclays American Airlines & Hawaiian cards offering 60,000 miles (and those miles are more valuable IMO). Because of that I won’t be adding this to our list of the best credit card bonuses. Read through these things you should know about Barclaycard credit cards before asking any basic questions in the comments.
Hat tip to reader Amir S
Frontier has bumped up the SUB from 50k to 60k.
From the Barclaycard offer:
Earn 40,000 bonus miles after spending $500 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days. Earn an additional 20,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 6 months with the FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard®.
I don’t think that this should move the needle on Doc’s verdict, but the offer at 60k is decidedly better than their norm.
Link (referred from Frontier’s website)
https://cards.barclaycardus.com/banking/credit-card/frontier/mastercard-world/banner/cad07fa9-7971-4f06-a89d-bd1934cd061d/?referrerid=PTRBAScroll
The elevated, public sign-up bonus has returned (from 40k to 50k).
These are definitely niche miles, but the “up to 2 round trip award tickets” pitch is legitimate (although you’ll definitely want to check the cash prices since Frontier will happily sell you a $14 seat for 10k miles when the same route might go for $160 a few days later and still price out at 10k).
There are also more exciting offers card-wise: upgraded boarding, triple miles on dining and waived redemption fees aren’t really game changers.
If your trip is somewhat flexible, you don’t mind longer layovers and you don’t mind dense cabins, Frontier isn’t bad. By going in with low expectations and reading the fine print, I’ve found them to be fine to fly.
I clicked the direct link and didn’t see the 50k offer; just 40k. Ideas?
Currently we are unable to offer you a credit card issued by Barclays Bank Delaware. Details on why we could not make you a credit offer will be mailed to you.
Frontier is definitely not for everyone, but if you’re into budget airlines Frontier is definitely leading the game over Spirit or other budget airlines. Frontier Miles are also much more valuable then Spirit’s which are a complete joke, mainly due to award availability.
The main perk of this card is being able to earn elite status with regular card spend. After 20k spend, you get their elite 20k status which gives you the ability to choose your seat and a free carry-on bag on all flights.
This makes Frontier flights way more valuable. I’ve managed to fly from the east coast to Vegas for $42 and to San Juan for $34. They currently have B1G1 on Vegas flights where you can get flights to Vegas from various cities (Cincinnati/Orlando/Philadelphia/etc…) for two people for $67 total ($33.5 each). They were also just selling various $15 flights. You can currently get various cheap flights like ATL – SFO for $40 on Wednesdays.
I don’t think it’s worth a 6/24 slot if Barclay is enforcing that, but if you fly Frontier often, a free carry-on bag ($35 savings per segment) and the annual $100 certificate definitely makes it worth it, assuming you can MS 20k.
Elite status or VIP Redneck status!
I will say tho- there are a lot of times when I’m looking for a flight somewhere, and not only is Frontier way cheaper (especially if booked at airport), but they are also one of only direct flights to X. Looking forward to flying to DEN tomorrow (summer season!) for $39.
The other thing is that it’s such a low spend. This is really important to me, I don’t have local opportunities for big MS being in a big east coast city with no car, and having checked out of The Hobby a few years, this can be done super easily. I won’t do it since I’m 2/24 right now, but if I was 6/24, yeah.
Alternatively, I would suggest you look for better destinations, if Frontier is the only one that flies there. Especially from a big east coast city. Or plan ahead instead of waiting to purchase at the airport.
Counterpoint – Cleveland is a ‘fairly large’ city and is only served DIRECT by United to many places… Spirit and Frontier lunged at this opportunity to occupy the budget space- but Spirit really sucks.
Meanwhile – the United Flights are only once a day, and are thusly blocked out unless you have the United Card (17,500 one way without usually)
This concept seems to apply to many ‘mid market’ cities… So its great for those in less populated areas perhaps.
thank you int’l churner…… appreciate you going against the easy negative grain with some interesting options. Happens I’ve held on to a legacy version of this card since the days when Frontier actually flew to smaller market, east coast airports — like Shenandoah & Wilmington (DE) — then jilted us….. (grrrr….) Used my Frontier card ever since more for the extremely low balance transfer offers (1% t/f/0% interest etc., etc.)…..
Best use I ever found for my 50k Frontier miles was courtesy Drew Macomber & TIF….. Drew, as per usual, (4+ years ago) found the odd-ball redemption hit — two free nights at any Radisson in North America. (used ours at Melbourne, FL Rad, peak season.) https://travelisfree.com/radisson-the-best-use-of-frontier-miles/
Wonder if that odd-ball redemption option is still there? (will check)
Drew goes on to otherwise diss Frontier miles — as most of us ordinarily would. But then you raise the intriguing prospect of earning elite status — as in free bags, better seats, etc….. (too bad they don’t come with the card, before the spend!) But we can get them for…. for a whopping 20K in spend….. hard to swallow.
Still, I hear you on Frontier still having exceptionally cheap seats, even close in, especially for flights out …. well, to the frontier, via Denver — and Timberline grille 🙂 Happens I could have hopped on Frontier flights to Jackson Hole or Kalispell, MT next week for barely $50. (not counting baggage)
But wow, 20k in spend… mmmmmm….. So do we have to keep spending 20k each year for the elite status… ? (well we might also get a free night on the beach to boot 😉 )