Airtran Question- reserve seats or not?

[CarolA]

Not sure if you get to see them in Atlanta, but Southwest is running tv ads right now poking fun at other airlines' nickel-and-diming strategies - the ad shows a guy having to stick quarters in a slot to open the overhead bin, put down his window shade, etc. And yet, with fuel costs where they are, how tempting it must be for Southwest to think about charging for assigned seating (even though they don't use them for assigned seating, the signs with row and seat numbers are in place on all their planes) or even just "auctioning" off A & B boarding passes (e.g., you can pay $15 for an A pass at the time you buy, or $10 for a B, subject to availability). I would bet my house that these ideas have been proposed within Southwest before. I imagine that so far they have decided it would betray their brand too much. As costs rise, their position may change.

Not to go too far OT, but I see signs of Southwest getting away from being a strictly low-fare airline. I have a feeling that they feel they provide superior service (always on time, stellar safety record, friendly, convenient, etc.) and that maybe they can charge a bit of a premium for that. We are going to WDW in September. I booked an Airtran web fare for $59 each way (+$5 each way for picking seats). Southwest's lowest internet-only fare at the time: $129 each way! That was higher than even AA and UA (the other non-stop CHI-MCO options). Even now it is only down to $97 each way (Airtran is $92 but of course if you pay for your seat assignment it is $97). There are plenty of threads on here wondering why Southwest doesn't seem to be as cheap as in the past, and when are the low low fares coming out, etc. I fear that the good old days may be gone.

I haven't seen the ads, but SW's management has hinted that "Pay for A" may be on the way according to industry reporting (Don't know if it's accuate) So I don't think SW is COMPLETELY opposed to nickle and diming.. (and they day they implement, they will just change the adds! )


Flyertalk.com has had a whole thread on instances where SW is far from the "lowest" option. I like them not just because they are LOW, but because of their liberal change policy! I would probably pay a few dollars extra for that IF they flew in and out of ATL. (I work a lot in Birmingham so I do fly them some!)

 

[LeslieG]

Wow, I'm still a hold-out on paying the extra to reserve my seat. I wonder if there's any way to get a sense of how many people are doing this. As you folks take your trips, post about your experience with the reserved seating situation.

 

[illiniowl]

Even though I have already paid to reserve our seats, when I go in September (we're a party of 3 going to MCO, and 4 coming back), I will definitely be checking online to see if I could have gotten seats together at the 24-hour mark without paying. Our MDW-MCO flight is an afternoon nonstop on Friday, and the return is a Saturday evening connection through ATL (assuming, of course, that they don't jack our flight times around yet again, as they have already done 3 times). I will try to remember to post back, and it would be great if others would do so as well.

 

[Hannathy]

Boy I'm glad my youngest is now 8, no paying for seats for us. As long as we are all on the same plane that's good enough for us. We rarely sit together when we get the chance anyway because 3 out of the 4 REALLY want windows so we usually scatter to get windows! $40 is someones souvenir or lunch.

 

[LeslieG]

I was just looking on Airtran's website, and now they have beside the flight a picture of a seat you can click on that appears to show the available seats.

 

[DBH]

I booked Air Tran when doing the free dining package through Disney as that was the cheapest air fare I could get. I do want to reserve our seats since it we are flying with a 5 year old and a 8 month old. I got my boarding passes with my stuff from Disney. Where on the boarding passes do I find my confirmation number? I tried different numbers but none worked online and nothing says "confirmation number" that I can see.

Thanks for the help!

We booked thru Disney and I call them about that same question. They put me on hold to call a different department and came back with my code for AirTran. I called AirTran and got my seats reserved. Just tell Disney what you are trying to do and they will get the code for you.

 

[mika911]

We booked thru Disney and I call them about that same question. They put me on hold to call a different department and came back with my code for AirTran. I called AirTran and got my seats reserved. Just tell Disney what you are trying to do and they will get the code for you.

Airtran will give you the number too. I booked through Amex my flight, and i had to call Airtran to get the real confirmation number.

 

[kelscross]

I'm interested in seeing if this really makes a difference. I have never had a problem with sitting with my kids on Airtran or any other airline for that matter.

I wonder if this is going to cause problems, because I have seen the airline attendants change the seating as the plane is boarding. There was a family that was quite upset about their seats being changed by the attendants as their family was being separated at boarding time even though they did the 24 hour check in online.

It will be interesting to see because people are paying for their particular seat assignments.

I'm not going to pay extra for that.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

We have flown airtran before and not paid the extra $ and gotten to sit together. We check in online and print out our ressies the day before. I am pretty sure that NO ONE wants to get stuck sitting next to my 3 yr old DS. Last year when we flew American I am sure the guy sitting next to me was ready to switch seats if only he could!
We were seated like this

DS me guy DH DD guy

When I was installing ds's carseat I got my arm stuck behind it and was pinned in the seat! The rest of the flight we were passing things over him and I am sure he was really wishing that we could have sat together! My son was later so tired he was crying and finally fell asleep 10 minutes before we landed. I felt really bad for the guy and apologized to him profusely.

My point is that I am sure if given the alternative, most people would gladly change seats to avoid sitting with your kids!

 

[kjs1976]

6 of us went and we were seated in two rows of three, right in a row, without reserving.

 

[Maxwell]

Boy I'm glad my youngest is now 8, no paying for seats for us. As long as we are all on the same plane that's good enough for us. We rarely sit together when we get the chance anyway because 3 out of the 4 REALLY want windows so we usually scatter to get windows! $40 is someones souvenir or lunch.

My son is 8 as well and I will pay the $5 fee for him to sit with us. I could not imagine having him sit in the back of the plane by himself.

 

[Poohbug]

I was shocked at all the hidden fees some airlines have now. I was thinking of putting my three boys in T-shirts that say:
Congratulations! You get to sit next to me.
and just let the others passengers worry about them.
I'm sure the airline would move people around quick.


De

 

[CarolA]

I think this will be interesting. If I PAID extra for the seat, I would be really PO'd if the FA tried to move me to keep a family together.... Now if AirTran would like to upgrade me to thier "business" class in exchange.... LOL! Most of the folks reporting on thier experiences probably flew before AirTran started this, it's only been going on about a month.

(I really think this is going to be a problem. Folks are NOT going to be as willing to move if they forked over CASH!)

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

It really should be interesting.

I would be expecting a refund if they moved me after I paid to reserve my seat.

I will say this though, when I looked online at my reservation there do seem to be a fair amount of blocked seats that Airtran is not allowing to be reserved (some seats say occupied by another passenger and some say blocked, our seats say occupied by __________ ) maybe they will try to keep little ones with their families by using those seats.

Also, the plane that Airtran flies out of MKE is a Boeing 717 and the coach seats are in rows of five (seat, seat, aisle, seat, seat, seat). I happened to be a family of five flying, so we reserved one whole row. Didn't want some poor stranger getting stuck by my talkative DD9 or my tired DS4.

 

[halld6479]

That is one of the reasons we paid the cash I didn't want my family split and I didn't want someone to think I was going to baby sit their lovely child cause they didn't want to pay the money, if they try to move us after we paid I bet they better have a hand full of free plane tickets or I will put my noise canceling headsets and the whole plane can help babysit, and we'll see how embarrassed and tired the mom is at the end of the flight.

 

[Starr W.]

I paid the extra money, we're a family of 4, with a DH that's 6'4". We reserved on the side of the plane with the 2 seats. I sit in front of DH, as I will not lower my seat back and bang into his knees. Also it's a good idea to split the boys up, I'm sure the rest of the plane wants to hear "He's bothering me." continuously for 2.5 hours from my eldest.

 

[cheesehead7]

I paid the money too. We have two moms going with 4 girls, teen and pre-teen. It would be torture for them to be split up like OMG!

 

[Harmoniebreeze]

It really should be interesting.

I would be expecting a refund if they moved me after I paid to reserve my seat.

I will say this though, when I looked online at my reservation there do seem to be a fair amount of blocked seats that Airtran is not allowing to be reserved (some seats say occupied by another passenger and some say blocked, our seats say occupied by __________ ) maybe they will try to keep little ones with their families by using those seats.

Also, the plane that Airtran flies out of MKE is a Boeing 717 and the coach seats are in rows of five (seat, seat, aisle, seat, seat, seat). I happened to be a family of five flying, so we reserved one whole row. Didn't want some poor stranger getting stuck by my talkative DD9 or my tired DS4.

Hey
I was just wondering how this all worked out. Were the Blocked seats made avaiable after the 24 hr mark? I am having this same debate because after all $40 is $40!!!

Anyone noticed if the blocked seats ever became open? I am confused by the need to block out SO many seats on each of my flights...making it look like I better pay that $5 when really only a handful of passangers have paid for it and if all those blocked seats are not taken then my chances of seating together are VERY high!

 

[Hannathy]

oops wrong thread

 

[bsusanmb]

Well, I too reserved our seats for 5 of us on two seperate trips. So, it looks like almost everyone is doing the same. I wouldn't take the chance not reserving. I do believe you will be split up. It was worth the extra money for us.