Inside Frontier's all-you-can-fly pass: What to know

One late evening,, I pulled up Frontier's website and felt the same surge of excitement and trepidation I experience playing video poker. I had a lot at stake on this game: the $599 I paid for the airline's GoWild! pass plus my bona fides as a budget traveler. Fittingly, the first flight I booked with the all-you-can-fly pass was to Vegas.

Last year, Frontier debuted the pass, which promised a year of boundless travel for a flat fee. The ultra-budget airline has since introduced several variations of the pass that all spin the same fantasy: Fly anywhere, anytime, with little financial outlay. However, because of the booking restrictions, assorted taxes and a la carte fees, using the pass is more complicated than it might appear.

Frontier frequently rolls out cheap promotions, such as fares from $19 or 99% off the base rate. Once you pile on all the extra fees associated with the pass, is GoWild! a better deal than the individual fares? I spent more than a week of travel trying to answer that question.

After flying to Las Vegas, Dallas, Cancún, Philadelphia and Orlando (twice), I figured out a way to make the pass work for you, but you must know how to outsmart the house.

How the pass works

For all flights, passengers must pay one penny in airfare, plus taxes and fees. Extras such as bags, seat selection and agent assistance bring additional charges and can far exceed the mandatory costs.

Per the rules, passengers can only purchase tickets the day before a domestic flight and 10 days before an international trip. The carrier offers early booking specials — for a fee, naturally and holiday blackout dates apply.

Tallying the fees to fly to Vegas

The original flight I had my eye on — dinnertime departure, short layover in Denver, midnight arrival in Vegas — disappeared right before I was about to book it. So I snagged the next-best option, a connecting flight with a seven-hour layover in Denver.

Skeptical of my personal item's storage capacity, I gave in and purchased one carry-on. All together, the flight cost about $138. The non-pass discounted fare was only $25 more, without the restrictions.

But I didn't wallow in my missteps. The night before my departure, I checked the site and discovered the flight I had first seen was back. And, even better, it was $25. But, alas, not for me. Between the nonrefundable charges and the $99 change fee, the new flight would've cost me even more than my initial investment.

I admittedly used Vegas for its proximity to other places. The following day, I drove northeast to Zion National Park and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Spontaneous trips to Dallas and Cancún

After my initial blunder, I resolved to fully embrace the spirit of the pass. I would let my adventurous id, and not my risk-averse ego, handle the plans.

From my Vegas airport hotel, I checked my options for the following day. I had two requirements: a nonstop flight that departed in the morning.

Dallas answered my call with a $15 fare. I purchased a cheap ticket to the Texas Rangers-Houston Astros game. Then I booked a hotel with an airport shuttle and free trolley service to the baseball stadium, allowing my id a minute of gloating.

Before I could enjoy the game, I had to figure out my next move. I started looking for an international flight. Of Frontier's nearly 90 destinations, 10 are in the Caribbean, Bahamas, Mexico and Central America.

I could only find a flight to Cancún for the following day. The itinerary included an overnight through Orlando.

One of the downsides of not living near a Frontier hub city is that it can take all day, and sometimes all night, to return home. I found a flight to Washington, but it included an overnight in Denver, an evening I'd much rather spend in Mexico. I searched for other airports along the East Coast, figuring I could always hop on a bus, train or another airline in a pinch.

I finally settled on an itinerary: Cancún to Orlando to Philly. I checked Amtrak and saw trains to Union Station. I booked the flight for $157, then tried to reserve a shuttle from the Cancún airport to my resort, but it required a 24-hour advance reservation. Because of my last-minute plans, I missed the cutoff time and had to pay twice as much for a cab.

Though I ended up spending hundreds of dollars in flight-related costs, much more than I expected with the pass, I had some moments of glory.

I never paid extra to select a premium seat, but I ended up luxuriating in my own row or an exit row. On two occasions, my ticket had exiled me to the last row, in a window seat without a window.

In Orlando, Frontier had canceled an earlier Philadelphia flight and combined its passengers with ours. The gate agent asked for volunteers to sit in the exit row. I jumped up so fast, the whole row of seats shook.

As a low-budget airline, Frontier charges for food and beverages, with the exception of a complimentary cup of water.

On many of my flights, I chatted with the crew about the pass. They gave me advice on destinations to visit (Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis) and skip (Houston, Orange County, Calif.). A Vegas-bound crew member named Troy fist-bumped me when I told him I was spending the week traveling on my GoWild! pass.

"You're the first pass holder I've ever met," he said. 

Is the pass worth it?

It depends.

If you are open to the unknown, live near a hub airport, travel light and don't have to be in a certain place at a specific time, then it can be. If you require advance planning, have an important event to attend, are not centrally located and require wardrobe changes, then maybe not.

The biggest gut checks were the additional expenses. I was prepared for the taxes and fees, which are minor, and the baggage fee, which I could have avoided if I were more of a packing ascetic. But I ended up paying for hotels and round-trip airport transportation in layover cities. 

I have eight more months left on my pass, so I have time to perfect my strategy. But until I give up on multiple outfits, Frontier will always win.