Air Tran experience

[diswedwish]

Thought I'd post this in case it ever comes up for anyone...

Last year, my mom and I were flying from Allentown to MCO on 1/1. On the way to the airport I checked our email - our flight on Air Tran had been cancelled. Long story short, the $ for that portion was refunded, we were able to rebook on Allegiant, and actually got to MCO an hour before we were supposed to.

This year we booked on Air Tran again. They adjusted our flight times both out and back about 3 times. An original departure of 9:30 am was moved back to 7 am, and our return flight that was due to land at 8 pm ish is now scheduled for 11 pm. Okay, fine, extra time is good

Air Tran called me yesterday asking if we could bump to a later flight; said they're switching to a smaller aircraft... The flight wasn't canceled yet, but... Luckily we were able to bump to Saturday night instead of Sunday, so we get an extra day Quickly called and booked a night room-only and adjusted our ME times and we're good to go!

Very happy to get there a day early and very happy to have everything work out smoothly

Keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow night's flight departs as scheduled...

 

[vacationclub]

Thought I'd post this in case it ever comes up for anyone...

Last year, my mom and I were flying from Allentown to MCO on 1/1. On the way to the airport I checked our email - our flight on Air Tran had been cancelled. Long story short, the $ for that portion was refunded, we were able to rebook on Allegiant, and actually got to MCO an hour before we were supposed to.

This year we booked on Air Tran again. They adjusted our flight times both out and back about 3 times. An original departure of 9:30 am was moved back to 7 am, and our return flight that was due to land at 8 pm ish is now scheduled for 11 pm. Okay, fine, extra time is good

Air Tran called me yesterday asking if we could bump to a later flight; said they're switching to a smaller aircraft... The flight wasn't canceled yet, but... Luckily we were able to bump to Saturday night instead of Sunday, so we get an extra day Quickly called and booked a night room-only and adjusted our ME times and we're good to go!

Very happy to get there a day early and very happy to have everything work out smoothly

Keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow night's flight departs as scheduled...

Just curious, in these switches, were they only making changes to the Allentown, PA portion of the flight schedule? I'm guessing that Allentown is a smaller market and the flights from there to your connecting hub (either BWI or ATL) are more subject to participation issues.

 

[mydisneykids]

You have me concerned.
We are flying out of Allentown on Airtran to Disney on 4/9. We are in NJ and this is the only flight we could get for under $600 since we are coming back on the Sunday the week after Easter.
There were originally 2 flights that day, our early morning one and one that night. Our friends were on the p.m. flight and got a call that all those booked on that flight were moved to our morning flight and they were given the option to cancel. They had to cancel an move to a different airport since they could not make the morning flight.
Do we now run the risk of them changing our flight as well?

 

[leanne11]

you have me worried also..we leave in 1 month the othr day i posted that they changed my outgoing back 10 min..fine with me we need extra drive time..but they deleted my sons seat because of a change in airplanes...by the way
' I' found all this out, didnt get any emails or phone calls...i called and thank goodness they had a seat next to me for my baby...uggghhh

 

[dudspizza]

No need to worry here, folks.

Airtran, just like most other airlines, can make changes to their flight schedules after you book. You are guaranteed transportation from point A to point B and the times can change.

That said, their time changes will happen in advance. Very seldom does any airline make schedule changes the day of simply to make a change. If there is a change the day of, it is due to bad weather somewhere or an airplane that needs to be fixed.

My suggestion. Watch your reservation like a hawk. I check mine daily to make sure that it hasn't changed. I know way before they ever contact me to letting me know. If there is a change, you can find a flight that works better for you (if available) and call Airtran to ask to be switched to that flight. I have used this to my advantage on more than one occasion to fly in a day earlier or fly home a day later......

Be proactive and you won't be surprised...

duds

 

[diswedwish]

vacationclub - our flights are both non-stop. Both times were changed - at ABE and also our departure from MCO.

mydisneykids and leanne11 - Just keep checking and be aware that changes could happen. I always received either an email or a call. The one that upset me the most was when they canceled last year's flight. The email went out late morning, our flight was for early evening. Also, nothing like that had ever happened to us before, so we weren't sure what to do at first. When I got the call yesterday it wasn't pleasant, but I knew things would work out in the end. Hopefully all of our flights will go as scheduled and we'll all get to see Mickey on time

 

[diswedwish]

Also, last year there was no explanation given for the flight cancellation. The next flight out from ABE was 2 days away. When we checked in for the Allegiant flight, some people were showing up at the Air Tran counter that hadn't been contacted. I think they were arranging a bus to Philly - so they did get to MCO that day, just not from Allentown or at the original time.

 

[DebbieB]

AirTran seems to have a pattern of making unfavorable changes closer to the flight date. By that time your options for other airlines are limited. The last time I flew them they changed our departing flight to later, within a month of departure. There seems to be alot of posts on this board and they never seem to be favorable changes.

 

[vacationclub]

AirTran seems to have a pattern of making unfavorable changes closer to the flight date. By that time your options for other airlines are limited. The last time I flew them they changed our departing flight to later, within a month of departure. There seems to be alot of posts on this board and they never seem to be favorable changes.

Not in my experience, and we fly them exclusively to MCO at least twice a year. I think it simply depends on your departing airport. In the case of the OP, they have a non-stop to MCO from Allentown, PA, which is impressive for that market size. I can only guess that they simply look at participation levels and decide if they want to keep that non-stop option available, and in other cases they may decide to cancel some other incoming Allentown flight (also for participation reasons) which would have been the same aircraft use for a MCO outbound non-stop. But if that plane never comes in (it was cancelled) those on the MCO non-stop get put to another later plane. It's a big puzzle they are constantly rebuilding.