Air Tran?

[ruadisneyfan2]

I wasn't the one that booked our air travel. I was at work and unable to book so the friends we are traveling with booked the flight for all of us. I didn't know picking seats was an option since I have never had this issue arise with an airline. I myself have flown several times for work with different airlines and the person I booked my tickets with always was assigned a seat next to me during those flights. I have flown on my uncle's flight pass with American Airlines for the past 8 years for personal travel and I have become rather spoiled by flying on that. I didn't want the stress of flying standby with a group so I agreed to book on whatever airline they chose so we could arrive at the same time. It just never entered my mind that 2 adult tickets booked at the same time with a child, all with the same last name would not be assigned seats next to each other. Thank you for the tip of calling, I just happened to read about people not being seated with their children and had a bit of a panic because this was a thought that I had never entertained. Of course it would be well worth the $18 to make sure my child sits with us, it would be absurd to think othewise. I also would never ask someone sitting with their family to move so I could sit with mine. I am not a hypocritical pain, I simply was just unaware that this would even be an issue.

I really wasn't trying to be mean but really there are plenty here on the Disboards, esp if you ask this question on the family board, who say, "I refuse to pay a fee just to sit next to my child. How dare they charge us for that!" and then insist that they be seated together.

My dh even moved his seat last time to allow a mom to sit with her small kids and this was after we paid the $6 for him to sit with us. Their kids were much younger than ours and really since the plane was 3x3, and I was with our 2, it wasn't a big deal but basically we paid the fee for her.

 

[Jey12]

I really wasn't trying to be mean but really there are plenty here on the Disboards, esp if you ask this question on the family board, who say, "I refuse to pay a fee just to sit next to my child. How dare they charge us for that!" and then insist that they be seated together.

My dh even moved his seat last time to allow a mom to sit with her small kids and this was after we paid the $6 for him to sit with us. Their kids were much younger than ours and really since the plane was 3x3, and I was with our 2, it wasn't a big deal but basically we paid the fee for her.

I apologize if you thought I was one of the people who would refuse to pay a fee to sit next to my child. Nominal or not. The plane we are on is also a 3X3 and I just never imagined that 3 people booking at the same time wouldn't be sat next to one another. Like I said I am very spoiled by having used a flight pass for the last several years. DH and I flew first class roundtrip on American for $225 total from Kansas City to Cancun a few years ago if that explains how spoiled I've become.

That was very nice of your DH to switch seats. I too would be in turmoil if I had paid to sit next to my family and was asked to move so someone else could. I really think Air Tran should just add the fee into their ticket price and just avoid this all together. Not sure why they wouldn't? Even with adding on the fee for assigned seats and the baggage fee Air Tran is still much lower than a flight through Southwest.

Either way a big thanks to you for the tip of calling. I called first thing this morning and yes there were still available seats to be assigned. We are all now sitting next to one another to Orlando and back home. The friends we are traveling with have now done the same and that is one less thing to worry about. She said she didn't even see the pick a seat option when booking so I did a mock book last night and I could see how it would be easy to miss. Especially if you are trying to hurry and book before the boss sees what you are up to!

 

[doclegler]

We have flown air tran before and didn't have any big issues. They did change our flight time before leaving, but it was only by an hour or so, so it wasn't that huge to us.
We are using them again in November, so I'm hoping for the best too!

 

[FogliaFamily]

We are a family of 5 and I have never paid for seats for us, now I see they changed the charges with $13 near the front, $20 for the exit rows and $6 for the back of the plane. I check in online exactly 24 hours before the flights leaves and there have always been 5 seats together to chose and then print our boarding passes and pay for any luggage. When leaving Disney it typically isn't an option to check in 24 hours before unless you can talk one of the concierge staff into helping you do it on their computers. Now with the resort airline check in I'm not sure that concierge would be able to do it or not.

When checking in at the resort we did get seats apart. Once at the airport we checked in at the gate and asked if we could be placed together, this was no problem and we sat together, although we were a few rows apart.

We leave again in a month and the 5 of us have enough points to upgrade to business class for our flight to Orlando. We'll see if they have 5 seats available for all of us, or depending on how many they have I will sit in business class with however many of the kids they have seats for. I can call at 12:01 a.m. the day before to see what's left. The bad part is if they don't have the seats available the points expire. We'll see what happens!

Here and there our flights are changed to the tune of 30 minutes or so to either side whether leaving or coming home, nothing big. The nice thing is if they change your times, you can call and get on another flight if there is a different one you'd prefer if there are seats available. We had booked on the later flight because the earlier flight was more expensive. They slightly changed the times and I called and they were able to book us on the earlier flight with no extra charges. AirTran typically runs on time which is nice, here and there we've been delayed 15 - 20 minutes or so. A lot depends on where your plane is coming from and the weather they may have had.

 

[NancyIL]

We leave again in a month and the 5 of us have enough points to upgrade to business class for our flight to Orlando. We'll see if they have 5 seats available for all of us, or depending on how many they have I will sit in business class with however many of the kids they have seats for. I can call at 12:01 a.m. the day before to see what's left. The bad part is if they don't have the seats available the points expire. We'll see what happens!

Your flight credits expire after one year. However, once you exchange 4 credits per business-class upgrade voucher, you have one year to use them. Also - since you're on central time, you can call at 11:01 p.m. instead of midnight to upgrade to business class. Good luck!

 

[cyndixo]

May I ask why you didn't choose seats? My boys are 13 and 10, have flown probably 20x, and I still think they're worth the $6 so we can sit together. Don't be surprised if people around you are reluctant to trade seats with you. It's very likely they paid and don't want to move away from their family so you can sit with yours. Not trying to be mean but that's just a fact of flying these days. I'd call AT and see if you can prepay over the phone. Maybe there are seats held out that can't be booked online.

totally agree...we fly AT at least four times a year to Disney and we also upgrade using rewards ALWAYS to business class but I still pay for seats for myself and my DD just in case there are no business class seats available I want to sit with my DD. I have seen several times passengers wouldnt move and mostly because they paid for their seats and are also with their families..we are flying Dec and we paid for seats just incase we cant upgrade at online check in.

I do believe you can go online to your account at air tran and select seat assignments.

 

[ccgirl]

I'm always amazed with the question unless you didn't know you had to pay to sit together. If you don't pay and take your chances and check in on line 24 hours in advance hoping to find seats together; what are you going to do if there are not seats together? $6 is not that much to get an actual seat assigned. Especially when you consider people pay $10 to get EBCI for a chance at a better boarding position - not guaranteed seats.

In the OP's case they have never flown so were not aware. Understandable questions. Then there are those that don't want to pay the $$ because they just refuse to believe the airline will split them from their child then get mad when they do.