Air Tran- good, bad, ugly

[AJKMOM]

While looking for flights from Pittsburgh, Air Tran shows up. Any one want to chime in about their experiences? Thanks.

 

[tink2020]

My DH and I have flown airtran only for about 3 years now. At first we were a little skeptical of the low-frills approach, but found them to be outstanding!

Their fleet is incredibly new compared to almost all other airlines, making the planes very nice, XM satellite radio on almost all, very clean, etc.

The staff has been superb every time we have flown.

They do change their schedule more frequently than other airlines, but we have found that if you book the earlier flights (as with any airline) the chances become slim to none that they will change, especially to somewhere busy like MCO. Also, just to note, we have NEVER had a change fee if they have changed our flight times (no matter how small or how drastic the change). In fact, 2 out of 3 times that this has happened, we have been able to go to a) a closer airport and/or b) book a cheaper flight and receive a discount. Almost makes us WANT the schedule to change if the price comes down

Boarding, etc are never a problem, and we have literally ALWAYS arrived ahead of schedule.

Your mileage may very, but we are literally almost in tears that we got a Southwest ding! fare that was too good to pass up. We're honestly dreading the change.

Good luck to you!

 

[Sea Turtles]

AirTran is our preferred carrier out of PHL. Nothing but positive experiences
Have a great trip!

 

[CinderellasSister]

bump......
would love to hear some more opinions, please.
thanx!!

 

[DebbieB]

I've flown them out of PIT, the last time I flew them they changed the time of the flight to MCO to 2 hours later about 30 days out. So we got there later than we wanted.

I've been flying SW the last year because they have a better schedule. I just noticed that AirTran has added another non-stop from PIT, so that helps.

 

[cdrn1]

Have flown them twice, great experience both times. Booked again for the end of the month. Flights have changed once but no big deal. They also allowed us to rebook for a credit when fares dropped for our flight, with no change fee.

 

[Orelover]

bump......
would love to hear some more opinions, please.
thanx!!

DH and I fly Airtran out of Chicago, have never had a real problem, customer service is always friendly at both the airports and on the phone. Only thing is baggage at MCO can sometimes take longer than you would expect.

 

[brittsmum1998]

We have not flown them yet, but we had what I considered "crappy" flights for the week of Thanksgiving including changing planes on both sides, Our outbound flight from Boston was changed timewise, when I called I was offered a full refund or given the option to change flights. We now have a non stop flight on both ends and are able to leave in the afternoon to come home instead of 7AM so far I am thrilled with their customer service.

 

[dsnymomof4]

We have flown them several times in the past and have usually had very positive experiences with them. A few times, our flgiht times have changed, but they offered to let me change the flight with no change fee. This last time, 2 pieces of our luggage arrived damaged at WDW. Although I cannot be sure that it was Airtran and not ME, I've watched them out the plane window throwing the luggage around, and I am 99% certain it was them. When I talked to their customer service about possible reimbursement, they were not very helpful at all. But, as far as the flights themselves go, always on time or early arrival, very friendly staff and overall positive experience.

 

[antmaril]

We just returned today from our second experience with Airtran and were very pleased. We left Detroit on Tuesday for Orlando and the plane left the gate early. Crew was friendly and we arrived in Orlando a few minutes early.

We left Orlando today on time and our travel was uneventful. We will definitely fly Airtran again. We used to fly Spirit, but we've experienced many travel delays on Spirit. For now, it's Airtran for us to Orlando.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I prefer Southwest b/c they don't charge change fees and have better customer service IMO. Airtran is fine, though. There were mechanical problems the last time I flew with AT. The flight was delayed 4 hours because they have to replace a part. We had to wait for the part to arrive, and then the mechanic was too big to get where he could install it. They ended up putting everyone else on another plane. But that could happen on any airline.

Also I prefer SW b/c they make less schedule changes than AT.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

Have flown them twice, great experience both times. Booked again for the end of the month. Flights have changed once but no big deal. They also allowed us to rebook for a credit when fares dropped for our flight, with no change fee.

Did you have a full fare ticket for the credit - how does that work? I am considering AirTran for our trip in Oct.

thanks in advance

 

[cdrn1]

Did you have a full fare ticket for the credit - how does that work? I am considering AirTran for our trip in Oct.

thanks in advance

Nope. It was a discounted ticket and I rebooked for a bigger discount. I just called and told them that my fares had dropped online and asked if I could rebook. The customer service rep did it for me, and we got a $267 credit for use in the next year!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Last time we flew Air Tran our flight was changed to a much later time then it was delayed about an hour. This is out of Pittsburgh.

Same thing back home out of MCO but the time was earlier , so we lost vacation time both ways.

We fly SWA now. I like the times better and the no charge change policy. Plus I also feel their customer service is better.

 

[antmaril]

Nope. It was a discounted ticket and I rebooked for a bigger discount. I just called and told them that my fares had dropped online and asked if I could rebook. The customer service rep did it for me, and we got a $267 credit for use in the next year!

I've done this too - twice. I called Airtran, told them my flights went down in price and was issued a credit for future travel. Easy as pie!

 

[javamom]

Flew aitran out of Dallas last year, no complaints. Don't get me started on the Dallas airport though....uuuughhh!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Flew Airtran non-stop from IND to MCO last week and loved it. Flight left on-time both ways, got us there on time going down, back 20 minutes early yesterday. Crew was pleasant, planes were nice, really enjoyed the free XM radio. And saved about $250 over flying SWA. from our family!

 

[lustergirl]

We didn't have a great experience with AirTran last september and because of this I probably will never fly them again. Out of buffalo you stop in atlanta which we did and our flight was like an hour late taking off because of engine trouble. Now mind you we didn't care because they were fixing the plane- that is really good to have, a correct running airplane. So anyways on the way home from orlando we got into atlanta and couldn't dock into a gate for about and hour and a half because they were supposedly all full. The pilot kept going by empty gates and we still couldn't get in- duh??? They even offer a nonstop flight to orlando now out of buffalo but the times really arenot that great. You leave buffalo at 3 in the afternoon and arrive in orlando around 5:30pm. Coming home you leave orlando at 10:30am, which means you have to get up pretty early because DME pickup is about 2 hours early. Those times will not work for my family.

I have southwest the last couple of times to the world and probably will never change from that. Their nonstop flights are the correct times for me and we love the customer service.

AirTran to me had too many issues to deal with and it put a sour taste in my mouth- maybe they have gotten better or so I hope!!

 

[annie1995]

I've done this too - twice. I called Airtran, told them my flights went down in price and was issued a credit for future travel. Easy as pie!

Thats how I ended up buying my lap baby his own seat!!! I used my credit and it only cost me over my credit 14 bucks!!! We love Airtran so far!!! We flew with them 2 years ago, and will again in 12 days!!!! They tweaked our time a bit, by only about 12 minutes or so, no biggie!!!

 

[DemoBri1]

We are former ATA flyers forced into looking for an alternative out of Midway in Chicago because of SW's takeover of ATA's gates. I didn't favor SW's cattle call approach to boarding, so our only other choice was AirTran. My BIL flew AirTran the year before last and raved about them, so we decided to give them a shot. We had a wonderful experience. I've never had any airline, big or small, come back through the cabin on a 2.5 hour flight and ask if we wanted drink refills not once, but twice.

All of their planes are relatively new, so they are fairly clean, although this year we are having to fly down on a 717 instead of a 737, so we'll see how cramped it feels. Last year our flight price went down, and we received a credit that we could use towards this year's flight. We have had to deal with a timetable change that I'm not all that thrilled with since we are getting in 2 hours later than normal, but as long as they get us there on-time I'll be happy.

It really seems as though AirTran's problems crop up when things are going on in Atlanta, which is their main hub. Last year we were delayed almost 2 hours with no weather in the area, because of the fact that the security level had just been increased for the Thanksgiving holiday. Apparently they were having trouble with air traffic as well around Atlanta, and so our plane was delayed in getting into Orlando. The AirTran staff kept us up-to-date about every 20-25 minutes until our plane came in, and then they turned it around in about 25-30 minutes. So...what could have been a rather lengthy delay was minimized thanks to the AirTran ground crews.

I'll hold off until we get back from this year's trip, but so far I am happy with AirTran.