Airtran out of Bluegrass Airport Lexington, KY

[1tufgt]

Who here has flow on Airtran out of Lexington?

Also this is my 1st time looking into Airtran, what is their seating priority? Is it assigned seating like most other airlines? I notice that there is a $10 priority boarding? Baggage fees?

We will be traveling to Orlando this Oct. and fares on SW out of Louisville are expensive compared to Airtran's rates out of Lexington.

I know SW is in the process of buying them out but no SW rules will be in effect by the time we fly.

Any opinions is appreciated.

 

[loveswdw]

We flew AT out of LEX last June. No problems and would definitely fly them again. Actually, probably flying with them in October too. They are MUCH cheaper than SW and even though there's only one flight in/out a day, the flight times are much better for us than SW's one nonstop out of SDF.

I don't remember what the seating priority was but I do know that you will have to pay $6 each way for an assigned seat. Or if you wish to take your chances, you can book a seat for free at the 24 hour out mark. Be aware that since there's only 1 flight in/out per day the planes do fill up. So if you are traveling with kids and its a must to sit with them, then pay the $12 RT to book a seat. Our flights were both completely full, no empty seats.

We got to the airport about an hour early. It was pretty easy to get through but the line was slow because they only had one guy checking everybody in and dealing with the luggage. We checked 2 full size suitcases and a set of golf clubs ($45 total each way). Luckily, DH's golf travel case falls within the guidelines and we didn't have to pay $50 for oversize. I believe the luggage fees have increased to $20 for your first checked bag. It was $15 per when we flew last--1 for me, 1 for DS, and golf clubs for DH.

Right now our flights are $80 out and $132 in if we fly Friday to Sunday. We may just add a night and fly Friday out, Monday in to get the flight back for $80 too. Keep hoping they'll drop again. Last year, I paid $59 each way. For the 4 of us plus seating assignments and luggage, it was still less than $700 total. But I may just go ahead and book the tickets and hope for a credit later.

SIL lives in Lexington near Fayette Mall so she drops us off and keeps our vehicle at her place. Then picks us up when we fly back so no parking fees either. (We live just outside of Louisville).

Good luck!

 

[wdwmaw]

Who here has flow on Airtran out of Lexington?

Also this is my 1st time looking into Airtran, what is their seating priority? Is it assigned seating like most other airlines? I notice that there is a $10 priority boarding? Baggage fees?

We will be traveling to Orlando this Oct. and fares on SW out of Louisville are expensive compared to Airtran's rates out of Lexington.

I know SW is in the process of buying them out but no SW rules will be in effect by the time we fly.

Any opinions is appreciated.

Love it We are about 20 min. from the airport and use to have to go out of SDF or CVG which is about an hour away. Airtran is non stop and the only downside is they don't fly everyday in the winter months and their is only one flight per day. We used Airtran last October and will be again this June. We had no problems and loved our experience. We found Airtran, with seats and baggage seperate to still be cheaper than SWA. For us we have to factor in parking fees going out of SDF or CVG so we are ahead going out of LEX over $100 before we even book.

Airtran you will have to pay extra for seats ($6-$20 per seat) and zone one boarding seats start at $13. They also have business class way up front but don't know anything about that. I have not paid for these upfront but have waited till I get credit to do so. We usually buy the $6 seats, these are usually everything behind the wing and Zone 2 boarding. Bags are $20 a piece and are pd for 24 hours before your flight or at the desk. LEX does not have skycaps and the airport is really small. The only real traffic you might find getting to the airport is when people are arriving at Keenland or when it is letting out. You can check that on their site as to when race days are.

You can use ME to and from with them, the only problem I have found is make sure you don't check in online at 24 hour mark ( like SWA). For some reason if you do then the RAC can't do your bags. You can go online / call BAGS and pay for your luggage or we were able to pay for them at the POP RAC desk the day of our flight. They can not use your credit to pay for your bags, gonna figure that one out this trip and I will update what I find out. I know I wrote a book but we are so happy to be able to fly out of LEX nonstop on a decent size plane (6 seats wide) and cheaper then SDF or CVG. Friends used to pay a bunch more and fly out on those little planes with 3 seats per row, don't care for those.

Hope this helps

 

[1tufgt]

Thanks for the information.

My only issue right now is like you all have said they seem to only fly on certain days and the time they arrive in Orlando is also a factor.

Seems like the flight out of LEX doesn't get to MCO till almost 8pm versus SW arriving in the afternoon from SDF.

So the issue will be time = money so those extra 4 hours might be the reason we will fly out of SDF.

Thanks for the input.

 

[lpandorf]

We flew out of Lexington to Orlando last July. It was great. We live in Cincinnati and it was so much cheaper than Delta, even taking into accounting parking at the airport. Also cheaper than Southwest out of Indy last year. It is a small airport so parking is great. I asked where Long-Term parking was when I arrived and the the guy at the gate laughed. All the parking is in the same area - close to the airport! There were not many restuarant choices. We were flying around dinner time and I remember only 1 place open to eat while we were waiting. Would definitely fly out of the Lexington again.

 

[loveswdw]

Thanks for the information.

My only issue right now is like you all have said they seem to only fly on certain days and the time they arrive in Orlando is also a factor.

Seems like the flight out of LEX doesn't get to MCO till almost 8pm versus SW arriving in the afternoon from SDF.

So the issue will be time = money so those extra 4 hours might be the reason we will fly out of SDF.

Thanks for the input.

We are flying in on Friday evening with plans to stay offsite or in DTD that first evening and then check in to BCV early Saturday morning (still a lot cheaper to book that hotel night than pay SW prices for 4 people!). That way we get a full day at WDW. The Saturday SW nonstop in Oct. lands at MCO at 3:35. Even flying SW, you won't arrive until late afternoon and by the time you deplane and work your way through MCO you've wasted most of the day. Not sure what time the SW nonstop flights land on other days of the week.

And AT may change flight times--they do this. When we flew, it was just a little bit for either flight...a few hours. But if you look at the summer schedule, the flight times are completely different (and there's a flight EVERY day) than the October schedule. Who knows?

Do you do ME or rent a car? We rent a car so ME isn't a factor for us as to when we arrive or where we stay.

 

[1tufgt]

We are flying in on Friday evening with plans to stay offsite or in DTD that first evening and then check in to BCV early Saturday morning (still a lot cheaper to book that hotel night than pay SW prices for 4 people!). That way we get a full day at WDW. The Saturday SW nonstop in Oct. lands at MCO at 3:35. Even flying SW, you won't arrive until late afternoon and by the time you deplane and work your way through MCO you've wasted most of the day. Not sure what time the SW nonstop flights land on other days of the week.

And AT may change flight times--they do this. When we flew, it was just a little bit for either flight...a few hours. But if you look at the summer schedule, the flight times are completely different (and there's a flight EVERY day) than the October schedule. Who knows?

Do you do ME or rent a car? We rent a car so ME isn't a factor for us as to when we arrive or where we stay.

We usually rent a car but the issue for us is that my wife and sister in law are nurses and they only have enough vacation days for the week we are gone so if one had to work that Friday (12hr shifts) that wouldn't be possible. Still something we need to sit down and talk about.

Thanks again.

 

[1tufgt]

Does Airtran ever add a flight?

I noticed for Oct. that they are only flying Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays to Orlando?

But it looks like we might be going with Airtran since they are far cheaper than what SW is wanting now with the latest price increase.

 

[loveswdw]

That's what I'm hoping for. If you look at the summer schedule, there's a flight every day through Sept 8th? (around that date) After that it goes back to the Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun schedule. I'm hoping that they decide to fly on Sat too! But I'm not sure how high the demand will be in October. Our June flights were full but fall may be different.

 

[1tufgt]

That's what I'm hoping for. If you look at the summer schedule, there's a flight every day through Sept 8th? (around that date) After that it goes back to the Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun schedule. I'm hoping that they decide to fly on Sat too! But I'm not sure how high the demand will be in October. Our June flights were full but fall may be different.

Yeah, I wish the flight was earlier in the day then it would be a no brainer for us to fly out of Lex instead of Lou.