When you get cash back
These are the situations where money goes back to your card, not a credit.
Cancel any Frontier ticket within 24 hours of purchase for a full refund to your original payment, as long as the flight isn't within 7 days (168 hours) of when you booked. Book that close to departure and this window isn't available.
This is a federal DOT right, not a Frontier fare rule, see the comparison below. It entitles you to the ticket price back to your original payment, and it holds even on the cheapest fare.
Frontier will refund the deceased passenger's own unused ticket with a death certificate or a funeral director's letter. It's narrower than it sounds, see the section below for what it doesn't cover.
When it's a travel credit instead
Cancelling by choice outside the 24-hour window rarely means cash. Here's what that looks like.
DOT rules vs. Frontier's own refund policy
Two different things, and mixing them up is the most common mistake we hear on the phone.
US DOT, the law
Full ticket price
- Refund of the ticket price if you decline after a significant change
- Verified thresholds: 3+ hrs domestic, 6+ hrs international, changed airport, added connections
- Applies whether the cause is weather or Frontier
- Does not require hotels, meals or lost-time compensation
Frontier's own refund policy
Credit, with narrow exceptions
- Tickets are generally non-refundable, voluntary cancels return a travel credit
- 24-hour window for a full refund, except travel booked within 7 days
- A deceased passenger's own ticket refunded with documentation
- No bereavement fare, and no hotel or cash for delays either
DOT refund rules are under active revision, and the 3-hour/6-hour thresholds are the federal minimum, we confirm what's current when you call rather than quoting a rule that may have moved. Compare any airline's own commitments at flightrights.gov.
Refund of the deceased's own ticket, not a bereavement fare
This gets confused constantly, so we're explicit about it up front.
Frontier has a specific "Refunds for Death of a Ticketed Customer" provision. If a passenger who was booked to fly has died, their own unused ticket can be refunded, you'll need a death certificate or a letter from the funeral director on funeral-home letterhead. That's the entire scope of it: it refunds the ticket that belonged to the person who died, nothing more.
It is not a bereavement fare. Frontier doesn't offer a discounted fare for surviving family members to fly to a funeral or handle an emergency, the way some carriers publish a bereavement rate. If you or relatives need to travel because of a death in the family, you're buying a regular fare like any other trip, call us and we'll look for the best price and walk through what, if anything, applies to tickets you already hold.
Don't accept the rebooking on autopilot. When Frontier significantly changes your flight, agreeing to the new time can waive your right to the DOT cash refund. If the new schedule genuinely doesn't work, decline it and take the refund instead of the seat. Not sure which is the better move for your trip? That's a two-minute call.
Frequently asked
Is my Frontier ticket refundable?+
How does the 24-hour rule work, and why doesn't it always apply?+
A passenger on the ticket died. Can we get a refund?+
Frontier cancelled or changed my flight. Am I owed cash?+
How long does a Frontier refund take?+
Will Frontier put me up in a hotel while I wait for my refund?+
Contact options
Reach Frontier directly, or let us file the refund.
Contact Frontier Airlines directly
The airline's own official channels, free.
More Frontier Airlines help
Related guides.