Air Tran?

[jsweeks@cogeco.ca]

Has anyone ever flew Air Tran? Have you ever bought tickets as a web special? This is our first time ever flying, and I am nervous about purchasing tickets through the internet. We are going to fly out of Buffalo, and I was told to watch the rates for Air Tran, South West, and Jet Blue. If anyone has any info to help that would be great.

 

[two*little*birds]

Yes, we just returned from our vacation and flew AirTran from Buffalo. They were wonderful especially considering their price. I think the web special we paid was $79 each way (non-stop) to Orlando, and it was $89. coming back (again non-stop). I'd fly with them again without hesitation.

We purchased our tickets on-line too, and had never done that before either so I know how you feel. But it was very secure and we had no problems, we also opted to select our seats while booking. You can also check-in online 24 hours before you fly.

Also if flying from Buffalo, we arrived 90 minutes prior to take-off and we had plenty of time. Unlike YYZ you don't need to be there 3 hours prior!

I say go for it! Lots of people on here have flown AirTran with no problems.

 

[mommytodarlings]

yes, i do all my booking via the web.

Booked 9 tickets out of DTW to MCO on AirTran and then booked NWA coming home because they had a better rate/time for us.

No problems either way.

 

[minnie56]

I have not flown AT and have looked at their good deals many times.

I have unfortunately had a negative experience with them and Clients of mine that had booked approx 10 months prior. They were 5 people travelling with a family of 4. They all checked in online and were given seat assignment. At the gate...the family of 5 were paged and asked to step aside. They did so..and momentarily were advised that they were being offloaded to do being ovebooked. Despite their protests that they were with another couple and their children the offloading stood. They told them to return to the ticket counter for assistance. The others carried on to Miami where they were all booked for a 2 night stay in South Beach prior to boarding a cruise.

At the counter, they were offered a flight 2 days later. This obviously would not work and AT pretty much wiped their hands of them. I should mention, this was March break. So--they scoped out all the other airlines in the terminal to no avail except for a flight from Erie..I think-if I recall-5 hours later and into Orlando-not Miami. Soooo they rented a car (they needed theirs to be in Buffalo for the return flt) and drove to Erie. The flight cost them 5x as much as the AT flights had from Buffalo and before leaving the terminal AT made it clear there would be NO compensation for those flights. They arrived into Orlando at 8:00pm, rented another car and drove to Miami. They arrived in the wee hours with 3 children having lost a day of their vacation in Miami which was only 2 days to begin with!

The husband called and wrote a letter to AT upon his return here and no luck...so I thought WTH and sent one as well on his behalf telling them they could be absolutely sure I would make this family's experience with them very well known amongst my colleagues and to our affilliates across Canada. Surprisingly--they sent him a letter and a full refund of the flights he had had to purchase from Erie. He remained 'out' the 2 car rentals and the lost day but was happy...as much as he could be happy after the upset to his long planned (well planned) holiday.

As I said-I do look at the deals, but after this incident, remain somewhat wary and just abit jaded I am afraid.



Soooooo....

 

[karters*mom]

Has anyone ever flew Air Tran? Have you ever bought tickets as a web special? This is our first time ever flying, and I am nervous about purchasing tickets through the internet. We are going to fly out of Buffalo, and I was told to watch the rates for Air Tran, South West, and Jet Blue. If anyone has any info to help that would be great.

Just be aware they now charge $15 per bag you check! That means any luggage you check you pay $15 per bag for.

 

[Sheribo]

We just returned from a week in Orlando. We bought the web special and were thrilled. The nicest part was checking in for our flight home was done right at our Disney Resort. They gave us our boarding passes and took our luggage. All we did was get on the bus to the airport, go through security and get on the plane. It was so easy. AirTran gets high marks from my family.

 

[Cottager]

Just be aware they now charge $15 per bag you check! That means any luggage you check you pay $15 per bag for.

Up until now, AirTran was beating Southwest in pricing which made them very desirable. We used them a few times in the past year with much success and satisfaction. Now, with there horrible new first bag fee, anyone who is traveling on a longer trip requiring checked baggage is wise to consider Southwest again since they don't charge for the first bag.

It just doesn't make sense considering the drop in oil prices to be added a new fee at this time.

BTW, I just received a $20 off coupon per flight in my email today from AirTran. Is that suppose to compensate for your new fee AirTran?

 

[maryliz]

Up until now, AirTran was beating Southwest in pricing which made them very desirable. We used them a few times in the past year with much success and satisfaction. Now, with there horrible new first bag fee, anyone who is traveling on a longer trip requiring checked baggage is wise to consider Southwest again since they don't charge for the first bag.

It just doesn't make sense considering the drop in oil prices to be added a new fee at this time.

BTW, I just received a $20 off coupon per flight in my email today from AirTran. Is that suppose to compensate for your new fee AirTran?

I've flown both AirTran and Southwest ... AirTran has some definite downsides. They are famous for changing flight times. And with the new fee for checked bags, I agree ... they're not worth it. At least with SWA, if I have to cancel, I still have the credits. I almost considered booking AirTran tonight, and considered booking under 2 separate ressies so i could get the $20 discount twice, for my family. But by the time I added in the fee to pick your seats, and the fee for the bags, I'll continue to play the waiting game for my SWA flight to have another special on. DH is starting to doubt my "I'm confident we'll get ..." approach to my flight back home. So I really need SWA to come through in a big way for me.

BTW, seems like almost everyone is now charging for checked bags ... I wonder if this means that there are going to be huge issues with oversize carryons taking up all the room on flights.

 

[minnie56]

There are already issues with the carry on baggage as far as I am concerned with people trying to avoid x/s baggage fees and 2nd pieces. All it will take is one hard landing and those overhead bins popping before some heavy bag comes thumping down on some passengers head!

 

[maryliz]

There are already issues with the carry on baggage as far as I am concerned with people trying to avoid x/s baggage fees and 2nd pieces. All it will take is one hard landing and those overhead bins popping before some heavy bag comes thumping down on some passengers head!

ITA ... and if it's your OWN bag that comes thumping down on your head, that's one thing ... but Murphy's Law says that it will be someone ELSE's bag that lands on your head.

I'm just not impressed about having to pay for one piece of luggage ... i have no problem with them charging a huge amount for the second piece. Things just aren't the way they used to be in this world, on soooo many different levels and facets of life.

 

[minnie56]

Thought this timely and interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122757025502954613.html

 

[Cottager]

Thought this timely and interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122757025502954613.html

That's a great article! Let's hope that SW can leverage their uniqueness by marketing the savings in baggage fees to gain more customers and keep their prices low. It worked for WestJet in Canada when they eliminated the extra fees, thus forcing Air Canada to give in as well.

A lot of people rely on me for advice with deals and I know where I'll be pointing them now....

 

[snickerboo]

Just went to WDW on AirTran Oct 30-Nov 6. Paid $57 each way from Detroit. Absolutely no problems. AirTran is famous for rescheduling to fill up flights and we did have that happen to us but only by a half hour each time. I called about it and she put us on a non-stop from a one-stop for the way there. On the way back we accepted the change and it meant an almost empty plane and we got to stretch out on our flight! We got a small snack and a drink on each flight. All bags made all flights. All flights were on time. Flight crew were very pleasant.

We have done AirTran and Southwest and been very happy. Our only unhappy experience was when we didn't fly a discount airline (Delta).

 

[yxe dad]

My mother and Aunt will be in Phoneix prior to joining us for our Feb 09 trip to WDW. In June they booked their flights with Airtran leaving PHX at 830am and arriving into MCO at 345pm on Feb 7th. About a month later the flight the were on was cancelled and they got moved on to a flight the following day. After much hassle with Airtran CS they got back onto a later flight arriving into Orlando around 5. Since then, their flights have changed about 4 times with the lastest coming yesterday. They now arrive into Orlando around 1010pm, losing half a day at WDW might not seem like a lot to some but to my kids, it's a half day without grandma. BOOOO Airtran!

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

Interesting article Minnie - thanks for posting.

This is what stood out for me and is what I think has happnened:

What changed? Customers were paying the fee at other airlines without a backlash. Delta said it wasn't getting any benefit from not charging the fee. So why not charge it?

And, at $59. non-stop to Orlando (what I paid in September) I know the airline isn't making any money off my ticket - so I suppose $15. profit is fine because it's still much much cheaper than other carriers.

As far as Airtran - my DH uses airtran from Buffalo almost weekly. They, like all airlines have problems at times, but we've gotten to know a number of the staff at BUF and they are great people.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to the OP.

 

[squirrel]

We booked our tickets for September in May with AT. We didn't have any problems with AT.

One of our flights was changed ( a few minutes later for the connecting flight) and because we booked one way we had no problem changing to an earlier flight as we noticed that one was available.