Airtrain - bumped b/c no seat assignment?

Needafix

<font color=blue>I'm trying to make the most of ev
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Aug 5, 2003
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I have two upcoming trips booked with Airtrain - ABE to MCO. I decided to save the money and not pay for seat assignments. Kids are old enough to be by themselves for 2.5 hours.

Now I'm hearing that you have a greater chance of being bumped on a full flight if you don't have assigned seats.

How often does that happen?

Can I go back in and pay to assign my seats if I purchased flights a couple months ago?
 
I have two upcoming trips booked with Airtrain - ABE to MCO. I decided to save the money and not pay for seat assignments. Kids are old enough to be by themselves for 2.5 hours.

Now I'm hearing that you have a greater chance of being bumped on a full flight if you don't have assigned seats.

How often does that happen?

Can I go back in and pay to assign my seats if I purchased flights a couple months ago?

Just check in as early as possible (24 hours before flight) and this should reduce any problems if there would be any. You can go back in and pay for seat assignments at any time before your flight. Unfortunatly AirTran recently increased their seat fees for about half of the seats on their planes.
 
You mean I can go over to the airport the night before and check in?!?!

That would be fantastic.

I've been on hold for over 10 min with Airtan right now b/c I panicked and decided to book the seats, but the website wouldn't accept the change for some reason and told me to call customer service. Now I just want to go to bed because I'm exhausted.

If what you're saying is true, I'll save the $65 and head over there the night before. I'm about 10 min from the airport. And yes, I did notice the increased the rate - I think it was $10/seat when I booked the flights and now it's up to $13/seat.
 
I don't think you need to go to the airport, you can check-in online.
 

You do the 24 hour check in on line. I am not sure if I have ever heard of anyone going to the airport before for it.


Sarah
 
Well that makes it even easier. :woohoo:

Obviously I need to start traveling more!;)

Thanks
 
Definitely check-in online. When they do involuntary bumps (rare but it does happen from time to time), they go by the check-in order; whomever checked in last gets bumped first. A lot of people don't bother to check-in online at all, so as long as you do it sometime the day before, you'll be fine. You can select your seats when you check-in online as well.
 
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Too often I have seen people who have not paid for a seat assignment on Air Tran get bumped. MIL flew this past weekend flight was overbooked by six, they asked for volunteers and only 5 volunteered....buy the seat!!!
 
If you still want to call AirTran, I'd wait until the weekend. Right now I bet they're inundated with calls from passengers with delayed flights, passengers with cancelled flights, passengers trying to reschedule their flights... all because of the weather.
 
If you still want to call AirTran, I'd wait until the weekend. Right now I bet they're inundated with calls from passengers with delayed flights, passengers with cancelled flights, passengers trying to reschedule their flights... all because of the weather.

We found this out last night, tried calling to get credit for a fare drop. Never did get through.
 
What happens if you do get bumped. That's the only flight that goes out of our town, so there isn't another flight until the next night. Will they extend the day on the other end of the trip at no extra charge? This is making me so nervous. I had no idea, I just thought we could be put in the left over seats, so thought I'd save the $56 for spending money.
 
What happens if you do get bumped. That's the only flight that goes out of our town, so there isn't another flight until the next night. Will they extend the day on the other end of the trip at no extra charge? This is making me so nervous. I had no idea, I just thought we could be put in the left over seats, so thought I'd save the $56 for spending money.

who's they ? (above in red line) are you talking about the Airline or resort extending for free?
 
What happens if you do get bumped. That's the only flight that goes out of our town, so there isn't another flight until the next night. Will they extend the day on the other end of the trip at no extra charge? This is making me so nervous. I had no idea, I just thought we could be put in the left over seats, so thought I'd save the $56 for spending money.

I think you need to relax about this. Involuntary bumping can happen, but is generally rare. Have a seat assignment or not doesn't mean anything. As stated above, check in as early as possible. Simply check in at the 24 hour mark on airtran.com. You will learn your seat assignments at that time and will be able to switch your seats if there are better ones......

Honestly, being bumped isn't something you should worry too much about as long as you check in online and are at the airport/gate before boarding starts... now, if you decide to not arrive until the last minute and you miss boarding announcement, that is a whole different story....

Duds
 
who's they ? (above in red line) are you talking about the Airline or resort extending for free?

Sorry - I meant Airline. Since they only run once a day, would the airline change the return flights without charging a change fee?

Then again, that won't work either b/c our current return flights are Wed and they don't fly on Thursdays, so we'd have to wait until Friday and I don't have that many vacation days to take.

The second this snow stops, I'm calling and paying for the seats, so I can stop worrying. $56 is not worth all this stress.

Thanks everyone. Better to learn all this now instead of when we arrive at the airport.
 
I think you need to relax about this. Involuntary bumping can happen, but is generally rare. Have a seat assignment or not doesn't mean anything. As stated above, check in as early as possible. Simply check in at the 24 hour mark on airtran.com. You will learn your seat assignments at that time and will be able to switch your seats if there are better ones......

Honestly, being bumped isn't something you should worry too much about as long as you check in online and are at the airport/gate before boarding starts... now, if you decide to not arrive until the last minute and you miss boarding announcement, that is a whole different story....

Duds

Thanks Duds - I know you're right, I think all this snow is clouding my judgment and I can't imagine not getting out of here at this point. I can't believe how hard this snow is falling right now. I must have been in the middle of writing my last post when you were writing yours.

I have flown enough to know there's a possibility of getting bumped regardless of what you do to avoid it.

Thanks again for the reality check.
 














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