Airtran Question For Beverly Lynn

[princess crazy]

Hi Beverly Lynn you've helped me out in the past and was wondering if you had any insight on my situation with air travel?

We are flying out of our home town on Dec 13 returning on the 20th. Fares for Airtrans flights in Dec just came out about 3 weeks ago and I have been waiting hoping for a sale fare but am getting nervous because now the flight we wanted to take on the 20th lower seat fare is already sold out and they have gone from $116 to$137. I'm on the netscapes mail list but all of the sales to date only go thru Nov.7.

My question is should I not wait any longer and book now at the $137 price or should I wait a few more weeks hoping that I can get a sale on at least one leg of the flight?? My other concern is maybe the reason for the flight price going up so soon from Orlando to Atlanta is because the 20th is so close to xmas.

I just got a sale email fare of only $70 from Orlando to Atlanta but that only goes through the 7th of November. I would love to be able to get part of the flight at this cost but am worried I will defeat the whole purpose and the seats will keep selling out and prices will keep going up. As of a week ago the price for one round trip ticket was $259.50 and now it is up to $280.50 for the times we want to fly. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[princess crazy]

Don't know if this makes much difference or not but I just spoke to a reservations agent to find out how full the plane could possibly be if the lowest airfares were already sold out as I was getting a little nervous about seat availability even this far out.

On the way back -the flight that has already gone up in price she said had about 50 seats left out of i believe 110. The way down was pretty much the same but she said there were around 60 seats left.

Is this cutting it pretty close as far as seats left? I would really like to wait for a sale fare but am real worried that the flight on lthe way down might go up in price too if there are only around 60 seats left. It could be up to even a month if they do come out with a sale fare for these tickets and I'm worried by that time more seats would be sold out. Does anyone have an inside scoop on sales at airtran?? I know that's probably a dumb question but I really am up in arms as what we should do in this situation?!?!?!?!

 

[Beverly Lynn]

FL(airtran) is not very good about giving the difference back when the fares go down. I had to fix a lot of peoples ressies for them that they refused to do in res. the date of the 20th is a heavy travel time cause of xmas. I would suggest buying it now to get the seat and then I can help you when it comes time to get the difference back in fares. there will be a schedule change before your flight time anyways on FL so more seats will maybe open up. when they detail a flight they do bring out some more fares at lower prices. when I worked at FL I learned how to detail their flights and have seen where one day they had no sale fares left but then after we detailed the flights they had sale fares out again. and then they can and will bring out more internet specials too.

 

[TravelSheryl]

If half of the seats are already sold this far in advance, it's unlikely any sale fares will apply to those flights.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

as I have said above once a flight is detailed they do open up more seats at sale prices. in fact the flight we got in aug was more than half sold. and they had the lowest fare available of 241.50 and then last week they came out with a sale for 136....go figure. they had no seats available at the lower sales until they detailed the flight and had the schedule change. the aircraft stayed the same and so did the flight number. and keep an eye on their internet fares as they have these lower than booking it directly with res.

 

[princess crazy]

Thanks so much Beverly!

I appreciate your help! I've been leaning toward just getting the tickets anyway since I found out today that it's nearly half sold-that made me a little nervous.

Can you give me an idea of when a Dec 13-20 flight would be detailed??

I feel like it's so far away being almost 6 months but yet I did'nt realize I'd be buying tickets this early and now realize that it probably was due to it being so close to xmas.

I just have this feeling that if I book the tickets tomorrow or tonight that they will go on sale next week knowing my luck. I've been trying to hold out because I'm on Airtrans netscape mail list but the closest sale fare to my date is Nov.7 and the way they've been I don't think an internet sale fare for December will come out until next month. Therefore you can see why I've not been really sure whether to wait since the lowest fare is already sold out.

If the price does go down after I book how would I go about getting the lower fare -- I really appreciate your offer to help me with this. Just to let you know I will be booking a total of 5 tickets as my parents and our 4 yr old DD will be going.

Also what happens if I do get the difference back in fares if they go down and then they go down even lower?Could this happen and if so would we be able to get an additional difference refunded? Should I constantly keep checking the fare prices from now until December to see if they will go down any more???

Sorry I know I'm rambling but any money you could save me would be greatly appreciated and I don't want to keep pestering you about this -- if I get it straight now then I won't have to bother you later hopefully.

Thanks again and it's people like you that make this world a much better place!!!!!

 

[princess crazy]

just bumping to the top

 

[Beverly Lynn]

it should be the last weekend in sep and then by the start of oct they should have it done. when they detail a flight they check the flight load and how many seats are left and how many do they think they can sell at this fare versus this fare etc. they have a dept that does nothing but statistics they predict what the flight loads will be at this time and what the call volume will be at this time etc. its pretty interesting how they compile all of this information.

 

[princess crazy]

Thanks Beverly! I'll keep my eyes open!

If I purchase the tickets today and a sale fare comes out in the next few weeks or days what should I do and or how do I contact you?

Thanks again!!

 

[Leota]

I've been very lucky with my flights, after I talked with you, BL & found out about the detailing.....It saved me TONS off of our changing flights, about 100$ a ticket!!!
Never would have had that kind of luck without you!