Air Tran vs. JetBlue/Southwest

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

Hello Canadians! I did post over on the transportation thread but thought I would get some of your opinions here as well..

...I still havent booked airfare for my May trip yet. Im from Ontario, CAN and can either book departures from BUF or DTW (equal distance from my home and a lot cheaper than airfare from Toronto)...

Anyway in the past year I have flown JetBlue and Southwest from BUF a lot and love their service - not to mention free checked bags. In looking for flights for May I havent been able to find anything thats less than $300 rt per person..in fact JetBlue is coming in at almost $400 right now....

AirTran is having a seat sale right now and I can get a flight rt from DTW-MCO for $178 per person..I realize I will still have to pay $25 each way for bags but that is still at a big savings... Would you wait and see if JetBlue drops their fares or book now at a good price? I have never flown AirTran before...

Also I've only ever flown out of DTW once (on Delta) and found the airport to be a lot bigger and slightly more expensive on parking than BUF...What would you recommend for park/sleep/fly options if I do go with DTW?

TIA!

 

[cdndisney]

I just booked the Air Tran flights yesterday for early May out of DTW. Can't beat those prices and they are less than what I thought we were going to have to pay this year. We always fly out of DTW and stay the night before at one of the hotels that offer the 8 day parking included. This is a great deal. This is our first time flying Air Tran, but from what I have read they are a good Air Line. We were actually considering flying out of Buffalo this year, but I have not seen the prices as low as what these Air Tran flights are. Don't wait too long to book, they will go up.

 

[alohamom]

re-check your prices this morning-I got an email from Smarter Travel with price drops for AirTran from Buffalo. If I could choose, it would be Buffalo over Detroit simply because of the size of the airports and cost of parking. I have flown Air Tran, did not like the baggage fees and when I flew them we also paid to choose our seats, I think it was 10 per person per way so it was well over 100 bucks on top of the actual fare

 

[My 2 princesses]

My choices are JB first, SWA 2nd and AT is last. We travel light so 2 bags each is not an issue, so JB works just fine. Read my other post on my 'rant' about AT changing our seats after we paid for them

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

re-check your prices this morning-I got an email from Smarter Travel with price drops for AirTran from Buffalo. If I could choose, it would be Buffalo over Detroit simply because of the size of the airports and cost of parking. I have flown Air Tran, did not like the baggage fees and when I flew them we also paid to choose our seats, I think it was 10 per person per way so it was well over 100 bucks on top of the actual fare

Thanks for the tip...I did re-check and the prices are still quite a bit higher for Buffalo...flying out I dont really have much flexibility with changing dates (which I thought about doing) because I will be running the Expedition Everest Challenge ....or else the Buffalo fares may have worked out

I just booked the Air Tran flights yesterday for early May out of DTW. Can't beat those prices and they are less than what I thought we were going to have to pay this year. We always fly out of DTW and stay the night before at one of the hotels that offer the 8 day parking included. This is a great deal. This is our first time flying Air Tran, but from what I have read they are a good Air Line. We were actually considering flying out of Buffalo this year, but I have not seen the prices as low as what these Air Tran flights are. Don't wait too long to book, they will go up.

Thanks..I might look into park/sleep/fly options for DTW ...glad to hear you were able to take advantage of these great fares!

My choices are JB first, SWA 2nd and AT is last. We travel light so 2 bags each is not an issue, so JB works just fine. Read my other post on my 'rant' about AT changing our seats after we paid for them

My top 3 are exactly the same as yours! Again so disappointing that the fares for my top 2 really arent anywhere near what I would pay....That's too bad that they changed your seat - especially after you pay to have that specific seat!

 

[pigletto]

I prefer Jetblue, Southwest and Airtran in that order. Airtran came in the lowest for our outgoing flight this trip, even with bag fees and seat assignments so they were the winner.

Regular seat fee selection was $6. I paid $15 per seat for the section right after business class with early boarding. If they refuse to give us seats together I will have a toddler like tantrum (not really, but it's fun to think about). I choose my seats to sit with my kids and because I am claustrophobic and have extreme anxiety about flying. I do medicate, but I choose our seats specifically to manage my situation and be with my family.
I think it's ridiculous they treated you like that over your seats. Why the heck do they think people pay extra?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We have never tried SW (we don't like the open seating concept), but have flown both JB and Airtran. While the price was right on Airtran (we flew them one leg of our Christmas trip), that's about the only thing it had going for it.

The plane was old. The paint was visibly peeling from the nose of the aircraft . The interior was equally old looking.......clean, but definitely aging.

We upgraded to business class on the Airtran flight, so had lots of space (another big plus of JB....lots of leg room, even in the regular seats) but we sorely missed the JB TV's. We aren't great flyers, and the TV's really help us pass the time in the air, so we found the Airtran flight to be excessively L-O-N-G.

While the Airtran flight was otherwise uneventful, DH decided then and there it was JB or bust from here on out.