AirTran????

[CuteAsMinnie]

Has anyone had experience flying AirTran?

Their airfare is definitely cheaper than Southwest but then there is the whole check baggage fee to add.

Any feedback appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Disneylover99]

We flew from Buffalo to Orlando this past August with AirTran.

Our flights were on time and the crew members and ticket people at the airport were helpful and friendly.
Planes seem a bit older and the inside of the plane wasn't cleaned very well, but our flights were smooth. It is no frills so you do pay extra for baggage and snacks (although I think the kids got free cookies). Carry ons were free though.

We would definitely fly with them again if the price was right!

 

[goof4ever]

I used them many times over the years. I never had a problem with any flights.

 

[DebbieB]

Southwest bought AirTran and are slowly phasing them out over the next couple of years. They are subleasing some of the AirTran planes to Delta starting in mid 2013.

 

[Dis_Dreamin]

In our market (IND), SW phased out some of it's daily nonstops to MCO in their schedule, but added several nonstop Airtran flights (for more $$ than SW nonstops).

I don't see it as a win for us, right now, but we are still flying Airtran because their schedule works better for us with nonstops vs making connections.

I've not heard much bad about Airtran, just don't like the model of paying for every little thing. I hope they eventually move to the same model as SW once the conversion is complete. Open seating, complimentary snacks and drinks, free checked bag. I'm sure it'll be a few years before they are fully converted over.

 

[DebbieB]

In our market (IND), SW phased out some of it's daily nonstops to MCO in their schedule, but added several nonstop Airtran flights (for more $$ than SW nonstops).

I don't see it as a win for us, right now, but we are still flying Airtran because their schedule works better for us with nonstops vs making connections.

I've not heard much bad about Airtran, just don't like the model of paying for every little thing. I hope they eventually move to the same model as SW once the conversion is complete. Open seating, complimentary snacks and drinks, free checked bag. I'm sure it'll be a few years before they are fully converted over.

Once the conversion is complete, there will be no AirTran. With each schedule change, they are moving flights from AirTran to Southwest until eventually there is no AirTran.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/today...hwest-airlines-airtran-merger-cities/1649647/

 

[airplanegod]

I never flew with them before, but I hear from other people that they do love them. Yes, Southwest owns Airtran and is currently phasing the airline out. The 737's are going to Southwest colors and the 717's are being leased to Delta.

 

[DonnaL]

Have flown Airtran several times to/from MCO when they were still flying from Lehigh Valley. Always had a good experience with them. They do charge $20 for first checked bag...no charge for carry-on.....which IMO is reasonable....some of the legacy carriers are charging more. However, Airtran does not charge for non-alcoholic beverages or the small snack they serve....does the other poster possibly have them confused with Allegiant.....because Allegiant does charge for everything. We are flying Allegiant to Orlando Sanford next week for the first time.....I've heard decent feedback about Allegiant...except the fact they charge for everything......which is OK for us...since it's only DH and I....we travel very lightly and don't have a lot of needs when flying so we were able to keep our costs for both of us to about $180 one way.

 

[WeLuvTink!]

We LOVE Airtran and wish that Southwest hadn't bought them for fear of the changes ahead. Airtran rocks and gives you credits is the airfare drops after you buy (have to call and ask for the credits).

 

[DonnaL]

WeLuvTink.....Southwest also will give you credit if the fare goes down....actually, you don't even need to call them...you can just go online and do it yourself and get the credit for a future flight within one year of the original booking date....have done it many times with SWA. Only thing to keep in mind.....the credit can only be used by the original ticket holder.....used to be you could use the credit within one year and anyone could use it as long as they had the voucher number....it was great when DH, myself and our three adult kids and grandson would go to WDW together (which we paid for)....I would keep watching the fares and usually end up with enough credit for at least one more round trip for DH and I later in the year! We just love Southwest......our only problem is we're tired of driving two hours to/from PHL to fly with them.....

 

[delilah]

We fly Airtran out of Indianapolis to Orlando routinely. I like Airtrain. Despite a previous poster's statement that Airtran fares are higher than SW, I find the contrary to be the case. I, too, am dreading when the transition to SW is complete, if only because of the circus involving seating. I can foresee, based on my experience, higher airfares, fewer nonstop flights, possibly seating issues. All bad news.

 

[manning]

Great airline. Have to say that. My cousin works for them.

 

[lylone]

We have also been AirTran flyers for over 7 years. Love the people and the planes have always been clean and comfortable.

I don't mind paying extra to make sure I get to sit where I want and with who I want.

I fear the change to SW and don't think the all the changes will be complete really soon. We just got off a 717 on Saturday and it still had Airtran on it and all the 737s said AirTran as well.
I don't think all the deals and conversions will be complete for at least another year....and dread when that time will come....

 

[DeadHead]

DW & I love Airtran, we love the 717's, the 3/2 configuration works for us as we always grab 2 seats together with no third seat in the aisle. Out of PHL our flights have been on time, ground personnel, and crews have been friendly, and professional. And on most occassions their flights have been the cheapest out of PHL.

 

[katallo]

We like Air Tran. SWA has added so many flights with layovers. Air Tran offers more nonstops to Orlando. Plus, the fares at SWA have been really so much more than Air Tran.

 

[Fire14]

For Me SWA is cheaper flying out of CMH to MCO. I'm not even sure AT still flys from CMH.
For my BFF: Flying from GRR to MCO or DTW to MCO AT seems to be cheaper even with bag fees. I personally have never heard any complaints other than my personal griping about AT Flights changing frequently, which has seemed to lessen last few times.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I flew Southwest down to Orlando and Airtran back to my destination. It was like night and day.

Airtran was much more compact. Seats much smaller, more confusing loading. Carryon's were not noticed and there were no spaces in our row for them even though only around 30 people loaded before us and none in the rows before or behind us.

The staff was friendly. The pilot very honest. We were flying over a bad storm and he announced in the terminal to make sure to take a bathroom break as he may not be able to take the seatbelt light off.

Airtran did have WiFi to pass the time but did not make up for the lack of personal space and the lack of cleaning of the interior.

We have flown quite a bit and my son said he would personally pay any differences to fly on Southwest only. He is 17 and has a tight hold on his money.

I guess it breaks down to what matters. I felt the fees for the bags totally brought the difference to a minimal. We were able to get all our clothes into one checked bag so it was worth it at the time we booked, but not after the time we debarked.

 

[guitarob]

We've flown AirTran many times. Our most recent flight was yesterday. We've never had a problem with them. The staff is always courteous, the planes have been in good shape, and on every flight we've taken with them the plane has departed and arrived early. Yesterday we were scheduled to arrive at 11:32 and got to the gate at 11:15.

I pick and choose between AirTran and Southwest usually, depending on who has the better schedule. For this trip, it turned out AirTran had a better schedule and the base price for the flight was cheaper than Southwest.

We do upgrade to business class if it is available. You can call 24 hours before your flight and get a business class upgrade for as low as $69.00 per person if there are seats available. This eliminates bag fees, and gives you priority boarding along with a complimentary pre-takeoff beverage. That, coupled with the larger seats and generally more personal space while on the plane are well worth the small upgrade fee to me. I'm going to miss that when Southwest takes over completely. I'm not a fan of the "free-for-all" Southwest boarding method. I'd rather have my seat assigned in advance because the pushing and shoving that I've experienced on Southwest just doesn't suit me.

 

[lylone]

We are fans of the Business class upgrades too. Both ATL and MCO have special priority security lines when you upgrade. The upgrades used to be $49, don't know when they upped them to $69, but still it's worth it for the service and the extra room!

 

[delilah]

I had an interesting experience with Airtran/SWA the past day or two. My husband and I had a trip booked in March. Due to scheduling conflicts that involved my son (specifically, our flight left at 7am and he needs to meet with a group at the school to leave for a class trip to Spain at 10am), I needed to change our flight. I found that Airtran had no flights from Indianapolis that left after 1pm that arrived in Orlando before 11pm. (So, no arrivals between about 3pm and 11pm, oddly enough). SWA had a flight that left at 1pm, which I thought might work, but, I found out that even though SWA is owned by the same company as Airtran, if I cancelled the flight to Orlando to book the flight on SWA, I couldn't use the credit to pay for the flight on SWA. And even with the change fees and increased fare on Airtran, it was less than the cost of booking the flight on SWA, even taking into consideration the "free" luggage. We are planning to stay at AK Kidani Villas with some friends. So, we just decided that we would book the flight on Saturday instead of Friday, and change the AKL reservation (if we can get our friends to agree).