Frontier Airlines obfuscates web check-in form

Frontier Airlines charges up to $5 per passenger, per direction for checking in to a flight through its website, while making the mobile app check-in free.^[1] In mid-2024, the airline redesigned its homepage to remove the web check-in form from the front page, requiring passengers to click through secondary menus to find it.^[2][3] The combination of a fee penalty for using the website and the deliberate obfuscation of the check-in form pushes passengers toward Frontier's mobile app, a practice that passengers have described as a dark pattern.^[4]

Frontier Airlines is a Denver-based ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) that transitioned to an unbundled fare model in 2014.^[5] Under this model, the base fare covers transportation only, while nearly every other service is monetized as an ancillary fee. As of 2025, Frontier reported ancillary revenue of $67.57 per passenger.^[6]

Beyond the $5 web check-in fee, Frontier charges a Carrier Interface Charge (CIC) of up to $23 per passenger, per flight segment for booking tickets through its website or call center.^[1] Passengers can avoid the CIC by purchasing tickets at an airport counter, a workaround that travel publications have documented as saving $23 per segment on identical fares.^[7] Aviation commentator Gary Leff has argued that structuring the CIC as a separate fee rather than including it in the base fare allows Frontier to avoid paying the mandatory 7.5% federal excise tax on that portion of the ticket price.^[8] Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Air, Sun Country, and Breeze Airways charge similar per-segment online booking fees ranging from $3.99 to $54.^[9]

Before mid-2024, the Frontier Airlines homepage included a check-in form directly on the front page, allowing passengers to enter their confirmation code and check in without leaving the page.^[2] By August 2024, the homepage no longer displayed this form. Instead, it presented a prominent "DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO CHECK-IN!" message with links to the iOS and Android app stores.^[3][10]

Passengers who wanted to check in through the website had to locate the form through indirect routes. One path required clicking "Customer Service" at the bottom of the page, then finding "Help checking in" in the FAQs, then expanding "Other ways to check in" to reveal the hidden form.^[3] Another workaround involved clicking "My Trips and Travel Info" and then "Manage Trip."^[10]

Frontier's official fee schedule lists website check-in at "up to $5 per passenger, per direction (non-refundable)," while app check-in carries no fee.^[1] The stated policy on the Optional Services page reads: "A fee will apply to customers who check in on the website. Passengers may check in using our mobile app to avoid this fee and save time and money."^[1] The fee language has appeared on Frontier's website since at least December 2022, according to Wayback Machine snapshots, but at least one passenger reported in February 2025 that the charge was not applied at checkout despite being listed in the fee schedule.^[1]

Passengers who skip both the website and app and check in at the airport counter face a $25 per passenger, per direction "Airport Agent Assistance" fee.^[1] In May 2025, a passenger at Raleigh-Durham who arrived 50 minutes before departure was told he needed to pay $25 for counter check-in. When he complained, a Frontier agent threatened to ban him from the airline and called police. The passenger ended up purchasing a $500 JetBlue ticket instead.^[11]

Frontier has not issued a public statement explaining why the web check-in form was moved off the homepage. The airline's consumer-facing messaging frames the app as a convenience: "Save time and money with the Frontier mobile app. Use the Frontier mobile app to book and manage travel, check-in, and get your boarding pass quickly and easily."^[10]

On May 17, 2024, Frontier announced "The New Frontier," a pricing overhaul that eliminated change fees for Economy and higher fare classes, extended flight credit validity from 90 days to 12 months, and reintroduced live phone support.^[12] The initiative did not address the web check-in fee or the homepage redesign.

Among budget carriers, Frontier's practice of charging for website check-in while keeping app check-in free is unusual. European ULCCs penalize passengers who fail to check in digitally, but they do not charge for website check-in specifically. Ryanair charges up to 55 EUR (55 GBP in the United Kingdom) for airport check-in but allows free check-in through both its website and app.^[13] Wizz Air charges 13 to 40 EUR for airport check-in but offers free online check-in on its website and app.^[14]

U.S. competitors Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Air, and Sun Country charge online booking fees (called "Passenger Usage Charge," "Electronic Carrier Usage Charge," or "Passenger Interface Charge") of $3.99 to $22.99 per segment, but these apply to the ticket purchase transaction, not to the check-in process itself.^[9]

Frontier has held the worst complaint ratio among major U.S. airlines for three consecutive years. In 2024, passengers filed 23.3 complaints per 100,000 passengers with the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 10 points above the next-worst airline (Spirit, at 12.8) and over 15 times the rate of Southwest (1.5).^[15] In 2024, U.S. airlines received a record 66,675 total complaints.^[15]

Frontier's check-in cutoff policy compounds the fee issue. The airline closes counter check-in 60 minutes before departure, and passengers who miss the window cannot board regardless of willingness to pay.^[1]

In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation finalized the "Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees" rule, which would have required airlines to disclose baggage, cancellation, and change fees upfront during the initial fare quote. The DOT estimated the rule would save consumers $500 million annually.^[16] Airlines for America, the airline industry trade group, challenged the rule in court. On February 3, 2026, the en banc Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the rule after the DOT conceded it had failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment requirements for a cost-benefit study used in the rulemaking.^[17]

The Federal Trade Commission has warned that dark patterns, which it defines as "design practices that trick or manipulate users into making choices they would not otherwise have made," may violate Section 5 of the FTC Act. The FTC's 2022 report on dark patterns specifically cited hidden costs and manipulative user interfaces as enforcement targets.^[18] No enforcement action targeting Frontier's web check-in design has been announced.

Frontier has faced separate DOT enforcement for other consumer protection violations. In November 2022, the DOT ordered Frontier to pay $222 million in refunds and a $2.2 million civil penalty for failing to provide timely refunds during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[19] In January 2025, the DOT fined Frontier $650,000 for operating three chronically delayed flights at least 63 times between August 2022 and April 2023.^[20]