Perks on Frontier with an increased sign-up bonus: Frontier Airlines World Mastercard review

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information.

Frontier Airlines World Mastercard Overview

The Frontier Airlines World Mastercard® is likely not the most rewarding credit card out there, but it does offer some potentially valuable perks for frequent Frontier flyers. While this makes it a good secondary card for Frontier fliers, we would generally recommend having a more well-rounded travel card in addition to this one. Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐

*Card Rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

With a low-cost carrier like Frontier Airlines, the à-la-carte booking option can be a great way for travelers to save a ton of money on flights.

For an $89 annual fee, the ability to pool your Frontier miles with other family members, receive priority boarding and earn credit toward elite status all make this card worth considering.

And the standard sign-up bonus on the card just got a boost to make it even more appealing to Frontier travelers.

Let's analyze the welcome offer, rewards rate and other ongoing factors of this card to see if the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard is the best match for you.

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The information for the Frontier card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Who is this card for?

If Frontier Airlines is your airline of choice, the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard makes your miles more flexible, helps you avoid award booking fees and even gives you elite qualifying miles for your purchases.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much to help improve your travel experience. While you’ll get priority boarding, the card doesn’t automatically give you any of the other benefits we usually see on airline cards, such as a free checked bag or discounts on inflight purchases.

Therefore, you may want to consider a general travel card that can help you earn and redeem rewards on a variety of airlines.

Welcome offer

New applicants of the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard will earn 50,000 bonus miles and a $100 flight voucher after you spend $500 on purchases and pay the $89 annual fee in the first 90 days of account opening.

One-way flights on Frontier start at 10,000 miles, so you can potentially book up to two round-trip award tickets with the welcome bonus and still have some miles left over.

This is the best-ever welcome offer we've ever seen on the card, since the $100 voucher isn't usually part of the deal. Based on TPG’s most recent valuations, Frontier miles are worth 1.1 cents each, making this collective bonus is worth $650.

Main benefits and perks

The Frontier World Mastercard offers some unusual and potentially valuable perks for frequent flyers of the airline.

Family pooling

First, cardholders can pool their miles with up to eight other Frontier Miles accounts. Although Frontier calls this feature “Family Pooling,” they advertise that you can pool miles with “whoever you consider family,” which can include friends, coworkers and roommates. There are no minimums or caps on the number of miles you can transfer through this program.

Award redemption fee waiver

When booking award tickets on Frontier, you can avoid award booking fees by paying for your ticket with this card. These award fees tend to range from $15 to $75 depending on how close in you book before departure.

Since cash tickets are often quite cheap even close to departure, avoiding these fees with the card can be a significant boost to the value of your miles.

Earn elite status faster

The card also accelerates your progress towards Frontier elite status. In theory, you could reach top-tier status without ever setting foot on a Frontier flight. That’s because you earn 1 qualifying mile for every dollar you spend on the card.

The airline has three levels of elite status – helpfully named Elite 20K, Elite 50K, and Elite 100K after the number of qualifying miles you’ll need to earn that status.

While the benefits of Frontier status certainly aren’t worth putting tens of thousands of dollars in spending on the card for most people, if you fly enough to get close to the next status level, it’s nice to have the option to push your account over the edge by making some purchases.

This is particularly true of the top-tier Elite 100K status, which gets you Frontier’s “The Works” package on flights for yourself and up to eight traveling companions – including seat assignments, checked and carry-on bags, priority boarding and the ability to change or cancel tickets with no penalty.

Other perks worth considering

Finally, the card also offers Zone 2 priority boarding, a $100 flight voucher if you spend $2,500 on the card within your card anniversary year and no foreign transaction fees.

How to earn

With this card, you’ll earn 5 Frontier miles for every dollar spent directly with Frontier (including airfare, fees, and onboard purchases), 3 miles per dollar spent at restaurants and 1 mile per dollar spent everywhere else.

These rates are decent, but unless you’re trying to earn elite status or avoid award ticket fees, other cards offer significantly more valuable rewards for both airline and dining purchases.

Related: The best credit cards to use on low-cost carriers

How to redeem

When it comes to redeeming your miles, the Frontier award chart is pretty straightforward. The lowest-cost Value awards are 10,000 miles within the U.S. and 15,000 miles for international flights. Standard awards, which have wider availability, will cost you 20,000 miles within the U.S. and 25,000 miles internationally.

If you have elite status, you can pay a few more miles to avoid capacity controls entirely. For an extra 2,500 miles on top of the Standard award price, you can book a Last Seat award as long as there’s a seat available for sale on the flight you want.

Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay taxes and fees on these tickets; however, the aforementioned award booking fee of $15-$75 per ticket is waived as long as you use your Frontier World Mastercard to pay for the taxes and fees.

Little-known facts about the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard

It helps keep your Frontier Miles from expiring

Frontier Miles expire after just six months of inactivity in your account. While carrying the Frontier World Mastercard doesn’t change that, it’s much easier to avoid expiration by making a purchase on the card than by flying somewhere.

Waived award fees apply to travel companions

If you’re using miles to book flights for others, the award booking fee will be waived for everyone on the reservation as long as you’re one of the travelers.

You can get the card the day after your application is approved

If you select the $15 Express Delivery option when applying for the card, then you’ll receive it via FedEx the following business day as long as your application is received before 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. (This only applies to primary cardholders; if you add an authorized user, that card will be sent by regular postal mail.)

You can add authorized users for free

Unfortunately, all of the card’s benefits like priority boarding and waived award fees only apply to the primary cardholder, not authorized users. But adding a family member as an authorized user can help you rack up spending towards elite status faster and might even give the family member’s credit score a boost.

It gets you free two-day shipping and other perks

Since the Frontier card is a World Mastercard, you’ll enjoy exclusive perks such as a free ShopRunner membership (for two-day shipping at over 140 online stores) and a $5 Lyft credit after you take three Lyft rides in a month.

Bottom line

The Frontier World Mastercard doesn’t make sense for most people, but if you’re a frequent Frontier flyer, the added value of this card brings family pooling, award booking fee waivers and elite qualifying miles — which can all be worth far more than the annual fee.

With Frontier's route network stretching to the Caribbean and Central America, this card may be a great companion for your upcoming travels, coupled with this best-ever welcome offer.