Air Tran Flight Changes - Any Options?

[taliategan]

I had booked our return flight for 1/24 back in July with AirTran because the price was fairly good, it was non-stop (DW does not like to fly & I always try to get non-stops for her benefit) and I knew Sunday afternoon flights out of Orlando could be costly if I waited to book. Original flight was to leave MCO at 3:05 p.m., at some point the flight was changed to 4:30 p.m. (did not really have any problem with this time change - but I never received any notification from AirTran on the change). When I checked my flight yesterday on the web-site, it was missing. I went into my account with Air-Tran and it now shows I am booked on a connecting flight through Atlanta leaving MCO at 4:03 p.m, with different flight numbers. Not sure when this happened, but have not yet received any notification from Air-Tran. I had paid for seat assignments - only 3 of the 4 tickets now have seat assignments for the first leg of the trip and no seat assignments for the second leg. There are two other non-stop flights that day - the AM will not work because we are getting off a cruise and the night flight arrives late and would be difficult considering the kids have school the next day. I would assume Air-Tran will let me change to any other flight that day or refund my ticket possibly. Southwest does have an afternoon non-stop flight, but it is now about $ 40 higher a ticket than what I had paid with Air-Tran. Am I pretty much stuck with keeping this changed flight with Air-Tran unless I want to pay $ 160.00 more to go with Southwest?

[Buzz's Buddy]

In my experience, Air Tran is very flexible when it comes to making changes when they change their schedule. Just call them up and let them now what you want to do.

You should be able to switch to whatever flight you want as long as there are seats.

[taliategan]

Originally Posted by Buzz's Buddy

In my experience, Air Tran is very flexible when it comes to making changes when they change their schedule. Just call them up and let them now what you want to do.

You should be able to switch to whatever flight you want as long as there are seats.

I know they try to accomodate - but they no longer have what I originally purchased - an afternoon, non-stop flight. Any non-stop between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. would have been good with me. I purchased the original tickets from Air-Tran before the Southwest tickets were available for my date. When Southwest tickets first came out they were actually a bit cheaper than the Air-Tran tickets I purchased, but now the price is $ 40.00 ticket higher ($50.00 with the EBIC fee). What Air-Tran changed me flights to is probably my best available option with them. I do arrive about 4 hours later than originally scheduled, have a tight connection in Atlanta and will have to deal with an extra flight with a DW that does not like to fly.

[cbrfan]

Do they fly out of an alternate airport close to you? They will allow you to switch airports or departure dates.

[crashbb]

Your options:

1) Take what they've moved you to.

2) Find an AirTran flight that does work. I know you said there are none that day, but could you do a day before/after (it doesn't sound like you can, but I thought I'd check) or a nearby airport? Ask AirTran to change you to this flight.

3) Cancel your AirTran flight and book with SW. Did you book these are two one-way flights or a return ticket?

[pickles]

is this a common problem with airlines?

I have flown AA a few times about 3-4 years ago and no problem and I have flown SWA a few times and not had this problem


is this certain airlines that do this(change flights and even worse change and not let you know)

what a royal pia

[Chelley00]

Originally Posted by pickles

is this a common problem with airlines?

I have flown AA a few times about 3-4 years ago and no problem and I have flown SWA a few times and not had this problem


is this certain airlines that do this(change flights and even worse change and not let you know)

what a royal pia

Airtran is notorious for changing flight times/schedules. They email and let you know, but I've heard of way too many stories about them not notifying people. They changed our flight and we did get an email. It didn't work for us, so they allowed me to cancel and they refunded our money, then I booked DS on Southwest instead.

[Paradise East]

They did not notify me !

Thanks to this thread I decided to check my two existing reservations on Air Tran, both BWI-MCO-BWI, the one for the end of this month is fine (already had 3 time changes) but the one for the middle of April 2010 was moved forward 2 hours in leaving MCO with a layover in ATL.
They did NOT email this change.
Originally we had a non stop.
Checking the website there was availablity on a non stop which had almost the same times as our original flight.
Called Ait Tran and there was no problem to change the flight to the non stop one with no penalty fees added.
Do your homework and they seem willing to work with you.

[safetymom]

Once you book flights you should check them at least every week. It isn't a good idea to depend on the airline to notify you. The sooner you notice a change the sooner you can look at what might work better for you and contact the airline.

[taliategan]

Originally Posted by crashbb

Your options:

1) Take what they've moved you to.

2) Find an AirTran flight that does work. I know you said there are none that day, but could you do a day before/after (it doesn't sound like you can, but I thought I'd check) or a nearby airport? Ask AirTran to change you to this flight.

3) Cancel your AirTran flight and book with SW. Did you book these are two one-way flights or a return ticket?

Thanks for the advice. I did book flights separately, as my flight to MCO is on SW. I was a lot more flexible on that flight than I was with return flight. We are returning on a cruise (last day of our trip) so I could not book an AM flight and would not prefer a late flight as the kids have school the next day and we both will have to go to work. I will probably stay with AirTran - I'll let DW decide whether she wants a connecting flights that arrives at 8:15 p.m. or a non-stop flight that arrives at 10:46. The SW option is better, but it bothers me too much that I would have to pay another $ 200-$250 for essentially the same flight I flight I thought I had already paid with Air-Tran.

[mckinley]

We book ours back in August for upcoming December trip. They didn't do any changes to our flight until about 3 months out. Since then they have changed them many times (lost count). I have noticed the changes mostly on sundays.

[taliategan]

I did call AirTran today. I kept with AirTran, but still not very happy. I only bought with them because it was an afternoon non-stop flight. I did take an earlier flight from MCO to Atlanta to provide more time between flights. The flight AirTran had changed me to left about 55 minute layover. Now I will have about an hour and forty minutes. I have the same seats on the flight to Atlanta that I previously had on the non-stop from MCO to PIT, and the seats on the flight from ATL to PIT are 4 rows further back. The rep said there is little chance an afternoon non-stop flight will be added. I believe the late night non-stop was added by Air-Tran shortly before they canceled the afternoon non-stop. Not sure why the afternoon flight was canceled - I would think it would be a popular flight for people ending their vacations on a Sunday. Possibly lower airports fees at night as opposed to the afternoon.