The documented difference
We checked two current Frontier pages on October 4, 2026. Both discuss refunds when a traveler does not take a canceled, significantly rescheduled or delayed flight and does not choose a travel credit. They express the time boundary differently: the FAQ uses greater than three or six hours; the service plan uses 180 or 360 minutes or more. Exactly 180 minutes is three hours, and exactly 360 minutes is six hours. The distinction is in the published wording; we have no evidence of how Frontier handled any individual claim.
Read each official source
Refund FAQ
“Greater than” 3 / 6 hours
Frontier's changed-or-canceled-flight FAQ, marked modified February 20, 2026, groups significant schedule changes and delays. Its parenthetical uses “greater than” for three domestic or six international hours. It also states conditions concerning travel on the affected or replacement flight and choosing a credit.
Customer Service Plan §5
“Or more” from 180 / 360 minutes
Frontier's Customer Service Plan describes a significant schedule change or delay of 180 minutes or more domestically, or 360 minutes or more internationally, under its refund conditions. That sentence includes the exact three- and six-hour boundary.
Neither threshold sentence specifies whether the time difference is an earlier departure, a later arrival, or another measure. Both pages combine advance schedule changes with delays. The service plan's separate §12 also uses “in excess of three hours” for certain delays; it does not resolve the §5 wording for a schedule change. We did not apply either sentence to a hypothetical ticket whose full itinerary, booking channel and traveler choices are unknown.
The contract does not supply a numeric tie-breaker
The official Contract of Carriage directory links Frontier's English PDF. Section 17.E addresses a schedule change before the day of travel and describes Frontier-route transport and a conditional unused-ticket refund when the carrier is the merchant of record and the traveler declines listed alternatives. It says the arrangement is subject to applicable law. The reviewed section does not define “significant” with a number, so it cannot reconcile the FAQ and service-plan wording by itself.
The current PDF cover bears a September 14, 2026 revision date, while section 17's own footer bears January 16, 2026. Those dates do not establish when the two website sentences diverged. This note does not report a newly changed Frontier policy.
Keep the federal test separate
The current 14 CFR §§260.2 and 260.6 define a significant change for a covered U.S. itinerary using, among other events, departure from the origin at least three hours earlier domestically or six internationally, or arrival at the destination at least those amounts later. The refund obligation also depends on the traveler declining the changed flight or alternatives and on who is merchant of record. A three-hour shift in an unspecified direction is not enough information to apply that rule. Carrier wording, the contract and the federal test should be read in their respective scopes.
Method and limits
We read both live Frontier HTML pages, followed the carrier's contract link, reviewed PDF pages 33–34, and checked the current federal regulation on October 4, 2026. The policy index now links all three Frontier sources and records this uncertainty. This is a one-airline source comparison, not a survey, a finding of noncompliance, or proof of a historical policy change. A specific booking may turn on notice timing, itinerary direction, ticket seller, accepted alternatives and applicable law.
For an exact-boundary case, preserve the original and revised itinerary and ask the responsible airline or ticket seller which published clause it applies. The research methodology explains our source and correction standards. This note is educational information, not legal advice or a guaranteed refund result.