UpFront Plus is Frontier’s most premium offering at the moment. As the name implies, the seats are located at the very front of the aircraft. Other benefits include extra legroom and a blocked middle seat.
You won’t get any free drink drinks or snacks however. And the seats themselves look and feel like the basic economy seats.
But at least it’s cheap, right?
Flight Number:
F92817
Route:
Denver, CO (DEN) – San Diego, CA (SAN)
Date:
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Aircraft:
Airbus A321
Registration:
N716FR
Flight Duration
1 hour 49 minutes
Seat:
2F (UpFront Plus)
Checking in at DEN
Flying from Denver to San Diego takes just a little over two hours. Spoiler alert: Even when flying in UpFront Plus on the A321, that’s about as far as much as I can handle. Those seats are hard!
The scheduled departure time for my flight to San Diego was 9:10 AM. I arrived at Terminal A at approximately 7 AM and made a beeline straight towards my gate. As I quickly learned, that’s a big no-no when flying Frontier out of Denver. Their gate space (much like the interiors of their aircraft) leaves a lot to be desired.
Somewhere, here at the departures level of the Denver International Airport, is the entrance for Frontier Airlines. When I find it I’ll let you know!Little did I know that one can actually walk through any door to find the Frontier Airlines check-in area and baggage drop. They all lead it to the same place.And because I know at least one of you is going to ask, the answer is no. There are no dedicated express lanes for hoity-toity UpFront Plus passengers. You will be required to mingle with the masses (as disgusting as that may be).Frontier Airlines operates out of Concourse A at the Denver International Airport. Kind of.It’s not until you walk aaaaallll the way to the end of Concourse A where you’ll start seeing Frontier Airlines aircraft parked way off in the distance. You’ll be required to go down a set of stairs (and walk down a long hallway) before reaching any of those gates. It won’t feel like Concourse A anymore, but it is. Sort of.Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the other part of Concourse A. Maybe fly United next time if departing from the basement gates out of DEN is offensive to you and your precious UpFront Plus status.There are no jet bridges in this portion of Concourse A, so it will require going outside to board the aircraft. And because I know at least one of you is going to ask, the answer is no. They don’t drive hoity-toity UpFront Plus passengers out to the plane in a brand new lipstick red Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Everyone has to hoof it no matter the weather! Gate A79 (complete with a woman appearing to be praying for an upgrade to UpFront Plus) is where my flight to San Diego is going to be departing from this morning.
The boarding process
Boarding began at exactly 8:25 AM. They made multiple announcements that the flight was going to be completely full, which made me especially thankful for knowing that I was going to have an empty seat next to me no matter what. That’s the biggest advantage of springing for UpFront Plus IMHO.
One last check of my boarding pass to make sure that Porsche Cayenne chauffeur service isn’t part of the deal. I’d hate to walk all that way if I didn’t have to!You know you’re flying a budget airline when ramp personnel come in from outside to scan boarding passes (as if departing out of the basement gates at a major international airport wasn’t obvious enough).Passengers seated in rows 1 through 18 got to board through the forward boarding door (through a pretty sweet set of ramps and stairs).Sucks to be anyone stuck in here if it’s mid August and 95° outside I guess. But here in early February? This is cool. Pun intended.You did it! You’ve arrived at the Frontier Airlines A321 boring boarding door.Finding the UpFront Plus cabin is easy. Just follow the trail of freshly abandoned children’s books and backpacks.
Frontier Airlines A321 UpFront Plus seats
There are 8 UpFront Plus seats on the Frontier A321. They are located at the very front of the aircraft (rows 1 and 2). They look exactly the same as the regular economy class seats.
And there it is. Rows 1 and 2 (Frontier Airlines A321 UpFront Plus).
The Airbus A321 is a large aircraft. Why Frontier decided to limit UpFront Plus to only rows 1 and 2 only is beyond me. I’d love to know their reasoning for having only 8 premium seats available on an aircraft of this size.
Diamond stitching in the seats, just like a Lambo! It’s not totally similar however. Unlike the Lambo, the middle seat is blocked and will remain vacant for the entire duration of the flight.And wouldn’t you know it, the legroom is better as well. What’s the big deal about Lambos anyway?And because I know at least one of you is going to ask, the answer is no. You will not appreciate how hard (and narrow) these seats are. Honestly, it’s not the lack of width that you’ll fail to appreciate the most. It’s the lack of any padding in these seats at all. Seriously. It’s just like sitting on hard plastic. Cold hard plastic. The kind of stuff you find in maximum security prison cells.Speaking of hard plastic, there’s nothing worth mentioning about the seat backs (except the part about the hard plastic, mostly because I thought it would be a clever tie in with the caption above).
Departing Denver
We pushed off the gate 12 minutes early at 8:58 AM. That’s a pretty big deal considering that every seat on this aircraft was occupied. Except the middle seats in UpFront Plus of course.
Shelley the Sea Turtle caught checkin’ out Lobo the Wolf (who appears to be checking out Seymour the Walrus on the tail of our aircraft) as we push off the gate. Doesn’t it count as incest if they’re all part of the same airline?Hold on a second. She’s asking Chat GPT…“No you guys! It’s not incest!” – Seymour the Walrus
It was an 11 minute taxi over to runway 25L, and we were in the air 11 minutes early at 9:09 AM.
Whether Seymour likes it or not, we’re headed straight for the mountains (not all that hospitable of a place for a walrus I reckon).To be honest I think he was kind of enjoying this. Who knew that Mountain Walruses were a thing?
Food and drinks
Unlike nearly other US airline at the time of this writing, Frontier doesn’t offer free snack snacks and drinks too its most premium passengers. Even if you’re seated In Upfront Plus, you’re going to have to pay for anything you want off of the Fly Bar menu.
For those of you with the craving for Seagram’s and M&M’s, boy are you ever in luck!Those of you with the craving for something else (probably) won’t be disappointed. From beer, to wine, to cheese trays, to Cheez-Its…there’s something for (probably) everyone.
The Fly Bar menu contains a respectable amount of snacks and drinks for an ultra low-cost carrier. There are 4 beers, 3 wines, 6 spirits, 2 cocktails, 14 nonalcoholic drinks, and 14 snack items. They also offer bundles, which is a good way of getting some of this stuff at a discount.
Seems as if I should have (probably) taken more care when pouring my Diet Coke. It’s (probably) going to take a while until all of this foam subsides.F it. I’m thirsty now!
Frontier A321 UpFront Plus cabin comfort
As much as I enjoyed the blocked middle seat and the extra legroom, it’s hard for me to recommend UpFront Plus (or any other seat on Frontier) on any flight longer than three hours. These seats are far too firm to be considered even remotely comfortable. It’s borderline inhumane IMHO.
Good news: I was successfully able to cross my legs with the tray table down! Bad news: getting myself out of this position resulted in spilled Diet Coke and a thoroughly pulled groin muscle.Headrests? What headrests? Not every airline experience can be as luxurious as American Airlines 737-800 economy.Ain’t nothin’ better for a pulled groin than stretching out in the void of the blocked middle seat. Just sayin.’
The descent and arrival into San Diego
My butt bones were a achin’, but boy was the scenery ever amazing the farther we pushed west.
No, we haven’t technically started the descent into San Diego yet, but did you really think that I wasn’t going to show you this awesome picture of the Grand Canyon? Continue scrolling when you’re ready.
It was a completely uneventful (but typically scenic) approach into San Diego. This has been my home airport for almost 30 years now, and I’m still not tired of the view.
“It can’t be incest since we’re technically different species!” Whatever bro.Welcome to San Diego!
We touched down on runway 27 a full 46 minutes early at 9:58 AM. I don’t believe I’ve ever arrived into San Diego that far ahead of schedule when flying from Denver (on any airline), so this was definitely a notable (and nerdy) moment for this AvGeek.
I don’t know exactly what the kid in front of me was thinking as we were taxiing to the gate, but I’d like to think that he was disappointed that there are no A380 compatible gates being built as part of the all new Terminal 1 build. Amen, little man. Amen.
It was just a five minute taxi over to gate 119 in Terminal 1, and I was off the aircraft just a few minutes later. Lickety split deplaning is one of my favorite advantages of sitting at the very front of the aircraft!
And because I know at least one of you is going to ask, the answer is no. I’m not rushing to get off because I totally hated this experience. It’s because the Diet Coke is kicking in hard and I’ve only got but minutes before things start getting messy.
Frontier Airlines A321 UpFront Plus is one of the best kept secrets in commercial aviation IMHO. It’s not all that luxurious, but it is spacious. And cheap. Two of my favorite things when it comes to air travel.
The biggest downside, of course, is how hard the seats are. If you can withstand the pain, you’re probably going to enjoy this.
At first glance, American Airlines 737-800 economy doesn’t seem that bad. The seats look pretty good, the streaming in-flight entertainment works flawlessly, and…
