Frontier Airlines Is Offering the GoWild! Pass This Summer — Is It Worth It?

Budget airline Frontier is offering unlimited flights between May 2 and Sept. 30 for just $399 with its Go Wild! All-You-Can-Fly Summer Pass.

Once you pony up the money and buy the GoWild! Pass, you can fly anywhere Frontier Airlines flies domestically and internationally for just $0.01. Sound too good to be true? It may be. Let's see if the pass is really worth it.

Before you shell out $400 to Frontier, you should know the fine print that goes along with this new promotion. For example, if you think you can use your pass to fly to California to visit your parents for July 4 holiday, think again. The July 4 weekend is just one of several blackout dates you are restricted from using your pass.

There are a total of 12 blackout days that fall around the popular summer holiday weekends of July 4, Memorial Day, and Labor Day.

“Every notable weekend is marked as a blackout period,” tweeted John Pompliano.

The goal of the GoWild! Pass program is to fill empty seats, which costs the airline thousands of dollars. In 2021, Frontier had five million seats that flew empty. That’s what prompted the airline to launch its first GoWild! Pass promotion last November.

With the GoWild! Pass, there are no guarantees that you’ll be able to get the flight you want. If you’re flying to a destination within the U.S., you have to book your flight the day before you want to travel. If the plane is booked, you’re out of luck.

You must book your international flight seat 10 days before departure. The international destinations that Frontier flies to are limited to Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. You might have more luck getting on one of these flights because it’s hard to imagine many people flying to Cancun or St. Thomas in the middle of July.

Frontier’s GoWild! Summer Pass covers the cost of your fare, and that’s about it. Because it's a budget airline, Frontier only allows passengers to take one small personal item on the plane for free. You’ll have to pay for your carry-on luggage, and sometimes the cost can be just as much, if not more than what you’d pay to check your bag.

A carry-on bag on Frontier can cost anywhere from $30 for a pre-booked bag to $60 for a carry-on you check at the gate. Those prices are for a one-way flight, so if you are flying roundtrip, you’ll probably pay about $100 for your luggage.

Airfare on Frontier also doesn’t include a seat assignment, so you’ll have to pay for that if you don’t want to be stuck at the back of the plane. However, since the GoWild! Pass is only used for flights with empty seats, you’re seating options may already be limited.

You’ll also have to pay taxes, fees and other charges for the flight, which can cost more than the fare itself. For example, on a roundtrip flight from Madison, Wisc., to Denver, the fare cost about $62, and the taxes and carrier-imposed fees amounted to about $154.

So, a roundtrip Frontier flight using your GoWild! Pass will cost you about $250–$300, not including the $399 you pay to get the pass.