Frontier Airlines: Improving Service and On-Time Performance in Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio – My phone pinged in the middle of the night, alerting me that my early morning flight to Orlando was delayed.

That’s what I get for flying Frontier, I thought, before drifting back to sleep.

Hours later, upon a more clear-eyed reflection, I realized Frontier wasn’t entirely at fault this time. Even though the weather in Cleveland was clear, storms the day before in the western United States caused flight delays across the country.

My flight was delayed because its crew had “timed out” on a previous route – that is, reached the limit on the number of consecutive hours they can work, as set by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Fortunately, the carrier called in another crew, who flew in from Florida, and the delay was limited to two hours.

But the experience got me wondering: Has the new Frontier crew base at Cleveland Hopkins improved overall service for the carrier?

Improved reliability was cited as one of the big benefits of the new crew base, which opened in Cleveland in March 2024.

Having both crew and aircraft start and end the day in Cleveland minimizes the possibility of weather and other disruptions, especially early in the day.

“This enables us to run more reliably,” said Frontier CEO Barry Biffle in late 2023, when he announced Cleveland’s new crew base. “The chances for us having cancellations or major disruptions are much lower with base aircraft.”

Cleveland is home to one of 13 Frontier crew bases, with others located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Juan and Tampa.

The carrier has about 450 flight attendants, pilots and mechanics who are based in Cleveland, as well as seven aircraft.

Now the second-largest carrier in Cleveland, Frontier flies to 22 destinations from Hopkins, more than any airline. Only United Airlines, which also maintains a crew base in Cleveland, flies more passengers to and from Hopkins.

Despite Frontier’s rapid growth in Cleveland, the carrier can’t seem to outrun its poor customer service ratings.

Just this week, The Points Guy released its most recent ranking of the best and worst carriers in the United States, and Frontier ranked last (again).

But there are signs that the carrier is starting to turn things around – both nationally, and in Cleveland.

Jennifer de la Cruz, senior director of corporate communications for Frontier, said the carrier’s complaints are down by as much as 50% year over year, “so clearly we are making progress.”

That improvement, however, is still a work in progress.

An airline’s on-time arrivals percentage is perhaps the single most important metric when it comes to customer service.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Frontier’s on-time percentage in 2024 was 69.5% — that is, more than three out of 10 Frontier flights last year didn’t arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

The good news: That 69.5% rate was better than the year before, when only 67% of Frontier flights were on time.

For comparison, nationwide, the on-time percentage for all U.S. carriers fell slightly in 2024 from the year before, from 78.3% to 78.1%.

In Cleveland, Frontier’s on-time percentage improved at a rate slightly better than it did nationally – from 68.1% in 2023 to 70.7% in 2024.

The carrier is doing even better in early 2025 in Cleveland, according to the most recent DOT figures.

In January, the carrier posted a 72.2% on-time arrivals rate at Hopkins, which increased to 75.3% in February and 74.6% in March.

Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. But the numbers seem to be headed in the right direction.

And it’s no accident, de la Cruz said.

“We have been implementing a number of enhancements and working hard to improve what consumers can expect from us,” she said.

Among the improvements: Clearer, upfront pricing; the elimination of most change and cancellation fees; an upgraded loyalty program; guaranteed empty middle-seat options; plus the introduction of first-class seats later this year.

As for whether I’ll fly them again, after my delayed flight last month? No question. After all, the odds of getting to my destination on time are improving by the month.

Which carriers have the best on-time arrivals percentage at CLE?

United, 80.3%

Delta, 79.5%

JetBlue, 78.4%

Southwest, 75.3%

Alaska, 74.8%

Spirit, 73.4%

Frontier, 70.7%

American, 67.4%

Note: Figures are for 2024 and denote the percentage of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of scheduled time. Figures are for mainline service only and do not include flights on regional carriers for United, Delta and American. Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Ranking the airlines

The Points Guy recently released its list of the nation’s best (and worst) airlines based on a rubric of scores related to reliability, experience, loyalty and cost/reach.