Airline seating

[KrazeeK120]

I flew AirTran to Disney last week. I had to take a connecting flight through Atlanta on the way down, but was able to fly direct on the way back (my regional airport does not fly direct every day and in order to maximize vacation time, I flew down on a day that does not have direct service).

I did not have to pay to select my seats on the two flights going down, but did on the longer, direct flight coming back.

So...depending on your flying situation, you may or may not have to pay. It was worth the peace of mind to me to pay for my husband and I to sit together for that flight back, though. All of our flights were at 100% capacity, so I am sure that there were families that were split up.

 

[DisneyAbsolutely]

Also, you can seat seats that are not available to purchase by going to www.airtran.com and go through the process of booking your same flight and when the flight choice page comes up, you can click on the seat icon to see available seats. You can also go through the process and click "choose seats" from your itinerary and see what is available for you to purchase. When you hover over a seat, it will tell you how much that seat is.....

Duds

Thanks SO much! This tip was really helpful. My flights are nowhere near booked so I will wait a little longer before deciding. Since I booked through Disney, I have absolutely no idea how to get my Airtran confirmation number. Plus my husband paid for the trip so I don't know how if Airtran or Disney will give me this info over the phone,

THANK you for letting me know how to check seats!!!

 

[DisneyAbsolutely]

Bullet has been bitten. I purchased my seats.
Thanks for your help.
I just couldn't take the chance. Plus now at least I know there will be a window seat on each flight. That's pretty nice. It was also reassuring that they didn't charge extra for the connecting flight. It was $6 per whole trip. Not bad I guess.

 

[aubriee]

Bullet has been bitten. I purchased my seats.
Thanks for your help.
I just couldn't take the chance. Plus now at least I know there will be a window seat on each flight. That's pretty nice. It was also reassuring that they didn't charge extra for the connecting flight. It was $6 per whole trip. Not bad I guess.

It sounds like you just paid for seats one way. Seats on Air Tran are $15.00, $13.00, $6.00, and $20.00 each way depending on where the seat is. Even the cheaper seats are $6.00 each way though, so it should have been $6.00 for each person to choose their seat on the way down to Orlando and then another $6.00 for each person to choose their seats back from Olando to home. It doesn't matter how many layovers you have each way you still just pay the fee once, but you do pay $6.00 going down and then another $6.00 coming home (so $12.00 per person for the entire round trip-- in other words $6.00 from New Hampshire to Orlando, then another $6.00 from Olando back to New Hampshire).

 

[delilah]

If it makes you feel any better, back in the days that Delta was NWA, I selected seats for my family all together at the time I purchased the tickets. Then, NWA changed the schedule in some way, don't remember how, and we were reassigned seats not together, and all over the plane. So far, I haven't had this problem with Airtran. Delta quit having non-stop service from Indianapolis, so, now we don't use them. Airtran is on the same path--last trip we took last week, we flew changing planes in Atlanta (which sure beats changing planes in Minneapolis, like we did once on NWA flying from Indianapolis to MCO)

 

[TaraPA]

I fly AT a lot & am not one to pay for seats. I don't care if we sit together, and we're used to being separated. I will say that the last 6-8 flights on AT were booked solid, and only once were we seated together when choosing the free seats at the 24 hour mark. So in my experience, it's been very difficult to sit together if not paying ahead of time. Good thing you paid the seat fee if it's important to you.

I also would suggest to double check it like someone else said. They charge $6 per seat PER trip - so $12 per seat for a round trip flight. I also think it sounds like you only have paid for seats for one way.

 

[KrazeeK120]

It sounds like you just paid for seats one way. Seats on Air Tran are $15.00, $13.00, $6.00, and $20.00 each way depending on where the seat is. Even the cheaper seats are $6.00 each way though, so it should have been $6.00 for each person to choose their seat on the way down to Orlando and then another $6.00 for each person to choose their seats back from Olando to home. It doesn't matter how many layovers you have each way you still just pay the fee once, but you do pay $6.00 going down and then another $6.00 coming home (so $12.00 per person for the entire round trip-- in other words $6.00 from New Hampshire to Orlando, then another $6.00 from Olando back to New Hampshire).

AirTran doesn't charge for seat selection on certain flights. I flew from Bloomington, IL to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Orlando. On the way back, I flew direct from Orlando back to Bloomington (we don't have direct service every day). I sat in regular, coach seats on all flights. I didn't have to pay for seat selection for the going flights, but I did for the coming back flight. I didn't study carefully to figure out which flights they charge what for, I just know that sometimes they don't charge because I experienced it. This poster may have had something similar happen.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I see that it's common knowledge to many of you but they really didn't advertise this anywhere that I could see. My previous flights with JetBlue and Delta always seated us together. We never had to make special arrangements. So, in my opinion, Airtran's policy is pretty unusual. It's fine if they want to do it this way but it's just another thing to stress about.

If you click on Travel Toolson the home page, there's information about paying to choose your seat - along with other helpful information for first-time AirTran passengers.

It's really clear on the page where you enter the passenger and contact information that passengers can select their seats and why they might want to - and the person doing the booking has to consciously opt in or out of making selections. I'm not going further with my dummy booking, I don't care to enter all the information; but there's nothing sneaky.