AirTran or Southwest?

[cwnhokie]

We always fly Southwest. This time we are thinking about AirTran. Are there any pluses or minuses to consider with each?

 

[CarolMN]

If you make your reservations severalmonths in advance watch out for schedule changes on AirTran. They seem to change flight times / schedules a lot, at least out of MSP.

AirTran charges for checked bags, Southwest does not.

My expereience has been that service is good for both. Might be different out of your airport.

 

[n2mm]

I would choose SW over AT anyday. Mentioned already the signifcant price different once you add on all of the extras with AT. Plus AT is notorious for changing and cancelling flights with little notice to their customers. It happened to us and because I pushed I was ahead of the game when they cancelled my flight, but they were "waiting" to inform me until my flight day got closer. However, the rep was very nice and refunded my money and I purchased on Jetblue instead.

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

I've never flown Southwest, but only because I've always been able to get cheaper flights on Air Tran, even with the extra fee for baggage. And although Air Tran does charge to pick your seats in advance, you can avoid this fee by using kayak.com

Flying Air Tran allows you to check your bags at the resort for your return flight, which is very convenient.

Air Tran also has free satellite radio at every seat which makes for a more enjoyable flight.

Although Air Tran does have a reputation for changing flight times, they are very, very accomodating if you need to change your flight because of it.

If you can get cheaper flights on Air Tran, I wouldn't hesitate to book it.

 

[cwnhokie]

Right now the prices are exactly the same once you add on the baggage fees. One is out of BWI and the other out of Dulles which are pretty much the same distance away. Flight times are pretty close to the same too.

 

[DVCBELLE]

I prefer Airtran b/c you can get your seat assignments ahead of time. I don't like the cattle call effect of SW.

Airtran does make changes but they are also willing to rebook you with any schedule change and are very nice about it.

Rumor is that Kayak no longer gives the free seat assigments.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I agree-SW has mob boarding and no seat selection. A minus for AT is the baggage fee.
We fly Airtran and in 6 trips only two minor time adjustments in flight schedule.

 

[krn82259]

We just booked AT out of BWI for July. There are 5 of us, and even with the baggage fees and fee for seats, we still came out way ahead! Just hope our flight doesn't change too much. WE've flown them before with no problem, but I guess I'll keep chekcing the schedule.

 

[DonnaL]

We've flown both.....SWA more than AT and yes, AT is notorious about changing their schedule.....however, it really depends upon which airport you're flying from/to.......we've flown them from ABE (Lehigh Valley, PA) and since they only have one flight per day in/out of there.....it's pretty tough for them to change the schedule. However, in/out of PHL is another story. They also charge for bags and assigned seating......one way around the charge for assigned seating is to enter the AT site from Kayak.com and for some reason, there is no charge to choose seats by using this workaround. I also seem to think there is less seat space/leg room on AT than on SWA......however, that may depend on the equipment AT uses for different routes. With SWA, you know it's going to be a 737......six seats across......since that's all they fly. All in all, I think it comes down to pricing and convenience of flight times. Personally, we prefer SWA, but, we can only get them out of PHL ......so it means a further drive to/from the airport for us and also, it seems like every flight back into PHL is delayed .......sometimes for a short period of time....sometimes for hours.......which is not a SWA problem, but, a PHL airport problem.....no matter which airline you're flying. Other posters have mentioned the "cattle call" boarding of SWA........I don't look at it that way at all......I prefer to think of it as "choosing where I choose to sit as I board the flight" which can mean different things for different trips. When traveling with our adult children and grandson......we don't mind sitting around families with small children. However, when it's just my DH and I.......sometimes we prefer to choose NOT to sit near a lot of little children.....on SWA we CAN do that......on AT since our seats are already chosen.....we have no control over that.

 

[patriceo1]

I'm looking at both airlines right now for our trip in May. We've flown on both AT and SW. I will fly SW only if it nets out less expensive, as I hate SWs first come first serve boarding. Now that SW is charging the $10 per person to get an early boarding time, it's another minus for SW.

My daughters both prefer AT because of the satellite radio (Radio Disney). They are actually disappointed when I tell them we're flying SW.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

We've flown both and the service was awful on AT! The pilot was a horrible flyer (driver?), too. DH has his pilot's licence so I know that it wasn't just in my head, but the flight was just awful.

SW is AMAZING. We love them! We've just moved to a new city and they don't server our local airport, and we are considering driving a bit further just to get to one of their's.

 

[ems_mom]

We fly out of BWI and experienced a major snowstorm that not only closed schools for today (at the very least) but the airport as well.

But I just checked the BWI website and 1 runway is open for flights. And then I looked at the departures page. All SW outgoing flights are cancelled. All outgoing Airtran flights are on time.

So I'd consider the airline's flight performance in terms of delays/cancellations when booking.

WDW cannot be denied!

 

[MEK]

We fly out of BWI and experienced a major snowstorm that not only closed schools for today (at the very least) but the airport as well.

But I just checked the BWI website and 1 runway is open for flights. And then I looked at the departures page. All SW outgoing flights are cancelled. All outgoing Airtran flights are on time.

So I'd consider the airline's flight performance in terms of delays/cancellations when booking.

WDW cannot be denied!

this is a good point. SWA canceled everything in PHL, BWI, and IAD starting at 2pm on Friday. I really think they did this as a safety measure. They were the airline that overshot the runway in chicago a few years back and I believe there was a death as a result. They can't afford to have any bad outcomes in a Nor'easter.

I always pick SWA over airtran because:

1. I like the flexibility of being able to change my SWA flights if I find a cheaper one. I also like the knowledge that I can cancel, if necessary, and get credit in my account for a year.

2. I like the no fees for backage.

That being said, lately it seems like it is easier to book a cheaper flight on AT. When they drop fares they do it across the board. SWA tends to drop the fares only on the less desirable times.

I have flow Airtran once - no complaints. Everything went smooth.

 

[figmentfan0724]

my DF and I are huge AT fans, we used to only fly continental, but love the service and ease of going out of our smaller airport. have never flown SW and will never fly them!

 

[cwnhokie]

Thanks for the the info. We actually ended up booking with JetBlue out of Dulles. This will be a new experience for us.

 

[n2mm]

Thanks for the the info. We actually ended up booking with JetBlue out of Dulles. This will be a new experience for us.

Now that is funny. I mentioned Jetblue in my post and originally I was going to answer Jetblue when you said which airline AT or SW!

I fly out of Dulles exclusively (have flown out of DCA and BWI too). I always choose Jetblue and find the prices similar to SW. Also free first bag and can choose your seat number. But nothing beats the extra roominess of the seats, lots of snacks, and directTV. We find with the directTV everyone in our traveling party is happy. My granddaughters almost always have something to watch on the nick channel. I did buy them kid's size headphones at Walmart. Keep in mind that you need to bring your own headphones or earbuds. They do sell them at the gate for $2 each if you forget. You can pay cash at the gate, but once onboard you have to charge it. We love flying home JB especially since they are part of the RAC process at all the resorts! Keep in mind that if your fare drops you can get a credit in your trueblue account and they will credit one person (the lead person) with the entire credit amount in one lump sum. That credit is good for one year from the day they give it to you (not the day you buy the airfare/SW). I'm holding airfare on Jetblue for my March, May, Sept, and Oct. trips and waiting for them to open up their Nov schedule.

 

[Beccabunny]

I wish we had the option of SW (can't fly with them because of peanut allergies). We have flown many times with AT. No major issues but found the flight staff to be grumpy and obnoxious on many flights, not with us but with other passengers, and it gets old dealing with that. I called them recently to ask a few disability-related questions, and they were just downright nasty. So I gave our business to Us Air. Same price, just a little extra for the one bag we plan to check. I'm not thrilled with US Air, as they have a tendency to run late and it takes forever to get your checked baggage, but at least I've never encountered the nasty attitude problems with them.