The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard® is back in action, and now it’s even better than before. After spending $500 in the first 90 days you’ll get 40k Early Returns miles (5k more than the previous offer). It does require you to pay for the $69 annual fee up front, but that’s a small price for the value you get from it – as much as $900 in flights you’ll pay nothing but the taxes on.
It’s being advertised as a 50k card, but 10k of those only come if you do a balance transfer – something we never advocate because carrying a balance requires paying interest. We use credit cards not as credit, but as purchasing instruments, and in so doing, accumulate travel rewards that open the door to a world of almost-free vacationing. We do this not casually, but deliberately and even compulsively because we’re cheap as can be, but love to travel.
This is one of the better airline rewards available because of the relative value in redeeming them. You can see the values here in the redemption schedule for Frontier Airlines Early Returns program.
(You can find redemption schedules for other airlines on our Using Airline Miles page).
To get a better sense of what kind of amazing travel you’d be able to do with these points you can so easily obtain by applying for The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard® and spending $500 on it that you’d otherwise pay for with cash, check or debit card, here are a few ideas.
Ways to Use 40k Early Returns Miles
2 Roundtrip Flights to ______ (You fill in the blank)
- Frontier Airlines Route Map
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but this is exactly the deal. 40k points will get you and a companion to anywhere Frontier flies in the United States. (In fact, if you’re a cardholder, they discount the companion fare by 5k points, requiring only 35k).
Frontier uses Denver as a hub and covers pretty much everywhere you can imagine. Some of my personal favorites include Jackson Hole (which is only an hour and a half from me, but for you it might be a great getaway in winter or summer. If you’re coming, let me know and I’ll map out a plan for you).
Because Alaska is normally in a totally separate category for airline redemptions, either Anchorage or Fairbanks would also make great uses of these points.
For some reason Indianapolis has been drawing me in, lately, too. Another nice plus is that Frontier flights have in-cabin DirecTV and wi-fi, so wherever you fly, the time will pass even faster.
4 One-way Flights for a Panama Canal Cruise
Most cruise ships that traverse the Panama Canal begin or end in either San Diego or Fort Lauderdale. Conveniently, Frontier flies into both of these locations and they do it for a measly 10k points each. Your 40k points will get you and a companion both to the departure city and from the arrival city from any airport they serve. You might also want to plan for some extra time on either side.
As for paying for the cruise itself, they are almost never cheap, but they’re also 14-15 days of delicious all-you-can-eat food, great entertainment, and comfortable transport to great port cities. I always use vacationstogo.com to find the best prices on cruises and pay for them with the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard so I can reimburse myself for at least part of the expense.
4 One-way Flights for an Alaskan Cruise
Obviously you could do the same thing for an Alaskan Cruise, using your miles to get into and out of Seattle and Anchorage. This is a special value because many airlines charge a points-premium for flights to Alaska.
Alaskan cruises are cheaper – you might even be able to get one for close to $400 – the amount you’d get in free travel from the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard.
1 Roundtrip Flight to Costa Rica/Dominican Republic/Jamaica
As you can see in the chart above, for only 30k points, you can book yourself travel to any one of these incredible destinations. We’ve written a lot about Costa Rica, but let’s hone in on the Dominican Republic this time.
You’re going to want to check out this incredible Dominican Tree House Village in Samana.
(Note that this option also leaves you 10k toward your next flight redemption).
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As with all of these offers, we almost never know when they’ll come and go. Nicole and I both already have this card because we picked it up when it was offering 35k points. As it stands, I think this is my favorite airline card that’s available right now. Please comment if you have any questions or thoughts to share.
On this site we promote travel rewards cards of all kinds. Not always are we compensated when visitors use our links. We do, however, receive a commission on any applications for the cards mentioned in this post.
We’re in Denver, actually really close to the airport, and have been meaning to grab the Frontier card for a while now, there have just been lots of other great cards higher up on our list. This may be the year we finally pull the trigger.
Oops, just realized the Frontier card is from Barclay’s. We still need the Arrival card for cruises , and I’d love for both of us to get another (card #3) US Air card before it’s no longer offered. We both only have card #2 right now, so unsure if we need to cancel it before applying again for card #3.
I already got the deal detailed in this article, but my wife got an even better offer mid-flight. The same 40,000 points, but redeemable after the FIRST purchase!
Nice! Thanks for sharing.