From hair salons to nursing homes, some businesses are charging extra Covid-related fees. Now the Denver-based low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines has begun adding a Covid recovery charge to every ticket from May 2021
At a flat $1.59 each way, this new fee is relatively low. But since it is charged per-segment, per-passenger, it does add up. A family of four flying a Frontier roundtrip with a connection would pay more than $19 extra.
The Covid-19 surcharge is supposedly intended to help offset the cost of cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment for staff, disposable menus and more. Ironically, Frontier already ended passenger temperature checks, a Covid safety protocol it implemented one year ago. A spokesperson for the airline states, “Given the easing of CDC guidelines with respect to CovidD-19, as well as falling infection rates among the U.S. population, we made the decision to discontinue customer and crew temperature screenings prior to boarding, effective last Tuesday, June 15.”
Early in the pandemic, Frontier tried adding a fee to block the middle seat on flights but rescinded because of significant criticism.
