Actual experience airtran through southwest

[keishashadow]

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.

this is the first time I've ever heard of this sort of issue. Had to be frustrating for you. Curious, did u check bags? didn't the rep look @ your boarding pass & ID before handing u ur baggage claim tags? You'd think they'd have caught the problem there.

it is true FAs do urge everybody to find a seat ASAP as the airlines do want to keep their on-time record. Flights to MCO have lots of kids/novice travelers and tend to take a longer time to board.

several times pre-SWA switch over to AT, booking and paying for seat assignments directly thru AT, I have experienced seat poachers. they boarded when their zone was called before mine. I never interact with the individuals, just summon a FA to handle the situation. it's their job, not mine, to enforce the seating that the airline has designated. Conversely, out of two subsequent trips since the switch booking AT thru SWA, haven't had to deal with finding bodies in 'our' seats.

 

[mandas08]

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

That's makes sense too.

 

[stitchlovestink]

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.

I would be curious to know if your seats were in rows 10 or 11. These rows are held back for people with disabilities. They can be assigned by an AirTran agent ahead of time to an AT passenger thru the phone line but I was just told over the phone you cannot select them online 'yourself' ahead of time. If they are not assigned out at the 24 hour mark they will be given out to the passengers who booked tickets thru the SW website. However, if a guest with a disability needs one of these seats when they check in at the gate, you (as in whoever has originally been assigned that seat) will be bumped and reassigned to another seat. Since Disabled travelers on SW are preboarded this is a non issue, but because AT cannot do that (for those passengers that bought their tickets thru the SW website) and they are REQUIRED to meet the needs of the disabled guest in order to comply with Air Carrier Access Act (similar to ADA laws), passengers in those seats, If Needed, will have to be reseated elsewhere. Not trying to start any arguments or debates, but this is direct from AirTran and this is policy in order to comply with the law. So just a heads up that if you are in rows 10 or 11 and a disabled passenger that booked a ticket thru SW checks in at the gate, you could be reseated at the last minute. AT has to accommodate the disabled passenger or they are in noncompliance with the ACAA. That is probably why SW does the preboarding so that this is a nonissue...

 

[Nennie]

We didn't have any problems with seats for our trip (2 adults, 2 children)

On the way there, we had 2 seats together, and 2 random window seats. We easily switched seats with the guy next to us, who was more than happy to switch b/c his wife was sitting next to one of our assigned seats!

On the way home, we were assigned 2+2, so need so switch around!

One thing I did want to point out, was that we witnessed several upset SW customers who wanted to fly stand by on our flight home. Apparently, if you book through SW on an Airtran flight, and want to switch to an earlier flight, you need to cancel and re-book at the last minute fare (which in this case, was $227). If they had booked directly through Airtran, they would have been able to switch flights with no charge.

Just something to think about if you think you might want to try for an earlier flight. I think this applies more to ppl flying for business, than families at Disney...but wanted to share the info!!

 

[DebbieB]

this is the first time I've ever heard of this sort of issue. Had to be frustrating for you. Curious, did u check bags? didn't the rep look @ your boarding pass & ID before handing u ur baggage claim tags? You'd think they'd have caught the problem there.

I think the problem was that they were overbooked. They didn't have an empty seat for her when they checked in.

One thing I did want to point out, was that we witnessed several upset SW customers who wanted to fly stand by on our flight home. Apparently, if you book through SW on an Airtran flight, and want to switch to an earlier flight, you need to cancel and re-book at the last minute fare (which in this case, was $227). If they had booked directly through Airtran, they would have been able to switch flights with no charge.

Just something to think about if you think you might want to try for an earlier flight. I think this applies more to ppl flying for business, than families at Disney...but wanted to share the info!!

That is SW's policy for standby. You have to upgrade to full fare. One area where they are more strict than other airlines.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I would be curious to know if your seats were in rows 10 or 11. These rows are held back for people with disabilities. They can be assigned by an AirTran agent ahead of time to an AT passenger thru the phone line but I was just told over the phone you cannot select them online 'yourself' ahead of time. If they are not assigned out at the 24 hour mark they will be given out to the passengers who booked tickets thru the SW website. However, if a guest with a disability needs one of these seats when they check in at the gate, you (as in whoever has originally been assigned that seat) will be bumped and reassigned to another seat. Since Disabled travelers on SW are preboarded this is a non issue, but because AT cannot do that (for those passengers that bought their tickets thru the SW website) and they are REQUIRED to meet the needs of the disabled guest in order to comply with Air Carrier Access Act (similar to ADA laws), passengers in those seats, If Needed, will have to be reseated elsewhere. Not trying to start any arguments or debates, but this is direct from AirTran and this is policy in order to comply with the law. So just a heads up that if you are in rows 10 or 11 and a disabled passenger that booked a ticket thru SW checks in at the gate, you could be reseated at the last minute. AT has to accommodate the disabled passenger or they are in noncompliance with the ACAA. That is probably why SW does the preboarding so that this is a nonissue...

I am relieved to read all this, I booked AT flights thru SW long ago, before I understood how the boarding would actually work. Just me and adult DS, but he is autistic, down syndrome, non verbal, and needs to sit with me. We have different reservation numbers. I called SW and was told not to worry about it. I was asking if they or AT could assign us seats, even though of course that is not the policy. I was just trying to avoid being the ones that they were begging people to move seats for, or worse, being the ones that they forced people to move for....... But they said just ask at the gate if we are not assigned to be sitting together. We leave Thursday, and the flight looks fairly full, only the highest price ticket is left to buy.

And sorry if we bump someone from their seats.

 

[jo-jo]

I checked in at 24 hrs with one confirmation number. I got 14 E (center) and DH got 15 A (window). I then checked the seat chart at AirTran and the flight was half empty. Now the flight is almost completely full. I don't think we'll be able to switch anything at the airport. Why, when the plane was still half empty, were we given seats apart?

 

[Gracie09]

I checked in at 24 hrs with one confirmation number. I got 14 E (center) and DH got 15 A (window). I then checked the seat chart at AirTran and the flight was half empty. Now the flight is almost completely full. I don't think we'll be able to switch anything at the airport. Why, when the plane was still half empty, were we given seats apart?

You don't know if the seating chart was accurate, if people who booked through AirTran selected seats at 24 hour mark, the other sw passengers were given seats etc.

 

[Nennie]

I checked in at 24 hrs with one confirmation number. I got 14 E (center) and DH got 15 A (window). I then checked the seat chart at AirTran and the flight was half empty. Now the flight is almost completely full. I don't think we'll be able to switch anything at the airport. Why, when the plane was still half empty, were we given seats apart?

15A is a 2-seater, with your DH on the window. Just ask the person next to you (14D), to switch with your husband. I'm sure that they won't mind the upgrade to a window seat!! If not, then ask 14F to move from one window to the other! It will be easier to get someone to take his window seat, since you've got a middle, which is harder to negotiate with.

Also, if it's anything like my flight, the person sitting next to you might even be with the person sitting next to your DH! There's no rhyme or reason to those seat assignments! All of the Southwest customers were really cool about switching around, b/c we are all in the same boat!

Good luck!

 

[Spoiledraf]

New direction here...
Booked with SW and traveling on an Airtran flight. The SW flight number is 5255 and the airtran flight number is just 255. When calling Disney Magical Express, which flight number do I give them to register. I am assuming the Airtran flight number is what DME will go by.

And as to the seat assignment problems, we are flying the Sunday after Thanksgiving so I don't expect any empty seats to switch if we get separated. Guess we'll just have to keep in mind the final destination! Plus We'll be getting up at 2am so I'm hoping to sleep on the way down anyway. (Ya I know. Good luck with that)

 

[luckyman_apd]

New direction here...
Booked with SW and traveling on an Airtran flight. The SW flight number is 5255 and the airtran flight number is just 255. When calling Disney Magical Express, which flight number do I give them to register. I am assuming the Airtran flight number is what DME will go by.

And as to the seat assignment problems, we are flying the Sunday after Thanksgiving so I don't expect any empty seats to switch if we get separated. Guess we'll just have to keep in mind the final destination! Plus We'll be getting up at 2am so I'm hoping to sleep on the way down anyway. (Ya I know. Good luck with that)

My suggestion....use a smartphone and check in exactly at 24 hours. We booked an AirTran flight home through SW.com. Checked in through SW app inside the park. This was late August. There were 6 of us traveling. Booked senior category for my in laws. My wife and kids and I were seated together....4 in a row with the window seat open (AirTran is 2 seats and 3 seats) and my in laws were together farther back in the plane.

When a flight is full, they assign seats by checkin order.....so check in ASAP. If its oversold (very likely) the last people to check in dont get seats. Don't get stuck in that position.

 

[Marilene]

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Just to confirm- I booked through sw and am on an AirTran flight. I should still check in 24 hours in advance on sw's website??? Thank you!

 

[stitchlovestink]

Just to confirm- I booked through sw and am on an AirTran flight. I should still check in 24 hours in advance on sw's website??? Thank you!

YES!!! Absolutely!!! This is when they will assign your seats for an airtran flight....not until then, so it is important to do so.

 

[luckyman_apd]

YES!!! Absolutely!!! This is when they will assign your seats for an airtran flight....not until then, so it is important to do so.

+1

As close as you can to 24 hours before.

 

[pooh4evr]

Just check the 5 of us in for St Louis- MCO for tomorrow morning. We have 5 different conf # due to booking with points. Anyway, we are rows 12 D,E,F and row 11 D and E - so far so good!

 

[Egdisney]

Before reading through this thread, I was on the verge of a panic attack. I have only flown twice before, the last time was 6 years ago. I guess I am unwise to the ways of the airline world and assumed AirTran and Southwest would be the same. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I have 4 kids who have never flown 9 and under. Luckily one is an infant who will be sitting in my lap. I am now hopeful that my husband will be able to sit next to our 3 year old and the older 2 will be able to at least be close to one of the 4 adults who are also traveling with us. The flight that is through AirTran is out of Kansas City on a Wednesday afternoon so I am trying to believe that we will benefit from that as well. I am glad I realized the situation before I went to check in on the 22nd. I am even more glad that our return flight is a Southwest flight.

 

[shyjade]

Sorry if this has already been asked...

Booked our flights to Disney thru SW. The first leg is on SW, the second leg is on AT. I know that AT assigns seating when we check in. If we book Early Bird for the SW leg of the flight, will the computer also check us in (at 36 hours) on the AT flight? I realize I won't be able to print our boarding passes until the 24 hour mark.

I will probably buy EB since our SW flight is sold out, but not if it will negatively impact the check-in for our AT flight.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Last Tuesday, we did online check-in 24 hours prior to our Air Tran flight. Of the 9 of us (which were booked on 3 different confirmation #'s), 5 of us were in the same row, and 4 of us sat alone. We asked the lady at the counter when we dropped off our luggage about getting our seats together, and she made sure our 4-year-old was sitting with us.