Airtran newbie questions and concerns

[SnowWhite33]

I have been checking on airfare for a trip in Oct. We always fly on Delta nonstop, but at 459 rt per person x 4, it's just too much. So I checked on Airtran out of Indianapolis, 174 per person rt on their non stop flights. We will have to drive 2.5 hours to get to Indy from where we are.

It seems like a no brainer to me, drive up to Indy and save the 285 per person right? But then while doing some research I'm finding out that they seem to change schedules and cancel flights quite often. And seat assignments are not done until you get to the airport, which would be ok but I wouldn't want my 12 ds sitting next to a complete stranger.

I know that the cheapest flight I'll get on Delta IF the price were to drop would be around 300 per person, and of course I could try to wait on SW, but I doubt I'll get such a deal there either. Airtran is really tempting, but I'm not sure I want to gamble with my vacation like that.

Suggestions? Comments? I would be interested in any experience any of you would have, especially with the nonstop flights out of Indy. TIA

 

[Traveliz]

I have flown Airtran alot - its actually my airline of choice for going to Disney.

I have found my schedule to change only once and only by an hour.

As far as the seat assignments go - you check in and choose your seat 24 hours prior to flight time and I have never had a problem getting us seats all together. The planes we have been on have been 2/3 seating arrangements so I just make sure to fit us in a row.

Like someone said on another thread -- no one comes on and tells about their on time/seating arrangements worked fine flights...its the problems we hear about.

Oh and also I have consistently had Airtran be ahead of schedule landing -- I LOVE that!

Liz

 

[cbrfan]

My experience with AirTran has been the same as Traveliz's. Any schedule change has always been by less than hour. Actually, I don't remember anything varying by more than 30 minutes. She's correct in saying you can check in online 24 hours in advance. Also, it may be that I've just been lucky, but I've noticed that A+ Reward members are automatically assigned more desirable seats. I've booked non-members' seats on numerous occasions and they've never gotten the better seats. Like I said, could just be luck but why chance it? The program is free and you could enroll your entire family. Another hint if you decide to enroll....you receive 1 flight credit for every $100 gift certificate you purchase. Our last trip to WDW I purchased $800 in certificates, had them deposited to my own account and then paid for my family's tickets from that. Voila!!! A free one-way flight just for running the $$ through in the form of gift certificates! Plus we each received our flight credits when the trip was completed. And keep in mind that if the price of your flight goes down you can call them and get the difference (minus a $5 pp booking fee) credited to your account. You can do that once per flight.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Sorry to hijack this thread...but is Airtran a participating airline for DME now?

 

[mom2my3kids]

We are flying airtran from Indy Sept 28th I got 5 round trip direct flights from Indy to Orlando for 966.00.. I say go for it and yes they are a DME Flight.

 

[Traveliz]

My experience with AirTran has been the same as Traveliz's. Any schedule change has always been by less than hour. Actually, I don't remember anything varying by more than 30 minutes. She's correct in saying you can check in online 24 hours in advance. Also, it may be that I've just been lucky, but I've noticed that A+ Reward members are automatically assigned more desirable seats. I've booked non-members' seats on numerous occasions and they've never gotten the better seats. Like I said, could just be luck but why chance it? The program is free and you could enroll your entire family. Another hint if you decide to enroll....you receive 1 flight credit for every $100 gift certificate you purchase. Our last trip to WDW I purchased $800 in certificates, had them deposited to my own account and then paid for my family's tickets from that. Voila!!! A free one-way flight just for running the $$ through in the form of gift certificates! Plus we each received our flight credits when the trip was completed. And keep in mind that if the price of your flight goes down you can call them and get the difference (minus a $5 pp booking fee) credited to your account. You can do that once per flight.

That is a great tip on the gift certificates - I didn't realize that! I have also found they preassign me when I click on but I just switch around my seats if I want to.

Liz

 

[SnowWhite33]

Thanks so much for the replies and the hints about signing up the family and the certificates.

I'm still debating, but I think we might try them.

The last time we tried an airline different from Delta, they went bankrupt the night before our trip and we were stranded for most of a day trying to get additional flights that we had to pay for AGAIN, so to say that we are a little gun shy about trying something new is a huge understatement.

Thanks again

 

[Harvest02]

We flew Airtran for the first time last summer, and I must say I was very impressed with them. My kids liked them too because they got to listen to free satellite radio on the flights! If they can listen to Radio Disney, they are happy!! I just booked them last night for our trip to Disney in October. I got 4 tickets for $834 total. Not too bad considering flights seem to be going up in price! I like SW too, but didn't want to wait on them to release their flight schedule. So, I say go for it! You won't be sorry!!!

 

[MainStMandy]

My only complaint is airtran in MCO. Always horrendous lines...my next trip I am flying down on Airtran but home on Continental.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have flown Airtran a few times. They've been fine except for the one time they changed my nonstop flight to MCO to a flight with a 2 hour layover in Atlanta. I cancelled that one, paid them the 50 bucks and rebooked with Southwest.