Frontier Wants You Back, Trolls Southwest With Free Bag Promotion

You know it's a bad idea when your ex-airline slips into your DMs, but that won't stop Frontier from trying.

The corpse of your last flight-relationship with Southwest is barely cold, having finally ended when it announced that it was canceling its long-cherished Bags Fly Free policy in May. The split is recent enough that you haven't told your friends and family yet. You still have one last flight booked next month — bags grandfathered in, of course —  but, man, does that trip promise to be awkward.

And now here comes Frontier, promising it can do all those things that Southwest no longer will...from May 29 through August 18, at least. Frontier CEO Barry Biffle calls it "the ultimate ‘divorce your old airline’ deal."

But breaking up, as they say, is hard to do. Especially when you've devoted so much of yourself to one airline like many of us have to Southwest. Your frequent flier points are there. You have Southwest credit cards, Southwest has your email address, and it contacts you constantly, offering small things for your complete attention. And you often give up that attention, which makes the bag fee betrayal hurt all the more.

But this is hard on Southwest, too, which is going for the "it's not you, it's me" strategy. Adding bag fees to flights booked after May 28—no coincidence a day before Frontier's bargain kicks in—is just part of the company's necessary growing and changing. Maturing, even. Or, as the company put it: "evolving rapidly, implementing new initiatives that support business objectives and [creating] choice for current and future Customers of America’s largest domestic carrier."

But then saunters up that airline that love-bombed you some years back: Frontier, the old fun one, a cheap date by design, but still gave you chocolate-chip cookies, just because. It even had fun tats, like sarcastic anthropomorphic animals on its tailplane, this aeronautic tramp-stamp that promised a good time, if not a long time. It was a good fling while it lasted.

After a while, the fast-and-loose airborne fun gets stale. As Frontier got cheaper, you grew less able to handle the no-frills relationships, and even those frills that existed, like cookies, slipped away as the nickel-and-diming increased. So you returned to Southwest, where you knew the system. It was reliable. Bigger fleet, more on-time departures.

And two free bags. A safe rebound-turned-relationship.

Flying means never having to say you're sorry, though, and Southwest is proving that true, first adding assigned seating (with associated costs to the customer) and now dropping the thing it constantly crowed about — its vaunted "bags fly free" policy— without a bouquet of apology flowers, or anything. It's like they don't care.

Which is why Frontier sees a way back in. The airline's new ad campaign is addressed to you, the "Jilted Lover," and kicks off by saying "This is TRUE LOVE."

It's not, but we appreciate hearing that after all Southwest said and didn't say.

"While other airlines have raised fees, taken away perks, and are making travel feel like a one-sided relationship, Frontier is here for the rebound and offering Low Fares Done Right," Frontier says with a wink that makes you blush even as you hate yourself a little for reacting that way.

And then come the promises to do better. Specifically, starting today and going through August 18, offering the Economy Bundle for free, which includes "perks travelers love," meaning all the things Southwest used to give you before service-ghosting you. A free carry-on bag, free seat selection, no flight change fees, and, for flights departing this summer, a free checked bag, too.

"Help us write the next chapter of a traveler-airline love story," says Frontier Airlines, standing at your front door with a box of tissues and a giant cookie, leaning on the doorframe so you can see the Jack the Rabbit and Grizwald the Bear tats grinning in the reflection of the screen door glass behind. "This is our way of showing you that we value your business and are committed to bringing back the things you love about flying. Book by March 24 to show us the love! If travelers show us they love this deal, we might just make it permanent."

And there it is: the promise. Hey, it'll be different this time. You'll see. I've changed, says Frontier. I'm not the same discount airline I used to be. And if you play your cards right, maybe we'll put a ring (or a branded credit card) on it.

We all know it's just a line, another empty offer that'll be no more than a distraction from anything long-term. But you're still considering it. After all, this is Denver, and the dating scene is rough enough.

Just to prove the point, your phone dings, and sure enough, it's Southwest. "Big sale. Send pics," it says. If anything, your old flier is acting too cool, too calm. "Remember when we went to Cabo that time? That was fun. We should do that again, like, maybe, in April or May, so long as you book before March 27. Restrictions, exclusions, and blackout dates apply. Seats and days limited."

More of the same, Southwest? you think. It's all small print with you.

But even as you're shaking your head at the audacity — the sheer gall! — of an airline to reduce services and then come back with a crappy "one-way as low as" price, trusting that you won't think about it too much, and that you'll just blindly come back to the same-old, same-old?

Frontier is no better. Sure, it's all free bags and promises now, but those, too, will fade. Eventually, everyone has to put their tray tables up and prepare for landing.

For now, you don't have to decide. You'll take a break from flying for a little bit. Embrace air-travel celibacy, on purpose. That's healthy, right? You'll let these airlines work it out, and see who emerges as the better option.

Meanwhile, you'll remain strong and stop yourself from checking Facebook to see what Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines are up to these days.