Airtan Direct flight- Standby? Possible?

[vavalynn2]

We are booked to fly to Orlando direct from Harrisburg during Easter week. We paid for the cheapest flight and it does not leave until 7:02pm.

They have an earlier flight at 11:41am direct as well.

We are two adults who do not care if we sit together since we will be on an earlier flight.

What do you think are our chances? What time should we arrive to try for the 11am flight? If I call the night before will they tell me how many empty seats are left?

This airport is a haul for us, it is four hours away, but it was our best option to head south.

Worst case scenario, we hang out in the Harrisburg airport all day.

Thoughts?

Any information is greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you!!

 

[gmeh1]

We are booked to fly to Orlando direct from Harrisburg during Easter week. We paid for the cheapest flight and it does not leave until 7:02pm.

They have an earlier flight at 11:41am direct as well.

We are two adults who do not care if we sit together since we will be on an earlier flight.

What do you think are our chances? What time should we arrive to try for the 11am flight? If I call the night before will they tell me how many empty seats are left?

This airport is a haul for us, it is four hours away, but it was our best option to head south.

Worst case scenario, we hang out in the Harrisburg airport all day.

Thoughts?

Any information is greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you!!

Personally, I would call Air Tran with this question.

 

[Lewisc]

From Airtran's CoC

Customers have two options for changing to a flight other than their reserved flight at the airport on the day of travel. Based on space availability, customers may reserve a confirmed seat on an earlier flight to the same destination for $25 per person per segment. Or, customers have the option to standby for another flight to the same destination at no charge. These options are only available at the airport on the day of travel.

My suggestion is to call the night before and ask how full the flight is. I'd probably pay the $25, unless the flight is very empty. You could be standing by as a person who arrives at the airport after you takes out his credit card and confirms the seat you were standing by for. That's what I'd do if I found out there were almost as many standby passengers as unsold seats.

 

[DebbieB]

Not sure about AirTran but many airlines will not allow free standby unless there are no seats available to confirm. If they can confirm a seat, you have to pay.

 

[vavalynn2]

so it sounds like if I call the night before and there are more than just a few seats, i will get there early in the am.

if there are any left when I arrive on the day of the flight I can buy a seat for 25.00 and be on that flight?

that is not a bad deal. it is better than 75.00 change fee plus cost of airfare if i changed today which is pretty pricey.

and if there are just 2 or 3 seats left the night before i will stick with my original flight.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

With 2 adults traveling, I would give this a try. Just be prepared for a long day at the airport. I would plan on arriving at the airport as soon as the AirTran desk opens for the best chance of getting a seat. However, it's likely it will be a full plane flying during a vacation period.

Not sure about AirTran but many airlines will not allow free standby unless there are no seats available to confirm.

AirTran allows this for a $25.00 fee.

 

[DebbieB]

With 2 adults traveling, I would give this a try. Just be prepared for a long day at the airport. I would plan on arriving at the airport as soon as the AirTran desk opens for the best chance of getting a seat. However, it's likely it will be a full plane flying during a vacation period.

Not sure about AirTran but many airlines will not allow free standby unless there are no seats available to confirm.

AirTran allows this for a $25.00 fee.

I was referring to the quote above in post #3. It sounded like there are 2 options - pay $25 and confirm a seat or standby for free.

 

[maciec]

We did this coming back from Mexico. I kept checking online at the seat availability for our flight and there were plenty available. When we got to the counter and told the agent what we wanted to do she said that there were no seats left. I told her that according to the website there were plenty and she "checked" again and wouldn't you know, there were 5 empty seats for us - and all together! Amazing, lol! Anyway, we did have to pay the $25 per person to get on the earlier flight, but it was worth it for us. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you have the means to keep checking even on your way to the airport, do so just in case you run into what we did.

 

[JenSinMA]

My husband did this just last month coming home from Atlanta. He didn't call, just went to the airport early & told the agent at the counter that he'd like to try for the earlier flight. She confirmed that there were seats available, booked him on the earlier flight and didn't even charge him. We didn't know about the $25 thing...he was willing to pay $75 but didn't have to. It might have helped that both flights were in the same fare class and the earlier flight that he wanted actually showed more seats available than the later flight he was booked on. So it was a good move for the airline as well. So definitely try it! Unless the flight looks very full the night before, you have a good chance of getting on.

 

[disneymarie]

We are booked to fly to Orlando direct from Harrisburg during Easter week. We paid for the cheapest flight and it does not leave until 7:02pm.

They have an earlier flight at 11:41am direct as well.

We are two adults who do not care if we sit together since we will be on an earlier flight.

What do you think are our chances? What time should we arrive to try for the 11am flight? If I call the night before will they tell me how many empty seats are left?

This airport is a haul for us, it is four hours away, but it was our best option to head south.

Worst case scenario, we hang out in the Harrisburg airport all day.

Thoughts?

Any information is greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you!!

My experience with Airtran, and watching flights, getting flights and flying is this direct flight was ALWAYS a sell out. THere are just the two flights out a day, and if you can pay to confirm a seat I would grab it.
On our flight there were a few in first class open, then I paid the $40 to upgrade for us opening our seats to stand by.
I understood the standby list, the evening flight was long also.

I like the airport but the gem of a 2 hr flight down at $89 flight is a hot buy in this part of the state. We are two hrs north.
The AM sell out a bummer as we lost a day a Disney arriving 8:00PM, two months out. Same with return, the 8:40 am flight we lost another day. I tried so hard to get into a standby for the earlier flight but when I checked it was a sell out every day. Even trying to leave, it was a sell out on the later flight for three days either side.

I hope you have better luck,
di