Actual experience airtran through southwest

[pixidust1976]

Well... just got home from a NIGHTMARE flying Airtran booked through Southwest.

I checked in at the 24 hour mark before our flight down to Orlando out of BWI and three of the four of us were assigned seats in rows 11 and 12 and my youngest child was just given two dashes on the boarding pass where her seat number should be. I called Southwest right away and they assigned the next available seat that was by then 8 rows back in row 20... away from us all by itself. I didn't worry because I was just assuming that someone would trade to move up front to let me sit beside her.

Then, we get to the gates to board and my child's boarding pass with those two dashes is invalid and she doesn't have a seat on the plane. So she is in tears! And by the time we got on the plane, every seat we were assigned had people sitting in it and they wouldn't move because they were "beside their children".

It was terrible. My poor little girl started her vacation in tears and sick from worry that she didn't have a seat on the plane. They have lost my business for sure.

 

[Gracie09]

Well... just got home from a NIGHTMARE flying Airtran booked through Southwest.

I checked in at the 24 hour mark before our flight down to Orlando out of BWI and three of the four of us were assigned seats in rows 11 and 12 and my youngest child was just given two dashes on the boarding pass where her seat number should be. I called Southwest right away and they assigned the next available seat that was by then 8 rows back in row 20... away from us all by itself. I didn't worry because I was just assuming that someone would trade to move up front to let me sit beside her.

Then, we get to the gates to board and my child's boarding pass with those two dashes is invalid and she doesn't have a seat on the plane. So she is in tears! And by the time we got on the plane, every seat we were assigned had people sitting in it and they wouldn't move because they were "beside their children".

It was terrible. My poor little girl started her vacation in tears and sick from worry that she didn't have a seat on the plane. They have lost my business for sure.

why didn't you sit your daughter with the others in your party and take what ever seat was available yourself?

 

[DebbieB]

Well... just got home from a NIGHTMARE flying Airtran booked through Southwest.

I checked in at the 24 hour mark before our flight down to Orlando out of BWI and three of the four of us were assigned seats in rows 11 and 12 and my youngest child was just given two dashes on the boarding pass where her seat number should be. I called Southwest right away and they assigned the next available seat that was by then 8 rows back in row 20... away from us all by itself. I didn't worry because I was just assuming that someone would trade to move up front to let me sit beside her.

Then, we get to the gates to board and my child's boarding pass with those two dashes is invalid and she doesn't have a seat on the plane. So she is in tears! And by the time we got on the plane, every seat we were assigned had people sitting in it and they wouldn't move because they were "beside their children".

It was terrible. My poor little girl started her vacation in tears and sick from worry that she didn't have a seat on the plane. They have lost my business for sure.

How old is your little girl? So what did you end up doing?

If worse came to worse and they didn't have a seat for her, they should have asked for a volunteer to take another flight. Or one of the adults in your party take another flight (you should have got compensation in that case). Or pull your whole family to take another flight. But in any case they would not have left her there alone (unless she is of age) so no need for her to be sick with worry.

 

[pixidust1976]

Even though they didn't have a seat assigned to my daughter, there was an empty seat on the plane so we didn't need bumped, but only because someone on the plane missed the flight.

By the time we worked all this out at the customer service desk and got on the plane, the three seats we had in row 11 and 12 had other people sitting in our seats that said they didn't have to move because they were seated with their children.

The flight attendant is barking at us to take ANY OPEN SEAT because the plane can't leave until we are seated. Kindly, a childless couple that were seated together saw my daughter crying and gave up their seats beside each other so that at least she could sit with her dad. The rest of us were scattered about the plane.

The moral of this story is that if your boarding pass prints with only dashes where a seat number should be... don't assume that a call to Southwest will fix it. Visit customer service and request that they print you a valid boarding pass or you will get to the gate at boarding and get sent to customer service which lets the plane fill up and then you are left clambering for seats. OR, better yet... fly an airline that lets you select seats to make sure you get them.

 

[pooh4evr]

Now I am worried about our flight- 3 times now SW or AT or whomever- has canceled our reservation only to re- reserve everything with in 2 minutes? WTH is up with that? Yesterday my phone went crazy with email alerts- 5 from SW saying our points had been put back into our account from the travel that was cancelled, then more emails saying x# of points had been used to book a flight- the same flight that had just been cancelled? - same conf # each time- nothing about the flights has changed, times, dates, flight numbers all the same. We have flown SW numerous times- and never have had an issue- this time- I am worried . At this point I don't care where we sit as long as we are all on the right plane!

 

[Nennie]

Just checked in for tomorrow's flight, and am pleased with the result!

There are 4 of us, and we got 2 seats together (aisle and middle), a window across the aisle, and another window one row back.

Planning on putting the 2 kids in the seats that are together, and then asking the single window seat in that row to trade for our window seat that's across the aisle. I will sit with the kids, and DH can sit in the lone seat.

We lucked out with those window seats, and it's much better to negotiate switching when you have good seats to trade! LOL!!!

 

[brettb]

<snip> OR, better yet... fly an airline that lets you select seats to make sure you get them.

Whether you pick your own seats or not, there's NO guarantee that seat will be yours when you board. (And I don't mean because somebody sat in it even though it wasn't assigned to them.)

 

[maxiesmom]

Whether you pick your own seats or not, there's NO guarantee that seat will be yours when you board. (And I don't mean because somebody sat in it even though it wasn't assigned to them.)

It may not be guaranteed, but you have much better odds.

I am a bit confused though. On the Airtran/Southwest flights where you have some people with assigned seating and some without, who boards first? I guess I thought those with assigned seats boarded first, but from pixiedust1976's post, it doesn't sound like it. I have to say if open seating is first, and then assigned seating after that, I wouldn't move either. If people are told to seat in any open seat, that is what they will do.

 

[Granny square]

I think they couldn't board at their assigned seat time because of the boarding pass issue.

 

[mb187143]

It may not be guaranteed, but you have much better odds.

I am a bit confused though. On the Airtran/Southwest flights where you have some people with assigned seating and some without, who boards first? I guess I thought those with assigned seats boarded first, but from pixiedust1976's post, it doesn't sound like it. I have to say if open seating is first, and then assigned seating after that, I wouldn't move either. If people are told to seat in any open seat, that is what they will do.

The AirTran via SW flights are boarded using AirTran procedures. I believe the bps have a zone on them in addition to the seat assignment. So it's not "open" seating like a SW flight. I think the pp's issue was that by the time they worked out her daughters seat, the people who boarded before her family moved themselves (perhaps thinking those seats were unoccupied)

 

[pixidust1976]

When you book with SW on an Airtran flight you do get a seat assignment at the time of online check in. We had assigned seats on three of our four tickets and SHOULD HAVE had an assigned seat on the fourth but the system only printed two dashes instead of our seat assignment. I called as soon as I saw this and the told me verbally the seat assignment that I wrote above the two dashes on the printed boarding pass, however when we got there they told us that the boarding pass wasn't valid and to go to customer service. By the time we got back, the seats that were assigned to us had other people sitting in them and we asked the flight attendant to make the people move out of the seats that were clearly ours because our boarding passes showed that they were our seats and she said she couldn't make them move because they were seated with their children but made no qualms about making me and my children sit in any available seat that would have had us sitting apart.

This thread is about actual experiences with airtran through southwest... and this was my actual experience.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

When you book with SW on an Airtran flight you do get a seat assignment at the time of online check in. We had assigned seats on three of our four tickets and SHOULD HAVE had an assigned seat on the fourth but the system only printed two dashes instead of our seat assignment. I called as soon as I saw this and the told me verbally the seat assignment that I wrote above the two dashes on the printed boarding pass, however when we got there they told us that the boarding pass wasn't valid and to go to customer service. By the time we got back, the seats that were assigned to us had other people sitting in them and we asked the flight attendant to make the people move out of the seats that were clearly ours because our boarding passes showed that they were our seats and she said she couldn't make them move because they were seated with their children but made no qualms about making me and my children sit in any available seat that would have had us sitting apart.

This thread is about actual experiences with airtran through southwest... and this was my actual experience.

Next time ask for the "flight leader" or "supervisor" (not sure what AirTran calls them) There is someone in charge and I have made the "we just wanted to sit here" group move on a lot of flights. The FA in this case was wrong and normally I would suggest you complain, but ... unless SW has taken over the management of the complaint dept at AirTran you won't get far.

However, I think your big error here is booking via a method that gives you basically "last call" on the seat assignment.

I realize that if I book a seat on airline X it might get moved, but I check my flights a lot and can generally call the airline and deal with it. When I fly AirTran I pay for a seat assignment so I get what I want. I do fly SW but I pay for EBCI.

If sitting together is important being the "last to select" is not a good situation IMHO

 

[beachgrl001]

I checked in for my flight home last night (1/2 hr late) i purposely did this because i wanted to see what would happen if i was past the 24hr mark. I was assigned 11 d,e&f! Pleasantly surprised!

 

[mandas08]

I checked in for my flight home last night (1/2 hr late) i purposely did this because i wanted to see what would happen if i was past the 24hr mark. I was assigned 11 d,e&f! Pleasantly surprised!

Ok maybe silly question. Is there an advantage to not doing it at exactly 24hr mark?

 

[beachgrl001]

Ok maybe silly question. Is there an advantage to not doing it at exactly 24hr mark?

I dont know lol but it was just my theory i checked in on the way down at the exact 24hr mark and it gave us seats all over. So i was thinking maybe wait a little then check in... Then again the plane home wasnt even full so really i think its just a crap shoot

 

[DebbieB]

I checked in for my flight home last night (1/2 hr late) i purposely did this because i wanted to see what would happen if i was past the 24hr mark. I was assigned 11 d,e&f! Pleasantly surprised!

The question is does the AirTran system assign seats for everyone who doesn't have seats at the 24 hour mark or does the system wait until each person individually checks in?

 

[mandas08]

Just checked in and we have 3 seats together. I checked in right at the 24hr mark.

I also want to add that when I looked at the seating chart this morning (4hrs) before 24hr check in mark, it only showed 5 seats available randomly through the plane besides emergency row. I was pretty much prepared for us all to be separated but surprise we are together....yay!

Therefore I guess we shouldn't read into the seat chart assignment too much because I know the seats we got were showing unavailable this morning.

 

[Planogirl]

I just checked the prices for AirTran and they come up as almost $200 more for the two of us to fly with them rather than just go with Southwest. That plus baggage fees - really?

 

[lazer]

Just checked in and we have 3 seats together. I checked in right at the 24hr mark.

I also want to add that when I looked at the seating chart this morning (4hrs) before 24hr check in mark, it only showed 5 seats available randomly through the plane besides emergency row. I was pretty much prepared for us all to be separated but surprise we are together....yay!

Therefore I guess we shouldn't read into the seat chart assignment too much because I know the seats we got were showing unavailable this morning.

This was me this morning! We have four seats together on our way down, hoping we luck out on the way back too. Have a safe trip!

 

[richmo]

Therefore I guess we shouldn't read into the seat chart assignment too much because I know the seats we got were showing unavailable this morning.

I don't know how it all works, but it seems like AirTran blocks out a range of seats for Southwest bookings, then assigns them at Southwest checkin time. Interesting that someone posted that the same flight was showing for a much higher price on the AirTran website than Southwest. That would make me think that the AirTran seats were mostly sold out, but there was still some in the Southwest block. This is totally a guess on my part...I could be completely wrong