Frontier Airlines is inviting all Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards members to Gold status. You don’t need status with Southwest to match into Gold – you only need to be a member. That’s pretty unprecedented. And it’s only available through April 30.
Frontier has (4) elite status levels – Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Gold members receive priority customer service, family pooling of points, a free carry-on bag as well as free seat assignments (preferred seat at booking, and premium seat if available at check-in). Their extra legroom / blocked middle seats are free within 4 hours of departure.
As with past Frontier status matches, there’s an application fee. It costs $40. Status will be valid until December 31. But if you take a single flight you can make that up. And the offer is valid even for members who have received Frontier status matches before.
And if you don’t have any airline status, leverage basic Southwest membership for Frontier Gold status and use that to match with some other airlines as well.
If you aren’t already a member, start by joining Frontier Miles and then submit your match request. But bear in mind you do already have to be a Rapid Rewards member. They aren’t trying to drive new signups for Southwest.
I think this is great strategy. Customers are unhappy with Southwest for adding checked bag fees and generally walking back their entire differentiated business model, laying off employees for the first time, and going back on the CEO’s word from just a few months ago about what they had planned.
It’s the perfect time for competitors to capitalize on that dissatisfaction – as American and Delta are doing with more generous than usual status match offers. But this takes it to the next level, and also qualifies as expert trolling. I love it!
Of course once you hit Gold status with Frontier you’re earning points faster towards higher levels of status. Plus, points from their co-brand credit card count towards status too.