AirTran question and warning

[mitsybella]

We were booked on a flight for November, I have been checking my flights and so far they have not changed the flight from non-stop but they changed the plane and time going down and we were originally on the smaller plane that had 3 seats and 2 seats on either side of the aisle, I had us in the 2 seat side, one adult and one child next to each other, they changed the plane to one with 3 seats on either side and had us in 1 aisle seat and 1 window seat with someone sitting inbetween no notice the flight had changed and if I had not been checking I would never have know they even did this... thankfully there were still empty seats next to each other and I was able to switch, has anyone ever had this happen before? My next question, is there any pattern to which flights airtran changes from non-stop to layover? and can you change flights if there is a 5 min time change or do they have guidelines??

 

[Inkmahm]

Chances are there really was no one in the middle seat. If you look at the seats assigned, every middle seat will be blocked off on that side of the plane. AirTran does that in case it changes planes back to a 2x3 configuration from 3x3.

Yes, you can ask for a flight change even if your flight changed only by 5 minutes. AirTran is great about letting you change flights with no addiitonal charge if they have made any kind of change at all.

 

[mitsybella]

Chances are there really was no one in the middle seat. If you look at the seats assigned, every middle seat will be blocked off on that side of the plane. AirTran does that in case it changes planes back to a 2x3 configuration from 3x3.

Yes, you can ask for a flight change even if your flight changed only by 5 minutes. AirTran is great about letting you change flights with no addiitonal charge if they have made any kind of change at all.

If they don't change it back to the smaller do they fill the seat, could you have someone sitting inbetween? thanks for responding so fast

 

[Inkmahm]

If they don't change it back to the smaller do they fill the seat, could you have someone sitting inbetween? thanks for responding so fast

I believe those seats then open at the 24 hour mark but no one can be assigned in them before that.

 

[DebbieB]

If someone would end up in the middle, I'm sure they would switch to the window or aisle. I can't imagine anybody actually wants a middle seat between strangers.

 

[aanderson5]

A similar thing happened to me. I checked our flight and noticed that our seats had been changed from row 13 to the last row on the plane. I hate flying at the back, especially with a three year old. I called as soon as I noticed and was able to switch to seats in the middle, row 23 I think. Not as good as I had originally chosen (and paid for) but better than the last row.

 

[CarolMN]

A similar thing happened to me. I checked our flight and noticed that our seats had been changed from row 13 to the last row on the plane. I hate flying at the back, especially with a three year old. I called as soon as I noticed and was able to switch to seats in the middle, row 23 I think. Not as good as I had originally chosen (and paid for) but better than the last row.

That probably happened when they switched to a different type of plane. Some planes do not have a row labeled 13 - when they change to one of those planes, they usually put the row 13 people in the last row to avoid moving everyone back a row.

So don't ever pick row 13 if you can help it, LOL.

 

[dioxide45]

If someone would end up in the middle, I'm sure they would switch to the window or aisle. I can't imagine anybody actually wants a middle seat between strangers.

But if the plane is near full, someone will have to sit there. THere is usually no problem with offering that person the window or isle seat though. We have done this several times. You can also change your seats to be side by side a checkin 24 hours before.

 

[wdwlovin'family]

I noticed yesterday that our December flight had changed by 30 min and called this morning to have them change me to a different flight. They changed us with no problem and were very nice about. I actually was hoping that they would change the time. When we booked it, the flight arriving at 11:30 am was $129, but we booked the later non stop for $79 instead, getting in at (originally) 5 pm. Since they changed it, I was able to change the flight to the earlier time that I really wanted and saved several hundred dollars doing this. (the current price of the flight that we got change to is now $170) Of course, it's always a gamble -- you don't know if they are going to change their flight times -- but based on their past history...

 

[Magical JenK]

I bought a ticket in February for an October flight...my first time w/Air Tran...my flights have changed multiple times already & now my return flight is no longer non-stop. I have to call on that because that won't work for me...I'm hoping they'll add a non-stop back, but I don't know...

 

[OhMari]

I bought a ticket in February for an October flight...my first time w/Air Tran...my flights have changed multiple times already & now my return flight is no longer non-stop. I have to call on that because that won't work for me...I'm hoping they'll add a non-stop back, but I don't know...

If they changed your flight back in anyway, you can switch to a non-stop.
We had a flight out at 6:00 a.m. and they changed it to 6:15 a.m. with a non-stop. We were able to change it to a 11:00 A.M. non-stop which worked out a lot better for us. We didn't have to get up so early.