Fly enough on any airline and you'll eventually hold funny money: trip credits from cancellations, vouchers from disruptions or promotions. Frontier's versions have specific rules, and the difference between knowing them and not is usually the entire value of the credit.
Trip credits (credit shells)
Cancel an eligible booking and the value lands in a credit shell. Mind the cancel fee first: standard fares can carry a cancellation charge in the $99 to $129 per direction range unless a bundle, elite status, or the 24 hour grace period covers it, and that fee comes out of your credit. The other rules that matter:
- Standard validity is 12 months from when the credit is issued, though some credits have been dated from the original booking instead. The expiration date shown in your account is the truth; trust it over any rule of thumb, and check it the day the credit appears.
- Credits are multi-use: valid until the full value is spent, not single-shot. A $100 shell can buy several small bookings.
| Trip credits | Vouchers | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Canceled bookings | Goodwill, promos, disruptions |
| Clock | Typically 12 months from issue (check your account) | Often as short as 90 days to redeem |
| Multi-use | Yes, until spent | Usually one application |
| Covers | Booking value | Often airfare only |
Vouchers
Vouchers, the kind issued for goodwill or promotions, behave differently and generate most of the confusion:
- They often cover only the airfare portion. Taxes, fees, seats, and bags may be excluded, which is why a $50 voucher applied to a $60 total can leave a puzzling balance. Read the specific voucher's terms.
- Name matching matters. The voucher's passenger name has to be on the reservation, spelled the same way.
- Expiration is absolute, and often short. Many vouchers must be redeemed within 90 days of issue, though the travel itself can be scheduled further out. An expired voucher is worth exactly nothing, and agents have little power to resurrect one.
The GoWild angle
The passholder-specific wrinkle: GoWild bookings are so cheap that credits and vouchers are hard to spend on them; there's not much airfare to cover on a $0.01 fare. The smart uses for credits in a passholder's life are the cash bookings: blackout-date trips, bags and seats, and flights for family members who don't hold a pass. Point the funny money at the expensive stuff and let the pass handle the cheap stuff.
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WildFares is an independent tool and publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Frontier Airlines, Inc. GoWild! is a trademark of Frontier Airlines, Inc. Where this article mentions third party products or services, including other GoWild search tools, those names are trademarks of their respective owners and we have no affiliation or relationship with them. Program rules, prices, taxes, and dates change often. Always confirm current terms directly with the airline before you buy or book anything.