Frontier Airlines A320neo UpFront Plus review (the ‘plus’ part isn’t so obvious)

Here’s the thing about Frontier Airlines A320neo UpFront Plus: it won’t be until the forward boarding door closes (moments before departure) that you’ll fully understand what the ‘plus’ thing is all about. 

The seats are criminally firm, so it ain’t that. The extra a few inches of legroom is nice, but it isn’t any better than any other airline is offering. And the lack of power outlets? That’s a straight up minus IMHO. 

But when the flight attendant makes the announcement that boarding is complete, and the seat next to you is still vacant, it all starts to make a little more sense. 

F92818
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Denver, CO (DEN)
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Aircraft: A320neo
Registration: N343FR
Duration: 2 hours 11 minutes
Seat: 2A (UpFront Plus)

My full review of Frontier Airlines A320neo UpFront Plus from San Diego to Denver

Here’s another thing about the Frontier UpFront Plus experience: during the booking process, they tell you that you’ll either have a guaranteed open seat next to you OR a large larger (wider) domestic first class style seat. You won’t know exactly what you’re gonna get until you step onboard the aircraft. Another minus! 

Arriving at Terminal 1 San Diego Airport

My flight to Denver was scheduled to depart at 7 AM (with a 6:15 AM boarding time). This being my first opportunity to depart from the all new Terminal 1 since opening in September of last year, I wasted no time in showing up at an ungodly early hour like the giant airline nerd that I am. I was a little excited, OK?

The boarding process for flight number 2818 to Denver

I’m a man of experience. I’ve flown Frontier Airlines enough times to know that their scheduled departure times are wishful thinking more than anything else. More often than not, they’ll miss it by a mile (and then casually shrug it off). 

But not this time! They actually got the boarding process started at exactly 6:15 AM. Those needing extra time got to go first. Then families with small children. Then active duty military. Then Group 1 (which includes UpFront passengers). So far so good. 

Frontier Airlines A320neo UpFront Plus seat overview 

There are 8 UpFront Plus seats on the Frontier A320neo. It consists of two rows of seats arranged in a 3-3 layout. I know! The math doesn’t seem to math, but here’s the important part: the middle seats are blocked (just as how they do it in European business class). 

Other than a few extra inches of legroom (and the blocked middle seat), these seats are exactly the same as all of the other seats on this aircraft. They are narrow, and very (very) firm. It’s like sitting on a park bench.

So how exactly does this compare to the Southwest Airlines Extra legroom experience? Good question!

1. The seats are exactly the same size with the same amount of additional legroom.
2. They are equally painful firm as well.
3. Southwest offers USB power ports at every seat. Frontier does not.
4. The blocked middle seat on Frontier makes all the difference IMHO.

The departure from San Diego

If the on-time boarding process wasn’t enough to impress you, what if I tell you that our gate departure 10 minutes early? Well, it was. And I hope you can appreciate the significance of that. 

It took 12 minutes to taxi out to the threshold of runway 27, which was two minutes longer than estimated (according to the Flighty App). Takeoff was still ahead of schedule though. We lifted off into the bright blue yonder eight minutes early at 7:02 AM. 

In flight entertainment

At the time of this writing, Frontier Airlines does not offer inflight entertainment of any kind. Not even Wi-Fi (paid or free). Onto the next section…

Food and drinks

Frontier Airlines has always been pretty good about offering a decent menu of food and drinks for purchase. The only downside is that nothing is free. Even if all you want is water, you’re gonna have to pay for it. 

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that UpFront Plus passengers aren’t special enough to deserve complementary drinks or snack snacks. The hell? Not that I was expecting freshly carved roast beast or anything, but seriously? Not even a little bag of chips? Seesh. 

UpFront Plus seat comfort 

I’d be lying if I told you that these were decently comfortable seats. Honestly? I can’t remember the last time I sat on an airline seat this hard. There is very minimal padding in these seats, and it will be uncomfortable. I promise.

The final kick in the nuts? Tried as I might, I could not find a way to recline my seat. There was no button in the armrest, or any levers to pull. I (we) sat bolt upright the entire way to Denver. 

The descent and arrival into DEN

I don’t think I saw one cloud the entire way across the southwestern United States this morning. The weather was absolutely beautiful, which had me excited about getting a good look at the snow capped Rocky Mountains during the descent into DEN. 

Little did I know that Colorado had been in a drought for a while, and there was very little snow to see. 

We landed on runway 35L at 10:13 AM which (surprise surprise) was eight minutes early. We docked at gate A84 at 10:21 AM, 10 minutes early. What the hell is going on with Frontier Airlines? I expected to be late gosh darn it! 

Frontier Airlines A320neo UpFront Plus pros and cons

As you just read, the premium Frontier Airlines experience doesn’t quite match what Delta, United, or even American Airlines offers. It is a huge step above, say, Frontier A321 basic economy however. If that’s all you have to compare it to, UpFront Plus is friggin awesome! 

Pros

• Having a guaranteed blocked middle seat is a pretty big deal IMHO. You may not even notice how narrow the seats are because of it. 
• First on, first off privileges. It’s always nice to be seated at the very front of the airplane.

Cons

• Bring your favorite credit card, because you won’t be eating or drinking anything without having to pay extra for it. 
• These seats are hard. Like, commercial grade cinder block hard.
• No electrical outlets. No USB power ports. No nothin’.