My family and I flew Frontier Airlines this past week. Yes, I know their reputation, but they got my family of four from Orlando to Cincinnati and back, with a checked bag, for less than $500 total.

But one of their policies stuck me as very odd, and I wonder if anyone can offer a reason. With Frontier you have to visit a kiosk, you print your baggage tag, then take the bag to the counter to drop it off. When I visited the kiosk to do this, I was kicked out of the process because it was 12:30pm and my flight was at 2:34pm and I was therefore outside of the allowed 2 hour window within which baggage tags could be printed. I had no idea this was a thing until the kiosk informed me. So I waited 4 minutes, tagged my bag and then waited in line to drop it off.

The line to drop the bag was not long, but there was only one person working. That line took 35 minutes. And then we breezed through security with plenty of time to spare. But I have waited in security lines before that were 45+ minutes. I have also waiting in check in / bag drop lines that were 45+ minutes. With Frontier's policy, if those two were to converge, the person would miss their flight.

What reason could they possibly have for not allowing bags to be tagged and checked more than two hours before the flight?

Probably poor business practice…

Can’t help but think, at some airports, you may well want to be in the security line more than the 2 hours prior to your flight.

I went through this same BS over the weekend flying on Allegiant into Sanford. The only person working the counter said it was so the bags got on the correct flight...

At the end of the day it most likely boils down to saving a penny and nothing to do with anything else that's good for the passenger. I looked at flying one of those budget airlines and after I totaled up all the different fees I ended up flying one of the major carriers because the price difference was marginal. For me I'd rather pay a bit more money for better service than save a few bucks on a cheaper ticket.

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With Frontier you have to visit a kiosk, you print your baggage tag, then take the bag to the counter to drop it off.

Some airlines allow you to print the bag tag at home and then place it in a special plastic holder that you buy at one of the airport stores or from Amazon.

Sounds like this airline won't allow this, but saves a step.

Because Frontier.

Or as Pistoria said, because Allegiant.

Their baggage handlers are not programmed to actually match the tag with the correct flight.

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The day that I got the call telling me that my mother had died, my wife and I got to O'Hare in plenty of time for United's last flight to Laguardia. Last flight of the day, there were just a handful of passengers and they moved us all into first class. Got to Laguardia and discovered that on a non-stop flight from Chicago to New York, with fewer than a dozen passengers, they had managed to lose my luggage.

I’ve had this on American and Delta IIRC. Not sure it’s just the airline.

Gonna take a SWAG, and believe me...it's a SWAG, as that's all "below the wing" stuff I'm not privy to...

It might be that Frontier/MCO doesn't have the infrastructure to handle a sudden onslaught of bags dropped off en masse for flights 3, 4, or more hours in the future. They also may not have the staffing/manpower to do all that sorting for flights that far in advance. So the 2-hour timing might be a workable envelope for them to keep things from getting stacked up and possibly not getting bags to the plane on time for final loading.

United is spending Gazillion$ to update the baggage handling system at IAH. When it's finished, it is SUPPOSED to increase passenger efficiency by XX percent...don't recall the stat. I'm probably going to be retired by the time they finish it, unless the FAA raises the mandatory, age-discriminating retirement age to 68.

Delta make you print the tags at a kiosk too (at MSP), I don't know if there's a time limit or not, but my son printed his at least 3 hours before the flight and dropped them off without a problem last Tuesday.

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Originally posted by erj_pilot:
It might be that Frontier/MCO doesn't have the infrastructure to handle a sudden onslaught of bags dropped off en masse for flights 3, 4, or more hours in the future. They also may not have the staffing/manpower to do all that sorting for flights that far in advance.

This would be my guess as well. Many years ago I worked part-time for a tour outfit that brought bags back to the airport for junkets. There were specific time limits for loading the bags into the airport system. It was explained that this was to avoid putting a bulge in the pipeline of capacity. We'd sometimes sit in the trucks, in a holding yard for an hour or two. It sucked.

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Originally posted by holdem:....but there was only one person working.

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What reason could they possibly have for not allowing bags to be tagged and checked more than two hours before the flight?

You answered your own question. Frontier is a budget carrier. Everything is measured thru cost-cutting and savings.

If an airline accepts your baggage, then they're liable for it, the less time they have to hold onto it, the less chance they can be liable for something happening to it. Space is also an issue, if they take your bag, somebody in back/below, has to separate them and make sure they go to the right ramp/gate. Frontier is so cheap, they probably have a limited number of baggage carts so, again, cost cutting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: corsair,

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Frontier is so cheap, they probably have a limited number of baggage carts so, again, cost cutting.

Yes, and their fares are cheap, if you want top tier service then you have to buy a ticket on a top tier airline, Delta, American, United (yes I know that's subjective) vs a discount budget carrier Frontier, Allegiant....

So for the OP that's the Airline rule, likely because of space for storage, reduction in potential for lost luggage and limited staffing, again, you pay $80 each way you get $80 benefits and features, and should expect nothing more.

We flew Allegiant from Sanlando to Clarksburg, lots of luggage, check in was easy, including a child seat, same on return, but we didn't have Kiosks. Don't remember there being a "cut time" on checking in.