Airtran questions

[jenlynn0808]

We are looking to fly to MI from WA in August. We have started looking at tickets, and they have gone up significantly in the last week. So far the cheapest tickets we've found is on Airtran, but we have never flown them before. It is DH, me, DD13 and DS (who will be )6 at the time. It is a long flight with a layover.

I thought I had read before that you couldn't select seats on Airtran. Is that true?

If the price drops will they adjust (like Southwest-we've never flown them either fwiw)?

What are you experiences with them? Yah or Nah?

Any info you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. DH and I are debating what to do...

Thanks!

 

[heathernfrankie]

We have never flown AirTran before. BUT, I have a good friend that flies them to Disney every year! We are using AirTran on our trip in September. I booked our tickets via AAA and we got to pick our seats for free! No surcharge for booking with AAA either. If you have AAA, look into it.

 

[azdizzymom]

We are looking to fly to MI from WA in August. We have started looking at tickets, and they have gone up significantly in the last week. So far the cheapest tickets we've found is on Airtran, but we have never flown them before. It is DH, me, DD13 and DS (who will be )6 at the time. It is a long flight with a layover.

I thought I had read before that you couldn't select seats on Airtran. Is that true?

If the price drops will they adjust (like Southwest-we've never flown them either fwiw)?

What are you experiences with them? Yah or Nah?

Any info you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. DH and I are debating what to do...

Thanks!

You can select seats on Airtran. You can purchase them ahead of time which is what you should do if it is imperative that you all sit together. If you don't care where you sit or if you are separated you can chance that there will be 4 seats together at the 24 hour mark. Some people have luck getting seats together at the 24 hour mark for their party and they will tell you it is a waste of money to pre-pay. Some people don't have that luck and get to the airport with seats all over the plane and find that even then there are no seats together and that those people who paid for their seats ahead of time so their party could sit together won't move (which is completely understandable). Flight attendants can ask if people will move but nobody 'has to' just because someone didn't pay for seats.

We have flown Airtran and liked it. Our flight times did change (just like any other airline check weekly to see if time changes and catch before email goes out). They are great about moving you (if time difference is a certain amount of time) to a different flight at no charge.

IDK about the fare decrease question. Guess I can say we liked Airtran and if it is important to sit together pay for seats!

Have a fun trip!!

 

[juliebean]

We fly to and from Seattle every August and usually use Airtran. My family lives in Skagit Valley and my husband's are near Tacoma. I have never paid for seats and we always have seats together. Perhaps they realize that with two parents and three kids - it's in everyone's interest on the plane to keep us together, lol. Never had a problem with schedules changing terribly, maybe 15 minutes. I do believe that there is a $75 change fee, don't know if that will change with the merge with SW.

You didn't mention where in WA you live, but I've been looking for tickets for this August and have found nothing under $2K for 5 tickets to Seattle from Philadelphia for the dates we need. However, yesterday I bought tickets on Continental from Philadelphia to Portland for under $1,000 for 5 roundtrip tickets in August. We are going to try and sneak to the Oregon Coast for a couple of days - it's been 10 years since we've made it there. It's not ideal - but I am concerned with how little I've seen for Seattle that is affordable and then with the cost of oil going up....

Decisions, decisions... I don't like not knowing if things are going to work out, so I always buy early. I wouldn't worry too much about the seat situation. I believe you can call and they will make a note that you have small children and should have seats together, at no charge. I hazily remember this from years ago and having an infant and preschooler flying at the same time without my husband and being concerned about what could happen with the seating.

 

[azdizzymom]

I have never paid for seats and we always have seats together. Perhaps they realize that with two parents and three kids - it's in everyone's interest on the plane to keep us together, lol. Never had a problem with schedules changing terribly, maybe 15 minutes. I do believe that there is a $75 change fee, don't know if that will change with the merge with SW.

Decisions, decisions... I don't like not knowing if things are going to work out, so I always buy early. I wouldn't worry too much about the seat situation. I believe you can call and they will make a note that you have small children and should have seats together, at no charge. I hazily remember this from years ago and having an infant and preschooler flying at the same time without my husband and being concerned about what could happen with the seating.

I do not believe this is good advice for OP to tell them NOT to worry about purchasing seats. This is a thread where it has been discussed over and over http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2624648&highlight=airtran+seats

People on that thread have been on a plane where families haven't purchased seats and seen parents and kids separated because others who paid won't move (which is their right). People also talk about being separated from their children.

There is no 'law' saying airlines have to seat you together with your children. Calling won't do anything.... Having kids is a wonderful thing but doesn't make you exempt from following rules or using common courtesy. It is not fair to the family who pays for seats to be asked by someone who didn't to move. As I have stated my boys are 14 and 15 and I still pay for our seats so we are together. I certainly would not move for someone who chose not to and would be offended by a threat (I am not saying you suggested that at all but on some cases people make that statement how someone wouldn't want to sit by their 5 year old, etc.). Even if we didn't pay for our seats (my upcoming Delta trip) I weekly (at least 2 times) keep on those itineraries for time and seat changes. If I see one (which I have caught a couple) I immediately make seat or flight changes. If I am on top of things and have found our family separated I will NOT move even if I didn't pay for seats...sorry we are all busy but it takes a couple minutes to check for time/seats changes.

OP if it is important for your family to sit together pay for the seats! It is not worth the gamble. I urge you to read through that thread I linked! Some people might have had luck but flights are getting full and overbooked...people will pay for seats and you might arrive at airport and find only middle seats left or even just middle seats at 24 hour mark.

Anyway...hope both of you have a fun trip. We already spend so much on a trip so is it worth a gamble to risk not sitting by your kids on the plane to save a few $$$. Save the money elsewhere!

 

[jenlynn0808]

Thanks everyone for the replies! We would pay the extra to confirm the seats, as I agree with the majority of you (unfair to ask those who did pay to accommodate those who didn't). I think we are going to pass on Airtran for this reason. By the time I add in the fees it is more than I would pay if a wait a week and fly AA.

We would fly out of Seatac, about 30 min away. Checked Portland and the prices were a couple dollars higher for the dates we searched (we have some flexibility). We are also concerned with the increase in oil, as we have seen the ticket prices going up over the last few days, along with gas prices here.

We moved from MI to WA in '08 and haven't been back since. It isn't looking good for this summer either at this point.


ETA-FWIW, in the past (haven't looked recently) we could fly Seattle to Hawaii, cheaper than Seattle to Detroit. That just seemed so odd to us.

 

[juliebean]

I checked the prices on the tickets I purchased yesterday for $185 RT - they are now $395...so you just never know with airline tickets. After eight years of cross country flights, my best advice is to be flexible with airport locations and dates and look often. We can usually find tickets for around $200-300, but I haven't had anything close to that for Seattle for this year. For some people a couple of hundred dollars might not matter - but times 5 makes it a yes or no deal for us.

I never have asked anyone to move seats on what has to be 10+ flights on Airtran or SW. We just have always been seated 3/2 or 2/2/1 at worst and they are usually across from each other or two rows together on one side. Perhaps we've just been lucky - I do check in online as early as possible, so perhaps that improves your odds. I do believe when I was flying alone with a 2 month old and 6 year old that it was before they started to charge for seats, so the perhaps that's why calling and requesting seats together worked. Everyone has their priorities - but having that memory of that difficult trip, if a mother with two little kids asked me or my husband or my teenager to switch seats, we would out of compassion for her, money or not.

Hope it works out for you Jen, I know it's difficult to move a way from "home"

 

[Christine9125]

We have never flown AirTran before. BUT, I have a good friend that flies them to Disney every year! We are using AirTran on our trip in September. I booked our tickets via AAA and we got to pick our seats for free! No surcharge for booking with AAA either. If you have AAA, look into it.

I will have to look it to this, I looked on AAA website and it didn't say anything about Airtran.

Called, even though I am a AAA memeber they were going to charge me $120 to book my flight with no free seats.