Air Tran Airlines-Any good? Never have flown them. Should I worry?

[Disneyfun1]

Still looking for our return trip from orlando to phoenix. 2 days ago i got our flight from phoenix to orlando for $99 on delta.

I checked just now and ATA has flights for us from orlando to phoenix for 124. We had originally wanted to fly home late as possible on sat night, but they only had early sat flights for that price. If we come home either friday just about any time, or stay 1 more night until sunday and come home in morning, we can leave at either 6 or 8 am and be home by 1030 or 1230 on sunday for 124.

Having never flown on ata before, i thought i heard news of them in trouble, or should i worry about it since its only 2 months away? How reliable are they? should i take this flight now, or wait it out longer? usair, delta and swa all want 200-300 for the one way home still.

thanks.

 

[Traveliz]

Still looking for our return trip from orlando to phoenix. 2 days ago i got our flight from phoenix to orlando for $99 on delta.

I checked just now and ATA has flights for us from orlando to phoenix for 124. We had originally wanted to fly home late as possible on sat night, but they only had early sat flights for that price. If we come home either friday just about any time, or stay 1 more night until sunday and come home in morning, we can leave at either 6 or 8 am and be home by 1030 or 1230 on sunday for 124.

Having never flown on ata before, i thought i heard news of them in trouble, or should i worry about it since its only 2 months away? How reliable are they? should i take this flight now, or wait it out longer? usair, delta and swa all want 200-300 for the one way home still.

thanks.

ATA is American Trans Air which is different from AirTran. ATA has filed for bankruptcy and is no longer operating so that is not an option.

AirTran on the other hand is fine. It is my airline of choice for going to FL.

Liz

 

[Disneyfun1]

thank you for clearing that part up, i thought ata was airtran. so i take it flying airtran would be a safe bet then??

thanks.

 

[UConnJack]

I've flown with them a few times, and have had nothing but good experiences with them. Some people complain about them changing flight times a lot, but all airlines do this (except SW to a lesser degree). I personally had a one flight time changed by 1.5 hours, but it wasn't a big deal, while all other have not changed or only changed +/- 15 minutes. Then again, I rarely buy airfare more than a few months out, so by that time flight times are a little more stable. As for their financial health, I believe they are doing alright. From what I understand, next to SWA, they are one of the most financially stable low fare carriers out there.

 

[tikimimi]

We have had both good and bad experiences with Air Tran. On the way to my stepson's graduation, to which we were flying up and back the same day, our flight there was cancelled at the last minute. We ended up having to rebook to another airport about 1 hour away from the destination (which the caiptal city in that state with an internantional airport but Air Tran did not have a flight to get us there in time) and rent a car to drive the rest of the way. On the way back, our flight was also cancelled - after 7 hours of telling us it was only being delayed. Apparently they did not have enough tickets sold. We had to stay overnight in a hotel and had no baggage with us. Our children were young and stayed here with friends, so that became an overnight stay. We found from that experience that our Shih-Tzu could go over 24 hours without going out. On another flight with them, we were held up with security lines. When we got to the gate, nobody was there. There was no sign of anything and the flight was to leave in appriximately 20 minutes. Only after asking a neighboring gate did we find out the gate was changed but they ahd not posted the change. We ran to the correct gate and got there as the door to the walkway was closing - again, not a human in sight. We went through the doorway, boarded and sat down. The flight attendant checked our boarding pass as we entered. About 5 minutes later a US Marshall came to speak to us because we had gone through that door. We have had other flights with them without a hitch. Our son flies standby with them a lot. I think for the most part they are reliable, but not totally.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Just flew them and everything went fine. On time, etc. They did change my time by 10 minutes and didn't notify me, but it worked out fine. Oh, I will say that on both flights their flight attendants were kind of grumpy. I rarely see that on Southwest...where the flight attendants sometimes sing, LOL. On Airtran, one of the flight attendants practically yelled at me because I didn't speak loudly when I ordered a coke. He actually said, "I can't hear you!" Loudly. My husband who was seated two rows in front of me turned around to see who he was talking to, LOL. Other than that, all was fine.

 

[WeCantWait]

I am not a fan of Airtran. They changed our nonstop flight into a connection and never notofied us about it. Thankfully my husband randomly checked on our reservation and found the change. Unfortunately the new flight schedule will not work for us so we are now paying an additional $500 to change airlines. It also effected our rental car, that went up in price $90 because different flight times. This is our first and last time using Airtran. We fly about three times a year and have never had a problem like this with any other airline. Maybe we have just been lucky in the past. Who knows.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I am not a fan of Airtran. They changed our nonstop flight into a connection and never notofied us about it. Thankfully my husband randomly checked on our reservation and found the change. Unfortunately the new flight schedule will not work for us so we are now paying an additional $500 to change airlines. It also effected our rental car, that went up in price $90 because different flight times. This is our first and last time using Airtran. We fly about three times a year and have never had a problem like this with any other airline. Maybe we have just been lucky in the past. Who knows.

Yikes, sorry to hear that, that's terrible. Did they refund your money? We just booked them for the first time and are on a nonstop flight. I'd be mad mad mad to get switched to a connection. Which airport in NY was it?

 

[DisneyCatMom]

Just flew back AirTran on thursday. Our airline of choice. Have always flown non-stop. Never had a problem. Recommend paying extra to pick your seat; especially if you have kids. They will separate you.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

We fly very, very frequently, and our airline of choice is Delta. However, when we have used Air Tran, they have been efficient and pleasant.

 

[danielle.st]

I haven't flown them yet either and am getting worried. I just checked and my December flight has been bumped back 7 hours. (later than I would have left for WDW)
Near as I can figure, they are changing their routes somehow in early November and a flight that they have always had isn't there now.
Now I have to try to decide what to do and whether it would be better to give up the nonstop they gave us that won't get us there until almost bedtime and take a morning flight that will get us there at lunchtime (like we originally intended) so we can go to a park for 1/2 a day.

 

[Esmerelda]

I have flown Airtran many many times alone and with my family. We have never had any problems.

As far as changing times....etc....ALL airlines do this. I had a change on Airtran the last time and they emailed me and phoned my cell phone. I have yet to fly an airline that does not make changes to flight times, routes, seats...etc. This is not uncommon at all.

You should do just fine with Airtran....best of luck

 

[LEXAVE]

We have flown Airtran quite a bit. The good thing about this airline is the upgrade to first class. For a fee, at check in, you can ask upgrade to a first class seat. Long ago, the charge was $35. Now the fee has increased and does change based on length of flight.

Definitely worth asking at check-in because it can make for a last minute treat.

 

[WeCantWait]

Yikes, sorry to hear that, that's terrible. Did they refund your money? We just booked them for the first time and are on a nonstop flight. I'd be mad mad mad to get switched to a connection. Which airport in NY was it?

They did refund our money, we were flying out of Laguardia.

 

[WeCantWait]

I have flown Airtran many many times alone and with my family. We have never had any problems.

As far as changing times....etc....ALL airlines do this. I had a change on Airtran the last time and they emailed me and phoned my cell phone. I have yet to fly an airline that does not make changes to flight times, routes, seats...etc. This is not uncommon at all.

You should do just fine with Airtran....best of luck

Since this is the first time we have ever experienced a problem like this I am just curious, when you say "ALL airlines do this" are you referring to all airlines will change a nonstop flight to a flight leaving at a different time and making a connection? Honestly we fly about three times a year, on all different airlines, and this is the first time we have ever experienced anything like this. Sure we have had an airline change a schedule, maybe a flight leaving 30 minutes later or something minor but to change a nonstop flight to a connection arriving in Orlando three hours later seems more like a bait and switch to me.

I am also amazed that Airtran called your cell and emailed you. Too bad they could not do either for us. If it were not for my husband checking, we would have never known. I would never book Airtran again.

 

[zulaya]

I just want to concur that Airtran does not notify its passengers on changes to its flight schedule. Especially if you book far in advance.

As far as changing their flight schedule, I can say that Airtran is probably one of the worst offenders about changing their schedule and not telling you about it. Right up there with Delta. And they do change non-stops to a stopped flight and have moved the time of the non-stop around significantly for flights out of MSP.

That doesn't mean they do it for ALL of their flights. If you are lucky and it doesn't happen to you, great. But they do have the reputation for doing these things, more so than most airlines. But if you can suck it up for a cheap fare, then there you go.

 

[Esmerelda]

Wecanwait....what I'm referring too was I have flown on American...Southwest...USAir...Delta...and Airtran. I have had delays on most all of them...some were 30 minutes...some were 2 hours (after I was at the airport). I've had Delta arrive us so late at our connecting airport that we had 7 minutes to get about 12 gates down the way to our next one. Delta was no help...they actually thought it funny that we were running? (with a son with asthma...this was not funny to me at all). I've had US Air change our flights by hours...change our seats once we there at the airport? In 2002, I was traveling home from Orlando with my sons then ages 7 and 10. I had called the airline the night before to confirm at 9pm as we were leaving early the next morning. No problems according to the airline, when we show up at 9am the next day for our 11am flight...they inform me at the desk that our flight was cancelled??? They have another flight leaving at 4pm?? I had already turned in my rental car and there I was with two small kids and a whole lot of luggage. YIKES!! I got on my cell phone and made alternate arrangements after that fiasco while standing at the airport. (that was my last flight on that airline...you don't even want to know what else happened to us that afternoon...) lol... We had our flights last year before our cruise changed by 5 hours. We were going to arrive in Ft Lauderdale at 4pm...then we had plans with friends. The airlines changed it and we would have arrived at 9pm..missing all of the evening activities. We ended up changing our flights totally on that one.

So as you can see.....the airlines have the option to pretty much do want they want and we just have to work our schedule around it.

I hope your trip turns out uneventful... best of luck....

 

[cbrfan]

We love AirTran and fly them pretty much exclusively. We've had no schedule changing of any consequence (less than 1/2 hr., mostly less than 5 min.) and have always been notified of any changes, although sometimes we find it in our spam folder . Never had a non-stop changed to a stopover. I think most of the issues come out of certain airports. We're lucky enough to fly out of FNT and things go pretty smoothly there. You have to watch your flights with any airline, as they all make changes. Whenever you book airfare you're booking nothing more than transportation from Point A to Point B. Nothing is guaranteed. But we've always been very happy with AirTran.

 

[WeCantWait]

Wow Esmeralda, I guess we have just been lucky. Other than minor changes the only problem I ever had was when I traveled alone with my two sons who were 15 months and 4 at the time. We missed our connecting flight but that was only because of a bad storm. I have honestly never had a nonstop 2 hour flight changed into a connecting 5 1/2 hour flight and cannot believe we were not notified. I guess I should count my blessings, this is so out of the ordinary for me that I am still shocked by it. I am so annoyed that we now have to pay an additional $500 for our flights.

 

[mickey2000]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of AirTran Holdings Inc. tumbled to their lowest point in years Tuesday after the discount airline operator swung to a loss on hefty fuel costs and said it was curtailing plans for growth.