What is Frontier Airlines’ Unaccompanied Minor Policy? (2023)
Does Denver-based Frontier Airlines allow kids to fly alone?
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Frontier Airlines, with major hubs in Denver and Orlando, is an ultra-low cost (ULCC) carrier that serves a number of cities across the United States. Its à la carte fee-based pricing model enables it to offer rock bottom fares to customers.
When airfare is expensive and money is tight, booking a flight on an ultra-low cost carrier like Frontier Airlines, as well as competitors Spirit Airlines (until it gets absorbed by JetBlue) and Allegiant Air, can be a good way to trim personal spending and save some money.
If you are in a situation where you need to purchase a plane ticket for your kid, grandchild, younger sibling, niece, or nephew so that they can visit a distant friend, relative, grandparents, or attend summer camp by themselves, be sure to check with your airline on their unaccompanied minor policy before buying a ticket.
Policies and fees for carrying unaccompanied minors vary by airline.
Does Frontier Airlines accept unaccompanied minors?
Since it offers some of the cheapest plane tickets around, Frontier Airlines may come to mind for flying an unaccompanied minor.
Unfortunately, as they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Frontier Airlines is only able to offer such low fares because its business model emphasizes reducing its own operational costs. The airline’s savings are then passed off to the traveling public in the form of cheaper fares.
So what does this mean for Frontier’s Unaccompanied Minor Policy?
The emphasis on low operational costs means that Frontier Airlines does not have an unaccompanied minor program, having done away with the service in November 2018. For those who do not fly too frequently, this is still a relatively recent change from its previous policy.
This means that currently, kids cannot fly alone on Frontier and are required to fly with an accompanying adult on the same reservation.
Why doesn’t Frontier Airlines allow unaccompanied minors?
Frontier Airlines, along with most ultra-low cost carriers does not offer an unaccompanied minor (UM) service.
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You may feel like shaking your fist at Frontier for not allowing unaccompanied minors, but the reality is that running an unaccompanied minor (UM) program is an expensive proposition for airlines, which doesn’t fit Frontier Airline’s business model.
Operating an unaccompanied minor program requires a lot of administrative housekeeping for the airline to ensure your precious cargo gets from point A to point B safe and sound. This also includes the cost of providing extra staff to escort children through a busy airport, perform check-in and check-out duties, rebook them in the event of flight disruptions, etc.
As much as we hate airline fees, the cost of an unaccompanied minor program is why airlines that do offer the service charge an extra fee to help cover their costs. The fee is often cheaper than needing to buy a second adult ticket to fly with your child, so it’s usually worth it. Plus, flying unaccompanied can give kids an experience of a lifetime and also help develop their sense of independence and resiliency.
Another reason Frontier Airlines doesn’t take unaccompanied minors is because of its infrequent service to cities, sometimes only flying in a couple times per week. If something were to happen with your child’s Frontier flight, such as a major delay, cancellation, or missed connection, it could strand them for a few days until the next flight.
Frontier also flies a lot of late-night and red eye flights, which are not conducive to children traveling alone. In fact, of the airlines that do allow kids to travel alone, most prohibit them from taking late-evening and overnight flights.
To summarize, Frontier Airlines doesn’t allow unaccompanied minors because its business model and flight schedule make it highly inefficient and nearly infeasible.
What is the minimum age to fly Frontier Airlines alone?
What if you have (or you are) a teenager who is highly independent? The good news is that teens who are 15 years or older can fly alone on Frontier Airlines.
Teenagers who meet this age requirement will fly Frontier as a regular adult, without any restriction.
This freedom also means there will be no special attention or accommodation provided if things go wrong. So before you book that ticket, be sure that your teenager is fully capable of handling themselves like an adult passenger. This includes buying their own food, interacting with adults on their own, finding their own way through an airport, and knowing what to do in the event of a flight delay or cancellation.
Which discount Ultra-Low Cost Carriers accept unaccompanied minors?
If Frontier Airlines doesn’t allow kids under the age of 15 to fly alone, do any other discount airlines with ultra-low fares allow them?
Allowing kids to travel alone on an ultra-low cost carrier is definitely a rarity.
For many of the same reasons that Frontier doesn’t offer an unaccompanied minor program, neither do its ultra-low cost competitors Allegiant, Avelo, Breeze, or Sun Country. Passengers must be 15 years of age to fly these airlines, with the exception of Breeze, which allows those 13 and older to fly alone as an adult passenger.
Spirit Airlines offers an unaccompanied minor program, and is the only ultra-low cost carrier in the United States to do so. Kids must be at least age 5 to fly alone on Spirit, and beginning at age 15, teens can fly alone without being required to be part of Spirit’s unaccompanied minor program.
JetBlue recently announced it will be acquiring Spirit and integrating it into its operations. With the elimination of Spirit from the ULCC scene, it’s entirely plausible that in just a few years’ time it won’t be possible to fly kids alone on any discount airline.
Frontier Airlines’ main competitor, Spirit Airlines, allows kids ages 5 through 14 to fly alone with its unaccompanied minor program.
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What are your other options for flying an unaccompanied minor?
As you can tell, it is rare that ultra-low cost (ULCC) airlines allow kids to travel alone. If Spirit Airlines, as the only option that allows unaccompanied minors, does not work for you, you’ll need to turn to a more traditional low cost or legacy carrier.
All the other major airlines in the US, including Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United allow unaccompanied minors to fly. Delta’s unaccompanied minor program even offers a dedicated Kids Zone at many of its hub airports to keep your child occupied during their journey.
Summary
While rock bottom, cheap airfare is the main draw to Frontier Airlines, the low cost plane tickets come with a compromise. The airline is an ultra-low cost carrier and is only able to offer its cheaper fares by reducing its operational costs.
This means that Frontier Airlines has opted to not offer an unaccompanied minor (UM) program, since programs like this can be expensive for an airline to operate. As such, kids are not allowed to fly alone on Frontier Airlines until age 15.
Frontier barring kids from traveling alone is not unique to the ultra-low cost carrier space. Of Frontier’s five other main ULCC competitors, Spirit Airlines is the only one that currently offers an unaccompanied minor service.
So parents, grandparents, older siblings, aunts, and uncles, you’ll need to turn to a different airline to book your young traveler on their solo, unaccompanied adventure.
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