Frontier Is Now Selling First Class. The Seats Don’t Recline, and the Food and Drinks Aren’t Free

Frontier, the ultra-low-cost airline that outlasted Spirit, finally has a front cabin, and it is built to sell space, not service.

Frontier Airlines first class is now on sale, for travel from March 5, 2027. Each jet gets eight wide seats in the first two rows, laid out two by two with no middle seat and up to 37 inches of pitch, according to One Mile at a Time, which reported the sale on Nov. 10.

Two things are missing. Frontier’s own product description says the seats are “pre-reclined,” fixed at one angle, and that complimentary food and beverages “are not included with the First Class experience.” You get a bigger chair at the front of the plane, and you still pay for the soda.

Why a no-frills airline built a first class with no frills

Frontier’s whole business is the unbundled fare: a low base price, then a charge for every bag, seat assignment and drink. Our guide to how ultra-low-cost airlines make money explains why that base fare was never meant to cover the flight on its own.

First class fits that model as long as it stays a seat, not a service. A wider recliner bolted into rows 1 and 2 is a one-time cost. A galley crew handing out free meals and drinks on every flight is a cost forever.

The demand was already visible. On its July 2026 earnings call, Frontier said paid occupancy of UpFront Plus, its front-of-cabin product that until now meant a standard coach seat with the middle left empty, had passed 80%, View from the Wing reported.

The competition changed, too. Spirit Airlines, the carrier Frontier was most often compared with, stopped flying on May 2, 2026. Our Frontier vs Spirit breakdown shows how two airlines running the same model ended up with one survivor.

With Spirit gone, Frontier has been chasing customers who will pay more than the base fare. The first class seats arrive alongside Starlink Wi-Fi, in-seat power and refreshed interiors, all of which an internal memo said would roll out during 2027.

Eight seats, 37 inches, and a $125 step up

The seat is Geven’s Comoda, from the Italian seatmaker Frontier picked in spring 2025. Behind the two first class rows, rows 3 to 8 offer up to 34 inches of pitch and USB-C ports, while the rest of economy has no in-seat power.

For comparison, Frontier’s standard economy seat sits at 28 inches of pitch, the least of any big US airline now that Spirit is gone. Our economy legroom ranking has every carrier side by side.

Pricing is where the product shows its logic. On a one-way Denver to Los Angeles flight, One Mile at a Time found a Basic fare of $119, an Economy Bundle at $142, a Premium Bundle at $172 and the First Bundle at $244. Frontier calls those promotional launch prices that may change.

That First Bundle includes a carry-on and personal item, two checked bags of up to 50 pounds (23 kg) each, priority boarding and no change or cancellation fees. On a trip with two checked bags, a good part of the $125 premium over Basic is bag fees you would have paid anyway.

The cabin covers a big fleet. Frontier reported 164 Airbus A320-family jets at September 30, 2026: 68 Airbus A320neos, 69 A321neos, 21 A321ceos and six A320ceos. Our count of how many planes Frontier has tracks how that number has moved.

If all 164 jets get the eight-seat cabin, that is roughly 1,300 first class seats across the fleet, every one of them sold without a free drink.

Three delays later, Allegiant’s version reclines

Frontier announced first class on Dec. 3, 2024, with then-CEO Barry Biffle promising the seats in late 2025. AirlineGeeks reported the plan at the time: the first two rows, two by two, with free upgrades for Gold members and above.

The date then slipped to spring 2026, according to The Points Guy, and on to mid-2026. When it moved into 2027, InsideFlyer counted it as the third delay.

The sharper contrast is Allegiant, another budget carrier adding a front cabin. Its Allegiant First, due on select aircraft in spring 2027, also puts eight seats in a two-by-two layout at 37 inches of pitch.

The difference is the seat itself. Allegiant’s version has five inches of recline, calf rests and an adjustable headrest, and it includes a checked bag of up to 70 pounds (32 kg), AirlineGeeks reported in July.

Allegiant also started giving every passenger free water, soda or juice on Aug. 1. On Frontier, food and drinks stay on the buy-on-board menu in every row, the first two included. Our Allegiant vs Frontier comparison weighs the two airlines on fees and reliability.

None of this makes Frontier’s seat a bad buy. It makes it a different product from what “first class” means on a legacy carrier, where drinks and snacks, and on longer flights a meal, come with the ticket. Our first class vs business class guide covers what those cabins normally include.

Who will actually sit in Frontier’s first two rows

Some passengers will get the seats before March. Retrofits began in late October 2026, and until the formal launch, the converted rows are being sold as UpFront Plus, so a booking can land on either the new seat or the old coach seat with a blocked middle.

Frontier expects the whole fleet converted by March 2027. Free upgrades are tied to Frontier Miles status, with the top tier, Diamond, cleared from 24 hours before departure.

There is a catch. For bookings made from Jan. 1, 2027, a free upgrade to UpFront Plus or first class requires the elite member to have bought a bundle, not a bare Basic fare.

That is the same idea as the cabin itself. Frontier is not trying to compete with the best first class airlines in the world. It is selling the most valuable square feet on a narrowbody to the passengers most willing to pay for them, and keeping everything else à la carte.