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The airline scene in the United States is in a period of change. Spirit Airlines is working through its second bankruptcy, Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines are looking to merge, JetBlue is trying to find its way, Alaska and Hawaiian are still integrating after that merger, and Southwest is adding assigned seating while the legacy carriers: American, Delta, and United look to move further upmarket and to prove that they are the most premium airline. While change is happening across carriers, Frontier Airlines is also trying to figure out what’s next. Interestingly, the low-cost carrier is not selling seats on any flights after mid-April 2026 and many are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Frontier Airlines passengers have probably noticed something unusual when trying to book spring and summer travel. As mentioned, the Denver-based low-cost carrier has stopped selling all tickets beyond April 13th. The move effectively closes Frontier’s booking window less than three months ahead, which is an unusually short window in an industry where schedules are typically published nine to 12 months in advance.
The booking blackout has raised questions among travelers and analysts alike. Frontier continues to grapple with financial challenges and leadership changes. The carrier recently appointed a new CEO in an effort to stabilize performance after years of volatility. Frontier managed to post a modest profit in 2024, but losses over the first nine months of 2025 approached $190 million. This cemented its position among the weakest performers in the US airline sector.
Frontier insists the short booking window is not a sign of deeper operational issues, but a temporary result of a network-wide schedule review. The carrier says it is finalizing its plans for the crucial spring and summer travel seasons before publishing an updated timetable. Schedule data from Cirium shows 816 Frontier flights filed for April 13th and zero for April 14th.
While legacy carriers sell tickets roughly a year ahead, low-cost carriers often operate with shorter booking windows to allow flexibility for route changes and demand shifts. However, shutting down bookings entirely beyond a specific date is rare and carries real commercial risk: travelers seeking early deals on summer travel will book elsewhere rather than wait.
The move echoes a similar strategy executed by rival Spirit Airlines in late 2025, when it shortened the booking window amid a fleet reduction and significant route cuts. Unlike Spirit, Frontier is not currently shrinking its fleet, but the carrier appears to be weighing a meaningful network redesign.
Keeping the window closed may spare Frontier the cost and complexity of rebooking or refunding passengers if flight times or routes materially change. It also buys time for the new leadership team to reset priorities without committing the airline to an old schedule that no longer fits.
Passengers will now wait to see how aggressive the overhaul turns out to be and whether Frontier simply adjusts timings and frequencies or more dramatically reshapes its network heading into peak travel months. For now, the carrier says its updated schedule will be released “shortly,” but until those flights are published, Frontier is leaving revenue while attracting tons of speculation.
Anthony’s Take: Frontier, like many other airlines, needs to figure out what it wants to be and then stick with that. The carrier will add First Class seats soon and is reportedly bringing free Wi-Fi to its fleet as well. Let’s see what happens next and when Frontier releases its schedule.
(Image Credits: Frontier Airlines.)
(H/T: Simple Flying.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
