AirTran prices May 2013....reassure me!

[jennyjinx3]

I just checked out AirTran for flights for a potential May trip....yikes the prices are so high! Can anybody tell me why? What are the chances they will go down? I kind of thought flights opened up cheaper and then got more expensive but maybe I was wrong!

 

[Lauren0505]

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to airline ticket pricing. My family likes to watch fares using bing.com/travel. It will tell you how likely prices are to rise or drop. There are some restrictions to this such as dates and cities though. As long as you are traveling between two major cities it shouldn't be a problem.
Airtran can be tricky. If you are looking to buy tickets for a party of 4 I would suggest trying to break it up into two groups of two. We have found we weren't able to get the lowest airtran price as a group of four. Also, if you are traveling with children please consider paying the extra fee to pick your seat assignment. They are notorious for seating children away from their parents. Even children as young as 6.
Good luck!

 

[jennyjinx3]

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to airline ticket pricing. My family likes to watch fares using bing.com/travel. It will tell you how likely prices are to rise or drop. There are some restrictions to this such as dates and cities though. As long as you are traveling between two major cities it shouldn't be a problem.
Airtran can be tricky. If you are looking to buy tickets for a party of 4 I would suggest trying to break it up into two groups of two. We have found we weren't able to get the lowest airtran price as a group of four. Also, if you are traveling with children please consider paying the extra fee to pick your seat assignment. They are notorious for seating children away from their parents. Even children as young as 6.
Good luck!

Thank you for the info! Yes we traveled with them in September and we did purchase seats, and I would tell others to as well. I will look into bing, thanks for the tip! I guess I am just in shock at how much the opening prices are, it is cheaper to fly from Toronto right now and that is unheard of!

 

[RachaelC]

I was looking at them yesterday too and nearly collapsed when I saw the prices. I'm really hoping that they come down as I hadn't budgeted $400 for my flights from Pittsburgh to Orlando!

ETA: I just found a post on Flyertalk which says that they've only loaded the expensive coach fares so the cheaper ones should be available within the next couple of days - my fingers are crossed that this is correct!

 

[Henlady]

I about fell over this morning when I checked out Airtran for Friday April 26 from Pittsburgh to MCO and May 5th from MCO to Pittsburgh. April 26 is $408 per person (x4) and May 5th is $459 per person (x4) That comes to $3,468 round trip for 4 people!!!

 

[dishm12/08]

Pittsburgh ladies. Are these flights non-stop? We booked AirTran for our cruise next month and they had layovers in BWI. So we booked flights leaving from BWI. At the time it saved us $200.

 

[Henlady]

Pittsburgh ladies. Are these flights non-stop? We booked AirTran for our cruise next month and they had layovers in BWI. So we booked flights leaving from BWI. At the time it saved us $200.

The flight from PIT to MCO had 1 layover, the flight MCO to PIT was Non stop. But ALL of the flights were priced between $408 and $459.
The "Lowest Business Class" ranges from $499 to $510.

 

[Chuck-PA]

Is it true that airfares are going up Nov 1st with one airline and each one will follow suit? I heard possibly 25% or more.

 

[TJDisneymama]

i'm in the same boat as you all.....flying to MCO from BOS in April and I can't afford to spend $3500 on 4 tickets when normally we can do it for under $1,000! Ridiculous! It doesn't make sense that the coach fares are only $5 cheaper than the Business fares, so hopefully it's true that they only load the expensive ones first. I wish they would hurry and load the cheaper ones though!!!

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

When we booked for this past summer, Air Tran opened up just before Southwest with some ridiculous prices out of Buffalo. We booked Southwest when it opened with much more reasonable prices and then a few days later Air Tran dropped down to around $300 return which was what we paid on Southwest. Give them a week or so and I would bet that the prices will be more in line with what you expected. (Don't forget that Southwest is supposed to open up tomorrow.)

 

[webworm]

I just checked out AirTran for flights for a potential May trip....yikes the prices are so high! Can anybody tell me why? What are the chances they will go down? I kind of thought flights opened up cheaper and then got more expensive but maybe I was wrong!

I just did a quick search on matrix and looks like Airtran has lots of dates with nonstop flights from Buffalo for $200 inc taxes.

Buffalo (BUF) to Orlando (MCO) - sam., mai 4
AirTran 179 Dep: 8:00AM Arr: 10:35AM 2h 35m Boeing 717 Economy (Z)

Orlando (MCO) to Buffalo (BUF) - sam., mai 11
AirTran 312 Dep: 4:00PM Arr: 6:35PM 2h 35m Boeing 717 Economy (Z)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) 199,60 $US
Total cost for 1 passenger 199,60 $US
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

 

[Pembo]

I've been watching Airtran out of Akron for a month now. At 6 months out, I bought at $157 each way, the fares have been as high as $336 but never below the $157. I'm hoping for a price drop to pay baggage fees. The fares change almost daily and sometimes more than once in a day.

 

[deb010305]

We also were (notice I said were) flying from Boston or Providence in April, but thought that $600 - $800 per person round trip was ridiculous.
Instead we are renting an SVU and driving down. Except for the extra time, we will save over $1,200 dollars, and that included the SVU rental cost, gas, two night in a motel - one each way, and food.

 

[DebbieB]

I was looking at them yesterday too and nearly collapsed when I saw the prices. I'm really hoping that they come down as I hadn't budgeted $400 for my flights from Pittsburgh to Orlando!

ETA: I just found a post on Flyertalk which says that they've only loaded the expensive coach fares so the cheaper ones should be available within the next couple of days - my fingers are crossed that this is correct!

Since USAir dropped their non-stops, SW has gone way up. Plus now that they own AirTran, they can also control their fares. So the result is much higher fares.

I am going in early March and I saw my return flight a couple of months ago at $114. I should have bought it but I got busy and didn't. It jumped to $174! One day a couple of weeks ago it dropped down to $124 and I bought it. So keep your eyes open.

 

[davedmaine]

You're looking way too far out. Book your tickets at about the 45 day mark and you'll be getting the best deal.

 

[DebbieB]

You're looking way too far out. Book your tickets at about the 45 day mark and you'll be getting the best deal.

Alot factors into that. I've watched fares from the day they came out until the day of the flight and they only went up. If you are going at a slow time or during the week, you can try waiting it out. But going during a popular time or on weekends, it's risky waiting that long.

 

[RachaelC]

Since USAir dropped their non-stops, SW has gone way up. Plus now that they own AirTran, they can also control their fares. So the result is much higher fares.

I am going in early March and I saw my return flight a couple of months ago at $114. I should have bought it but I got busy and didn't. It jumped to $174! One day a couple of weeks ago it dropped down to $124 and I bought it. So keep your eyes open.

Mine's dropped today to $110 o/w (as we're flying back to the UK from MCO).

Think I'll wait to see what the Southwest fare is if they go on sale tomorrow as the checked bags are free with them...

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

Checked out the Air Tran site again. The non-stop rates from Buffalo to Orlando have dropped down to the expected amounts now.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Checked out the Air Tran site again. The non-stop rates from Buffalo to Orlando have dropped down to the expected amounts now.

thank you for this! I checked this thread while I was at the mall (stopped on my way to work) and saw this so I checked on my phone and sure enough, my flight had gone down, so I drove like a bat out of hell to the office so I could book it. I was SOOO nervous it would have gone back up but it didn't. So excited, I was pinning all my hopes on SW flights which come out tomorrow but that wasn't ideal b/c I'd either have to fly into out of state airport for a non stop flight, or take a flight with a stop into my airport. So I got nonstop into my home airport for just over $200! (one way)

 

[MinnieGirl33]

FWIW, we travel PHL-MCO about 4x year; typically Nov, Feb, May, Aug. May is always our most expensive flight.