AirTran did it again!!!! Warning

[lolli]

I booked flights to Orlando from San Diego way back in May of 2007 for a December WDW vacation. I should have known when I found tickets for $99 each way (family of 7) that it was too good to be true. I purchased the tickets (who wouldn't at that price?) and then made dining reservations. Since August the flights have been changed three times!! The first time it wasn't too bad.....30 minutes here, 15 minutes there, same dates. The second time they changed our flight out of San Diego by 5 hours (later). That totally messed up our first evening in Orlando. We wouldn't have gotten there until after 11pm. We called and complained and they offered us a non-stop red-eye flight for the night before arriving in Orlando at 6am. It wasn't exactly what we wanted to do but it did give us another day at WDW. And now, less than a week later they've done it again. Now, instead of leaving Orlando at 2:30pm, we leave at 7am!!! Grrrrrr, that messes up our last day in Orlando!
I plan on calling them first thing in the morning and giving them an earfull. I'm ticked. I will never fly with them again. This is our first trip to WDW and we wanted it to be special. I feel like I should have let AirTran plan our vacation. They keep changing it so much to meet their needs. Yes, we'll still have fun but I had things layed out so nicely and they had to go mess with it!! And who knows what they could do in the next six weeks? I'm a bit worried.
Our trip is planned for December 1 - 8 (but leaving San Diego the evening of Nov. 30th). Staying at OKW. Only 44 days to go!! (unless AirTran steps in again)
Thanks for letting me vent a little.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Ok, now you have me a bit worried. I was planning to use Airtran for our next trip. It would save me well over $1200, but the headaches, I'm not sure I want!
Please post to let us know how the whole thing works out!

Have a great trip!

 

[bavaria]

you won't want to hear it, but that is the reality of booking so far ahead. (you may not consider seven months out 'far ahead' but for business travellers seven days out can be 'far ahead')

MOST airlines have schedule changes about 4x a year - you most likely hit spring, summer, and fall schedule changes. But hopefully that was the last one before your flight

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Your flight changes should be over. Airtran only has 3 flights a day out of SAN to ATL, and one (yes, you read that correctly) non-stop from SAN to MCO per week, on Friday nights. SAN is a new station for Airtran (since May/June) and they are still working out time slots/loads. At $99 each way for so many of you, it's still a great deal. Yes, it's inconvenient, but perhaps you can work out something better by phone in the morning. Be pleasant. The person answering your call tomorrow had no part in changing your flights, and has the power to make it easy or not so easy for you.

Good luck!

 

[dreamcometrue]

we are flying out of LAX and I have considered Airtran because they are considerably cheaper than United and AA (the only two we ever book through), but now I am really going to have to think about it! It would save us about $600 flying with Airtran, even though it makes me a bit uneasy since I am so used to United and AA!

 

[CleveRocks]

All airlines do this. It's not like you can avoid it by flying a different airline.

 

[simzac]

All airlines do this. It's not like you can avoid it by flying a different airline.

Good point. We are flying out on US Air on Dec 30 to Savannah and returning Jan 6 from Orlando on Air Tran. US changed our flights 3 times since I booked them last April. Air Tran changed our flight 6 times during the same time period. Yes it can happen on any airline, that is any airline except SW. Once they put out a schedule, they stick to it.

 

[chris7]

Well, don't switch to delta to avoid having changes. They do it all the time. I think I counted 7 changes one trip. Most minor, but not all. Like scheduling a 12 minute layover in Atlanta.

 

[pamjb]

Well, don't switch to delta to avoid having changes. They do it all the time. I think I counted 7 changes one trip. Most minor, but not all. Like scheduling a 12 minute layover in Atlanta.

That is at least a layover. The last (and I mean LAST) time that I flew Delta, they had me leaving Atlanta 45 minutes BEFORE I got there

I have flown SW ever since, and have yet to have a change

 

[1000th happy haunt]

I've been considering trying Air Tran, but I've been hearing a lot of stories like this lately. So I guess I won't try them.

 

[Sea Turtles]

All airlines do this. It's not like you can avoid it by flying a different airline.

Exactly

 

[MomtoEmIs&Ow]

You can change your flight to a better time for free. That's what they do when they change a flight time. And like other poster have said most airlines do this at one time or another.

To people who are not going to try airtran because of this, don't be so quick to decide. We had a flight time change with airtran, but depending on where you are flying out of it could be fine. Like a place that has lots of flight in a day to your destination. Like I said Airtran will change you to a flight that is better for you if they change your original flight time. ANd most airlines do this, especially with seven months between booking and the flight!

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

Our family has flown AirTran several times and have had no problems at all. Sorry you are experiencing problems, but perhaps you shouldn't have booked a dinner so close to your arrival. You still have time to change your ADR.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Exactly

Ditto.

We always fly NWA because it is the only non-stop flight to MCO available locally. We also book it 11 months in advance because: 1) with only 1 flight a day, it fills up and 2) it is much cheaper to book in advance (we are now 5 months out from our flight and the ticket price has gone up over $200 per person since we booked). That being said, I start watching my email for flight changes about 6 months out - like a charm, we have already had our first change (we arrive 4 hours later and get back home 4 hours sooner). It stinks, but unless I want to change to a non-stop flight or drive 3 hours to a metro airport, I don't have much of a choice. I'm still expecting at least one more change before we actually depart.

Last year, we had our flight changed 3 times. Fortunately, it actually worked in our favor last year.

The year before, it changed twice.

 

[Allegro]

All airlines do this. It's not like you can avoid it by flying a different airline.

Yuppers. We're flying United in January. Our flights have changed twice already. Orignally we were getting into Orlando at 11:00 am. We're now not getting there until 3:00 pm AND have a four hour layover in Washington with two little kids to entertain. I'm just waiting for the next change ... but realize there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

 

[SondraD11]

I purchased my AirTran flights to MCO early in the summer when they were $49 each way out of Indy. When you get the great fares so many months in advance, the schedules change like crazy. AirTran recently asked me to accept the latest schedule changes or call them for a change to more convenient flights at no cost.

Because we have to drive from Fort Wayne to Indy for the flights, I never plan any Disney activities on arrival day. Generally, I select the last non-stop out of Indy to MCO so that we can spend our first night at Disney instead of a Indy airport hotel. If we get in early enough to do DTD, I consider that a bonus. If the airline or weather really makes us arrive late, I don't have the stress of arrival day plans going down the tubes.

I hope AirTran can rearrange your flights so that you have a smooth arrival day. Let us know what they did for you.

Sondra

 

[CinderellasSister]

We have Dec. tickets booked with AirTran as well. How do you find out if the flights have changed? Do you have to log in to the reservation? This is our first time flying AirTran. Never had to deal with flight changes with SW.

 

[Charleyann]

I've counted at least 6 flight changes with Delta and these are added stops, different cities and hours of wait in between airports, late night arrivals and multiple stops when I paid for one stop!

At the present time, I have a missing flight and Delta says its there. Just full, but seats show a near empty plane!

Who's on first?


Charleyann

 

[SondraD11]

We have Dec. tickets booked with AirTran as well. How do you find out if the flights have changed?

You can either look at your reservation on the website or go through the booking process without actually booking the flight. I check my flights with the booking process a couple times a month because I paid to select my seats. One of my flights changed equipment from a 3-2 arrangement to a 3-3 arrangement. I had booked the four of us in 2 rows of 2 seats but when the plane changed to 3-3, I changed it so 3 of us were in one row and 1 was on the aisle.

Sondra

 

[NJRRK]

Yuppers. We're flying United in January. Our flights have changed twice already. Orignally we were getting into Orlando at 11:00 am. We're now not getting there until 3:00 pm AND have a four hour layover in Washington with two little kids to entertain. I'm just waiting for the next change ... but realize there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

If you now have a 4 hour layover in Washington, call the airline and see if it can be changed. Even allowing for clearing customs that seem excessive to me.