The Barclays Frontier Airlines World Mastercard® gives you two free checked bags per flight and family mile pooling, making it potentially valuable for frequent Frontier flyers. While the card offers nice rewards on Frontier purchases and restaurants, it’s best used as a secondary card since its benefits are limited to just one airline.
This credit card review will cover everything you need to know about this card to determine if you should add this card or a different card to your wallet. Let’s dive right in.
Welcome Bonus of Frontier Mastercard
The Frontier Airlines Mastercard currently offers the following welcome bonus: 50,000 miles plus a $100 flight voucher after spending $500 on purchases and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days of account opening, plus instant Gold elite status with account opening and first purchase, then spend $3,000 to keep Elite Gold Status, both within the first 90 days of account opening, to maintain status for 12 months.
Before jumping on this offer, keep in mind that Frontier miles can only be redeemed for Frontier flights. You won’t be able to transfer these miles to other airlines or hotel programs.
Earning Miles with Frontier Mastercard
The Frontier Airlines Mastercard earns miles at the following rates:
This card’s earning structure really only makes sense if you frequently fly Frontier, since the 5x multiplier on Frontier purchases is the standout feature. The 3x on dining is decent but misleading since Frontier miles are worth significantly less than other airline miles or transferable points – making the real earning value quite low.
The ability to earn elite status through credit card spending is a nice perk for Frontier loyalists who want to fast-track their way to status benefits. While 5x on Frontier flights sounds appealing on paper, most travelers would be better served by a card earning flexible points that can be used across multiple airlines and have higher redemption values.
Annual Fee of Frontier Mastercard
The Frontier Airlines card has a $99 annual fee. The annual fee can be easily offset through valuable benefits like two free checked bags (which can save you $49-98 per flight) and a $100 flight voucher each account anniversary when you spend $2,500 or more during your card membership year.
Card Benefits of Frontier Mastercard
Below are the card benefits and perks of the Frontier Airlines Mastercard: Two Free Checked Bags: When you pay with your card, you’ll get two free checked bags on all Frontier Airlines-operated flights. This can lead to significant savings on baggage fees. Flight Voucher: After spending $2,500 on purchases in a card membership year, you’ll receive a $100 flight voucher on your account anniversary. This helps offset the card’s annual fee. Award Fee Waiver: Frontier Airlines normally charges a fee of up to $75 when you want to use your miles, but holding the Frontier Mastercard allows you to avoid this fee. Priority Boarding: Cardmembers receive priority Zone 2 Boarding to help get on the plane in front of other passengers. Family Mileage Pooling: This card also unlocks the ability to pool miles with up to 8 family and friends. 0% Intro APR: This card offers 0% introductory APR for 15 months on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening. After that, a variable APR will apply, 20.49% to 29.99%, based on your creditworthiness and other factors. No Foreign Transaction Fees: You’ll save money on every purchase while traveling internationally since this card doesn’t add the typical 3% surcharge that many other cards impose.
Redeeming Frontier Airline Miles
The primary way to use your miles is for flight redemptions, with more options coming in the near future. When redeeming miles for Frontier flights, you’ll encounter three different award tiers. Value awards start at 10,000 miles one-way for domestic flights (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees) and are comparable to saver awards on traditional carriers. You’ll typically find these on off-peak dates or less popular flights, though they can appear on other dates when demand is low. Standard awards cost twice as much as Value tickets, starting at 20,000 miles one-way for domestic flights (plus taxes and fees) and offer more flexibility with available dates. Last Seat awards, as the name suggests, are available until the last seat is booked, starting at 22,500 miles for domestic flights and exclusively available to Frontier elite members. For international destinations, you’ll need more miles. Flights to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Antigua start at 15,000 miles one-way for Value awards, 25,000 miles for Standard awards, and 27,500 miles for Last Seat awards. Booking your award flight is simple. Just visit Frontier’s website, search for your flight, toggle to the miles view, select your desired flight, and log in with your Frontier Miles account to complete the booking. Coming in mid-2025, you’ll be able to redeem your miles for bundled features like baggage, seats, and other add-ons. This will be a welcome addition considering how quickly Frontier’s fees can add up, even when booking award tickets. Currently, alternative redemption options like magazine subscriptions through MagsForMiles offer poor value at around 0.3 cents per mile, making flight redemptions almost always your best bet for maximizing value.
Pros and Cons of Frontier Mastercard
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of this card:
Pros:
Free Checked Bags: Two free checked bags on Frontier flights can save at least $100 per roundtrip, easily offsetting the annual fee with just one trip.
Strong Earning Rate on Flights: The 5x miles earned on Frontier purchases provides excellent rewards for those who frequently fly the airline.
Family Pooling Feature: The ability to pool miles with up to 8 other people offers great flexibility for maximizing rewards across multiple accounts.
Cons:
Limited Redemption Options: Miles can only be used on Frontier flights, with no airline partners or transfer options available.
Restricted Route Network: Frontier’s limited route network, particularly for international travel, restricts where you can use your rewards.
Reliability Concerns: The airline’s reputation for delays and cancellations, with potentially long waits for alternate flights, adds risk.
Better Alternatives Available: For most travelers, general travel cards or other airline cards offer more flexibility and better overall value.
Alternatives to Frontier Mastercard
Now that you know about this credit card’s various benefits and pros and cons, it’s time to see its alternatives.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) is one of the most popular travel rewards cards because it offers nice welcome bonus and extra points on travel and dining, which can be transferred to airline and hotel partners or redeemed directly for travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point through Chase Travel℠. The Sapphire Preferred also offers great travel and purchase protections for a card with a $95 annual fee. Welcome Bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Earning Rewards: 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3x points on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2x points on all other travel purchases, and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. Card Benefits: Ability to transfer to airline and hotel partners, 25% bonus when redeeming points through Chase Travel, $50 annual hotel stay credit via Chase Travel, 10% anniversary points bonus, no foreign transaction fees, primary rental car insurance, trip delay insurance, trip cancellation insurance, baggage delay insurance, purchase protection, and extended warranty. Transfer Partners: Aer Lingus, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways, Emirates, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Hyatt, IHG, Iberia, JetBlue, Marriott, Singapore KrisFlyer, Southwest, United, and Virgin Atlantic.
Bilt Mastercard®
The Bilt Mastercard® (review) lets you earn valuable travel rewards on rent payments without fees while offering bonus points on dining and travel purchases. This no-annual-fee card stands out for its unique rent payment feature and strong travel benefits like rental car coverage and trip protection. Earning Rewards: 5x points on Lyft; 3x points on dining; 2x points on travel purchases; 1x points on rent payments without any transaction fees up to 100,000 points per year, and 1x points on everything else. (Five transactions are required per billing cycle to earn points.) Card Benefits: No transaction fees to pay rent and earn 1x points, primary rental car insurance, cell phone protection, trip delay and trip cancellation insurance, purchase protection, and no foreign transaction fees.
Is the Frontier Mastercard Worth It?
The Frontier Airlines Mastercard is only worth considering if you already fly Frontier at least 3-4 times per year and regularly check bags.
While the card’s checked bag benefit can offset the $99 annual fee in just one round-trip flight, Frontier’s limited route network, restrictive award program, and basic rewards structure make it hard to justify for most travelers.
The reality is that this card works best as a supplementary card for existing Frontier customers rather than a primary travel rewards card, since you can only redeem miles for Frontier flights at relatively low value.
If you don’t regularly fly Frontier, you’ll get much better value from a flexible travel rewards card that lets you transfer points to multiple airlines and offers better earning rates on everyday purchases.
