AIRTRAN rates going crazy

[Henlady]

Have been checking out Airtran for a May 5th flight from MCO to Pittsburgh. Monday the flight at 3:24pm was $144, yesterday the same flight was $188, today that same flight is $408!!! What's up with that????????

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are flying Airtran for the first time in December.

We booked at $170 pp one way in early July. Within a week, they were over $200. Within a month, they were over $400. Then they inched down. Then up again. Then they plummeted to $150 (and I got myself enough credit per person for one checked bag each ). They bounced around the $250-$350 mark for a few weeks. Then way back up to almost $400 again.

In late October, the flight sold out with the exception of business class.

Definite notable variances, for sure.

 

[lwake]

My usual $300 r/t flight from Portland, ME to MCO is now $507 one way! I am attributing it to the fact that Southwest Airline has bought them out and will be taking over their spot at our airport. Flights are so crazy right now that we will be flying out of Boston. It's cheaper ($900) to drive the 3 1/2 hours and stay the night in a hotel. CRAZY!!!

 

[lylone]

Have been checking out Airtran for a May 5th flight from MCO to Pittsburgh. Monday the flight at 3:24pm was $144, yesterday the same flight was $188, today that same flight is $408!!! What's up with that????????

You still have some time. Is the flight full? I am sure that they will have some special fares probably around February. They usually have an "escape from Winter' sale when the flights don't fill up.
We are flying to catch a cruise in April and we haven't booked yet for that reason.

 

[DebbieB]

Airfare has been crazy from Pittsburgh. Southwest shifted most of their flights over to AirTran, looks like they only have 1 non-stop each way in early May. I have a flight on March 3 on SW that jumped from $117 to $280, luckily I booked it when it was low.

 

[ZoeBell]

I was watching AirTran flights from Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale. It was like watching the stock market. $120 each way. Then $170, $240, back down to $120 and then up again. Sometimes with in minutes.The flight going always remained $120 but the return flight was the one going crazy. Then one day last week in the early morning hours a new flight was added with a $120 price. I grabbed it because the prices seemed unstable. Who knows what other price would be coming.

 

[lacrossemom13]

I just booked Buf to Orlando w Airtran, got a great price this morning, but yesterday was up over 500 more!! Glad I booked

 

[disneydreamgirl]

Then they plummeted to $150 (and I got myself enough credit per person for one checked bag each ).

So your experience has been that if the rate goes down that they may be willing to extend a checked bag! I will have to try that if our flights for January go down. Nice tip!

 

[ZoeBell]

So your experience has been that if the rate goes down that they may be willing to extend a checked bag! I will have to try that if our flights for January go down. Nice tip!

What I learned from DIS boards is of your flight price goes down you can call AirTran and have your account credited with the difference between the old and new price. You can use it for flights( in the name of the original flyer) or to pay for baggage fees, and upgrades.

 

[ready123go]

What I learned from DIS boards is of your flight price goes down you can call AirTran and have your account credited with the difference between the old and new price. You can use it for flights( in the name of the original flyer) or to pay for baggage fees, and upgrades.

Same here - Yay, Disboards . We booked a flight for Thanksgiving around the end of June. Went on sale in July, got enough credit to book another return flight for our trip in Feb. Still have some credit and now just looking for outbound in Feb.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So your experience has been that if the rate goes down that they may be willing to extend a checked bag! I will have to try that if our flights for January go down. Nice tip!

They didn't give us a checked bag, per se.....but they did give us a credit of $20 per ticket. We will be checking one bag per person/ticket. And the fee for the first checked bag per ticket is $20. So in my mind, our $20 credit each = 1 free checked bag each.

What I learned from DIS boards is of your flight price goes down you can call AirTran and have your account credited with the difference between the old and new price. You can use it for flights( in the name of the original flyer) or to pay for baggage fees, and upgrades.

Exactly right . The entire call took less than ten minutes, and netted us $60 in savings.

 

[disneydreamgirl]

I love you guys!

January will be our first trip with AirTran as we've always flown SouthWest.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

January will be our first trip with AirTran as we've always flown SouthWest.

Same here! (except our flight is in December, and we've always flown JetBlue)

 

[Henlady]

OP here....We opted to book the Airtran flight that departs at 1:31pm (2 hrs earlier) at $144. The 3:24pm flight is still listing at $408. I'll keep watch on the departure time and if the 1:31 changes at all, I can then have them switch it over to the 3:24 flight if seats are available. If the price goes down from the $144, I'll use any credit to apply to seat selection and/or baggage fees. It should all work out in the end. Thanks for allowing my original "rant".