AirTran Airways

[SondraD11]

I'm a Hoosier who flew AirTran out of Indianapolis in December for our Disney trip. I purchased the tickets in late spring to jump on $59 each way fares. I expected that the flight times would change which they did but AirTran always notified me and gave me the option to change to another flight but I was fine with the times. I also paid extra so that I could select our seats and had no problems with getting those seats on both flights.

At the time, AirTran flew 3 non-stops daily to and from Orlando. One of the flights was on a Boeing 717 which is a 2 seat on one side and 3 seat on the other configuration. The other flight was on a Boeing 737 which is a 3 seat on each side configuration. The 717 2 seat side was the most uncomfortable seat that I've ever had on an airline. I will make sure that I don't book that equipment again simply because of the discomfort. The plane was new, clean, and otherwise perfectly fine but I was miserable the entire flight.

I believe that AirTran and Frontier are partners and share their frequent flier miles. I like both airlines and try to book one or the other for all my airline travel. Another plus for flying AirTran to Disney is being able to use Resort check-in for the return trip home. It was great.

Sondra

 

[VAgal76]

Don't kick yourself for not booking. Just book what you're comfortable with and if the fare does go down, call AirTran and get credit for the difference. If the Thursday you're referring to is Thanksgiving day, they have put some of those flights on sale kind of last-minute. You may have some luck with that. Particularly the flights that leave during dinnertime (noon-3:00). Not so true with the early or late flights. Don't know if you're aware or not, but if you're talking about A+ Rewards flight credits, you can't get flight credits for someone else's flights. You will only receive the credit for flights you, personally, flew on. The other members of your party will each earn their own credits if they're an A+ member. So if you know you're going and see good fares, book your own and let the others decide later. You can always book theirs later and you've at least saved on your own flights.

Oh, yeah, I'm aware of that. The only thing I didn't like about Airtran - not being able to transfer rewards.

We're headed the weekend before Thanksgiving. That Friday looks like a blackout date judging from info I dug up on last years sales. Right now I can fly out Thursday night before. We're just going to tack on an extra vacation day. Even with the hotel and extra fun stuff we can do on Friday I'm still saving versus flying out that Friday. Gotta love that!

 

[cbrfan]

Are you referring to flight credits or rewards? Flight credits cannot be transferred, reward vouchers can. Just wanted to clarify.

 

[VAgal76]

Cbrfan - I have a Capital One miles card where I can book any airline with the miles I earned. They really mean any airline, too. I have enough A+ rewards for my one-way trip. My 2 guys haven't flown enough with Airtran to do that and my rewards aren't transferrable. I had enough miles from my credit card for 2 additional Airtran one way tickets. We're flying Delta back home on my Skymiles miles essentially for about $116 a piece because I can use my miles to pay towards the fare with the new feature they have. There are 5 people in my party and my airfare is coming out to $181 per ticket including the one change fee I had to pay. I'd say I got an excellent deal plus an extra day to lounge around before our cruise.

 

[cbrfan]

Cbrfan - I have a Capital One miles card where I can book any airline with the miles I earned. They really mean any airline, too. I have enough A+ rewards for my one-way trip. My 2 guys haven't flown enough with Airtran to do that and my rewards aren't transferrable. I had enough miles from my credit card for 2 additional Airtran one way tickets. We're flying Delta back home on my Skymiles miles essentially for about $116 a piece because I can use my miles to pay towards the fare with the new feature they have. There are 5 people in my party and my airfare is coming out to $181 per ticket including the one change fee I had to pay. I'd say I got an excellent deal plus an extra day to lounge around before our cruise.

Ahhh. Now I understand. I always wondered how those cards worked with AirTran. I'm always doing some sort of points shuffling to maximum my deals, too. Sounds like you were able to score a pretty good deal for your group. Have a great time on your cruise. I'm jealous!

 

[annie1995]

But I hear that AirTran changes their schedules frequently and, from what some other posters have said, they don't notify the customer of the changes. Others have said they have been notified. So, I'll keep an eye on my itinerary and see what happens to my "so far, so good" as we get closer to departure day.

Debbie

To ease anyones mind, Airtran adjusted our last September flight, and we were notified by email. We had to click a button to confirm the change also or I think call them to make other arrangments. So no problems there!! We have only flown with Airtran and again will be flying with them this coming August!! No complaints as of yet from us