Airtran just made a major time change to our group reservation

[mousey]

I can't believe it---we had great fares and times with our softball team going to Orlando during Easter break. We had a non stop flt that left at 6:30 at night arriving at 9:00pm and return was 3:30pm arriving at 6:00pm. Well, I was checking to see how much the price has changed and they moved our 1st flight that was suppose to leave at 6:30pm to 2:30pm. Big difference when your talking about a school day!! Coming home they changed it to leaving 2 hrs different. What a disappointment!! I can see changes that involve minutes, but not hours!!! They offered to refund our money, but other than waiting for SW, everyone else is outpriced by now.

 

[helenk]

It most likely will change again before your trip. I got into the habit of checking my Airtran reservation nearly every Sunday before our trip because they do make a lot of changes.

 

[dudspizza]

I can't believe it---we had great fares and times with our softball team going to Orlando during Easter break. We had a non stop flt that left at 6:30 at night arriving at 9:00pm and return was 3:30pm arriving at 6:00pm. Well, I was checking to see how much the price has changed and they moved our 1st flight that was suppose to leave at 6:30pm to 2:30pm. Big difference when your talking about a school day!! Coming home they changed it to leaving 2 hrs different. What a disappointment!! I can see changes that involve minutes, but not hours!!! They offered to refund our money, but other than waiting for SW, everyone else is outpriced by now.

This is the chance you take when booking with Airtran. They are a great airline, but they do move their schedule around a lot. No offense meant here, but you scheduled a 6:30pm flight on a school day?

Every airline can change flight times and you should expect it. I have flown Sun Country, Airtran, Delta, and Continental in the last year and ALL have changed flight times on me. Some by minutes, others by hours. It is the price we pay for expecting low fares. Airlines will continue to tweak schedules to maximize profit.

Hope things work out for you.

Duds

 

[bsmandi]

Northwest did the same thing to us! We had a 4:30pm flight booked so I would only have to take a half day off..(I'm a teacher) and they cancelled our flight! They best they could give us was a flight at 12:50pm...way too early since it takes about 2 hours for us to get the airport! I know they have to change sometimes, but it sure makes it a pain! At least they refunded our tickets. I rebooked with Airtran for a 7:00 pm flight, hopefully they won't change before December! Good luck with your situation!

 

[NancyIL]

I booked the only non-stop flight between Bloomington, IL and Orlando for this past Oct. (2 weeks ago) in May. Not one week after I bought my ticket, Airtran dropped the non-stop flight - except on Saturdays! Schedule changes are irritating, and unfortunately most airlines do it - especially when you book way in advance.

 

[mousey]

Duds--I booked this because they are off from Wed. until the 15th, so I thought rather than wait and leave on Wed., they could take the 6:30pm flight on Tues. and not have to miss school. They would arrive at 9:00pm which would be perfect. This way they could start practicing on Wed. morning and not have to waste the morning flying! Also, the dates are somewhat booked up now. They did offer me a refund since it involves 25 seats, but I will leave that decision to the coach and other parents. We could hold out for SWA but the fare was very good on AirTran. It is aggrivating the way they change there times. I don't mind minutes, but anything after an hour is a bit extreme.

 

[bsmandi]

I booked the only non-stop flight between Bloomington, IL and Orlando for this past Oct. (2 weeks ago) in May. Not one week after I bought my ticket, Airtran dropped the non-stop flight - except on Saturdays! Schedule changes are irritating, and unfortunately most airlines do it - especially when you book way in advance.

I didn't even know there was a non-stop from Bloomington!! That would have been great, we are from the Champaign area. I booked through Indy just so we would have non stop. What did you end up doing? Hope you still had a great trip!

 

[dudspizza]

Duds--I booked this because they are off from Wed. until the 15th, so I thought rather than wait and leave on Wed., they could take the 6:30pm flight on Tues. and not have to miss school. They would arrive at 9:00pm which would be perfect. This way they could start practicing on Wed. morning and not have to waste the morning flying! Also, the dates are somewhat booked up now. They did offer me a refund since it involves 25 seats, but I will leave that decision to the coach and other parents. We could hold out for SWA but the fare was very good on AirTran. It is aggrivating the way they change there times. I don't mind minutes, but anything after an hour is a bit extreme.

I look at it this way, they offer a great price and the time changes are expected. I have my school's baseball team booked on Airtran for spring break as well. We got $239 r/t including taxes from MSP for 31 seats. The flights are currently priced at over $500 r/t. Airtran is the only carrier out of MSP that even offered a fair price over spring break, so we will deal with the time changes to save the kids some money.

Best of luck.

Duds

 

[NancyIL]

I didn't even know there was a non-stop from Bloomington!! That would have been great, we are from the Champaign area. I booked through Indy just so we would have non stop. What did you end up doing? Hope you still had a great trip!

Small world...I'm in Champaign! AirTran still has a non-stop from BMI - but only on Saturdays. I ended up changing planes in Atlanta, but had flown enough segments to upgrade to their business class for the 2 flights to Orlando. AirTran's fares are usually less out of Indy, but by the time you pay to drive and park there, it's sometimes more than flying out of Bloomington.

Btw - did you see my rant on other posts about Delta out of Champaign? I was supposed to fly to Orlando Thanksgiving morning on Delta - originally via Cincy and then Delta directed all their flights out of Champaign through Atlanta. And THEN Delta pulled out of Champaign at the end of September! So now I'm driving to Bloomington again to fly to Orlando via Atlanta!

 

[DISshopkeeper]

Ours has changed a couple of times too. Nothing that I can complain about tho!

Hope this all works out for you!