A Story about an Airline That Doesn't Make You Want to Pull Your Hair Out

When I’m talking to my friend, Patrick, about my blog, he always interrupts me and says, “Oh, you mean your mommy blog,” which makes me bristle because I’m like--it’s not a freaking mommy blog, but then I look back through it, and I’m like oh.  It is kind of a mommy blog.  Whatever, Patrick.  So, here’s a mommy post just for you.

The majority of flying I’ve done since I had children has involved me+the kids by myself due to the nature of my husband’s job.  It’s really not as stressful as some people might think.  Flying with infants=popping out the boob.  Flying with toddlers=popping out the goldfish crackers.  Flying with preschoolers=popping out the Color Wonder coloring books and markers.  After that, they take care of their own popping.  See?  Easy.

In reality, I’ve had good flights and bad, and the level of goodness or badness can basically be measured on three scales:

1. The number of times I had to clean up barf or poop--4 points possible.
2. The number of times the flight was delayed/changed/cancelled--3 points possible.
3. The number of times I thanked strangers for their help (or cursed them for their non-help)--3 points possible.

Last week I flew home to OK, and I only had one kid and a dog because my parents were nice enough to take Ben home with them when they flew back from visiting us in WA.  Traveling with Will is basically like traveling with a tiny adult.  He snacks a little, works his crossword puzzles, and occasionally talks about politics.

When we arrived at the airport, I had to check two bags (clothes for three people during an OK winter for two months does not allow carrying on).  Plus, one of my carry-ons was taken up by our eight-pound dog, Bokonon.  It was my first time to fly on Frontier, so I was pleasantly surprised that they only charge $20/bag to check.  Then--get this.  The lady was like, “Do you want me to go ahead and check your carry-ons through to OKC?”  I am super cheap, so I was just planning on making Will, already laden with his backpack full of snacks and books, drag one of them through the Seattle and Denver airports while I dragged the other and carried the dog, and then we would check them plane-side as usual.  I didn’t need to have them with me--I’m just cheap.  Then Ms. Frontier said the magic words: there’s no fee.

So, I was like, what?  I don’t have to worry about dragging two bags through two airports and getting arrested for failing to obey child labor laws?  Fantastic!

We checked those straight through and were on our way to the gate with just a kid’s backpack and a tiny dog.  I felt like one of those Paris Hilton idiots the whole time, but it was WAY cheaper to keep him in the cabin than it was to check him.  Plus, I worried we might end up with a Bokonon popsicle when we arrived in OKC if he had to travel with the luggage, and the children might have been upset by that.

So, we got on the flight, and with the swipe of my card, Will watched Cars 2 the whole way there, while I read a book, and we both enjoyed our hot, fresh from the oven (FREE!) chocolate chip cookies.  When we arrived in Denver, we found out our flight had been delayed, and the flight/gate attendants were over-the-top accommodating in a way that made me feel like I was on candid camera.  Because of the delay, we got to watch movies on the second flight without paying for them, and of course, there were more free chocolate chip cookies.

So, if I was going to rate this flight, it gets a 9/10, and the only reason it got a 9 was because we did get delayed a bit, which allowed us enough time to eat dinner at the airport, which is my least favorite thing to do in the world.  Oh, what should I choose?  McDonald’s?  Pizza Hut?  Or Chinese food that’s going to revisit me right about the time I’m boarding my flight?  Losing all around.

All of that said, I feel like there have been so many headlines recently about people being mistreated by airlines because they were too fat or too gay or too ______, and I thought I’d put it out in the universe that we had an excellent experience with Frontier Airlines, and I will fly with them every time I have the chance!

Overall, we had a slight delay, but the people were all extremely helpful, and there was no barf or poop (even with the Chinese food!)--which is all I can really ask for from a traveling experience.  Thanks, Frontier!  Feel free to award free tickets for the positive publicity.