AirTran Gift Certificates + Rewards

[mommyoftwinfants]

Remember reading about someone buying GC's to get credits and then getting credits for the actual flight. Could someone please explain this to me? We will need at least 9 RT tickets so I am figuring at least $1800. When I looked at the website it shows who you are getting the GC for, should I just put my name on all the GC's, will I be able to book 9 seats with the GC's?

Tried to use the search but had no luck finding the info I needed.

 

[cbrfan]

I call and purchase the GC's and tell them to just deposit them into my account. I don't bother with the actual certificates. Then I go ahead and book the tickets all together. The payment screen will give you the option to use the credit. You can book 9 seats online. Keep in mind that while you can buy gc's in $25 increments you only get credit in $100 increments (if that makes any sense). So if you purchase $1800 you'll get 18 credit. If you buy $1750 you'll get 17 credits. I like putting them all in one account because it's easier to collect the needed number of credits for a free flight.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Will my boys still be able to recieve their credits for the flight? I remember someone else posted that AirTran let her put her kids on her A+ account so I emailed and asked them about this and they said that everyone had to have their own A+ reward account, problem is my 4 yr olds don't have an email account .
Here is my situation there will be 9 of us going in June of 2008 (I am in charge of everything) (9RT) ($2000) then the boys and I (3 RT) ($600) will be going in December then again in April of 2009 (3 RT) ($600). The 3 of us are the only ones who would be able to actually take advantage of the rewards since they are only good for 1 yr.
Is there anyway I can purchase $200 worth of GC under their A+ number which will give them 8 credits within 1 yr so they can get a free 1 way.
June
My A+ $1600 16 +0
DS 1 A+ $ 200 2 +2
DS 2 A+ $ 200 2 +2
December
$600 6 +2
+2
+2
April
$600 6 +2
+2
+2

leaves 16 credits
leaves 8 credits
leaves 8 credits

 

[cbrfan]

Yes, your boys will receive their credits when they fly. In order to set them up with a rewards acct. they will need an e-mail addy. I set up an acct through yahoo for my 2 yr old DGS. You can get them GC credits by purchasing them under their acct. My suggestion is to purchase them under their account and have them deposited to your acct or have certs issued in your name. Then you can book the tickets altogether so you have a better chance of being seated together. You don't want them scattered all over the plane. Also, when booking a group of that size check the sale fares for 1 person first. Then check for 9 people. If there are only a few seats at the lower fare you should book all of those. Then book the next lowest fare for the remainder of the group. Example: AT shows $79 pp one-way for 1 people. But if you enter 9 people it will show $159. That's because only 1 seat is available at the $79 fare. You'll need to play with it a little to find out how many at what price and go from there.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Thank You

 

[Eganclan]

Thanks for the tip... I am considering booking air tran for a Dec./Jan. trip. They have the perfect flights available right now at an airport 15 minutes from my house. Not sure if I have the patience to wait for Jet Blue or Southwest for this trip. Does Air Tran change their schedules allot and any idea if they give a credit if the price of the flight is reduced somewhere along the way??? Thanks.

 

[cbrfan]

Something you may want to consider....credits expire after 1 year. There are only a limited number of reward seats on any given flight. You may not able to get 3 reward seats on one flight. I believe you can get the voucher right before the credits expire and then have a year on the voucher, but that's just what I've heard and don't have firsthand knowledge. Rewards on Orlando flights in April are EXTREMELY hard to get. I would do the math and find a way to use the rewards on the Dec. flight as those seats will be made available first and are probably easier to get. You might be able to get 2 seats in Dec. and 1 in Apr. It's been my experience that the Dec. reward seats are gone before the Apr. flights are released. You sure don't want to end up eating your rewards vouchers! Be sure to check the blackout periods!! If you're travelling around the holidays not all dates will be offered and anywhere close is going to force you to be vigilant about schedule releases and be the first request in line. Hope this makes sense. Also keep in mind that if your first trip isn't scheduled until Jun of 2008 there's no guarantee that the gc program will still be in effect when you're ready to buy.

 

[cbrfan]

Thanks for the tip... I am considering booking air tran for a Dec./Jan. trip. They have the perfect flights available right now at an airport 15 minutes from my house. Not sure if I have the patience to wait for Jet Blue or Southwest for this trip. Does Air Tran change their schedules allot and any idea if they give a credit if the price of the flight is reduced somewhere along the way??? Thanks.

They do frequently change their schedules, but it's never been by much in my case. Usually less than 30 minutes. Some other airports may have bigger changes. I can't speak to those. I've always gotten a credit toward a future flight (good for a year) without a problem. But nothing's carved in stone. In any case, I love AirTran and have always found them to be friendly and helpful.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Something you may want to consider....credits expire after 1 year. There are only a limited number of reward seats on any given flight. You may not able to get 3 reward seats on one flight. I believe you can get the voucher right before the credits expire and then have a year on the voucher, but that's just what I've heard and don't have firsthand knowledge. Rewards on Orlando flights in April are EXTREMELY hard to get. I would do the math and find a way to use the rewards on the Dec. flight as those seats will be made available first and are probably easier to get. You might be able to get 2 seats in Dec. and 1 in Apr. It's been my experience that the Dec. reward seats are gone before the Apr. flights are released. You sure don't want to end up eating your rewards vouchers! Be sure to check the blackout periods!! If you're travelling around the holidays not all dates will be offered and anywhere close is going to force you to be vigilant about schedule releases and be the first request in line. Hope this makes sense. Also keep in mind that if your first trip isn't scheduled until Jun of 2008 there's no guarantee that the gc program will still be in effect when you're ready to buy.

I was not planning on getting the vouchers until after our April '09 trip before the June '08 ones expire which should give me until June '10 to use them. Since we will only have enough credits for 2 RT maybe we will have better luck. We could do My 1way and DS#1 1way down there and My 1way and DS#2 1way back. I understand that this may not be still available then but it will be worth a shot to get a RT for the 3 of us for the price of 2 1ways.

 

[cbrfan]

You receive your GC credits when you actually purchase them. Not when you fly. So unless you're planning to purchase your June '08 tickets last-minute you'll need to back your expiration dates up. The biggest problem I see is that you won't have enough credits until after Dec. '08's flights are completed. It will be really tough to get April reward seats that long after the schedule release. That's why I suggested getting the credits in your name when you make the first purchase. You'd be able to have all your ducks in a row when the seats are made available. Another suggestion - if you don't already have one, get an AirTran Visa card. Hopefully, you've received an offer to get extra credits getting one. I took one out and got 4 flight credits for the first purchase. I think I charged like $10 and paid it off. I received the 4 credits as soon as I was billed. If you get the free card you get 1 credit for every $1,000 in AirTran charges (the free card, not the one that charges $39 a year). If you charge the $2,000 you'd pick up an additional 2 credits. So technically you could put some of the gc's under the boys' accounts and just use your credit card. If we did some math we could probably find another free flight in there somewhere!

 

[DisOrBust]

How "few" seats are usually avaible for rewards on a given flight?

 

[cbrfan]

How "few" seats are usually avaible for rewards on a given flight?

Usually one less than what you're after!

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

OK thanks, so I will try and come up with a new plan with using the CC I think the 4 free credits would be better than getting the points for my Disney Visa plus 2credits for the $2000 worth of GC's. I forgot that the credits I get for the GC will be before we actually fly.