airtran seat question

[kid-at-heart]

For those of you who fly Airtran and do not pre-purchase your seat assignment, if you travel with another person, do you normally receive seats next to one another?

Many thanks,
Kate

 

[dudspizza]

For those of you who fly Airtran and do not pre-purchase your seat assignment, if you travel with another person, do you normally receive seats next to one another?

Many thanks,
Kate

It would depend on when you check in online and how full the flight is. I will say that it is imperative you sit with your party, pay for the seats. I amazes me the people who refuse to pay $6 for a seat and then complain when they get split up.. not intended at OP, just a general observation.

Duds

 

[kid-at-heart]

It would depend on when you check in online and how full the flight is. I will say that it is imperative you sit with your party, pay for the seats. I amazes me the people who refuse to pay $6 for a seat and then complain when they get split up.. not intended at OP, just a general observation.

Duds

Thanks, dudspizza, your comment was not taken personally. We normally do pay for our seats, however, this time around our young daughter is an "old" 13 years of age and is quite comfortable sitting with strangers so - not so important to sit next to one another. It would be nice to sit next to one another but not overly important. I am just wondering what others had experienced in this type of situation.

 

[dudspizza]

Thanks, dudspizza, your comment was not taken personally. We normally do pay for our seats, however, this time around our young daughter is an "old" 13 years of age and is quite comfortable sitting with strangers so - not so important to sit next to one another. It would be nice to sit next to one another but not overly important. I am just wondering what others had experienced in this type of situation.

In your situation, I would have no problem taking my chances at the 24 hour check in... heck, you could make it an experiment and report back the results here!

 

[kid-at-heart]

In your situation, I would have no problem taking my chances at the 24 hour check in... heck, you could make it an experiment and report back the results here!

Oh, so you want me to be the guinea pig.

OK, I think I will. At age 13 my daughter is quite happy pretending she is NOT with her parents when we go places and will be content sitting anywhere, with or without me.

 

[tkldisney]

Will be awaiting for the results...

 

[singleinthe city]

Past performance is no indication of the future. As long as you are comfortable allowing her to sit alone, then save the money and have a Mickey Bar with all the money you save. (2 people * $6 * 2 flights = $24)

 

[TDC Nala]

If you don't want to pay for the seats, then get online at 24 hours out and then you can select seats next to each other. If you can't get online, you can do this at the airport if they have the seats available.

 

[kid-at-heart]

If you don't want to pay for the seats, then get online at 24 hours out and then you can select seats next to each other. If you can't get online, you can do this at the airport if they have the seats available.

Thank you. We have always paid for our seats so I did not know the 24 hour selection was available.

 

[singleinthe city]

Thank you. We have always paid for our seats so I did not know the 24 hour selection was available.

There is no guarantee that at T-24hr that any pairs of seats will be available. You may only have random single seats to leftover.

 

[Amstar]

This is new to me. I book our trip for August back in January with Airtran. This will be the first time my step-daughter (8) and my daughter (3) will be flying.

We are leaving at 7am on a sunday morning (non-stop flight) and when we return its a 9pm Saturday night flight (non-stop)

I am re-thinking that I might need to buy the upgrade to get the seats together for us.

I guess I just didnt see them splitting up a family with 2 younger children?? Would they?

 

[dudspizza]

This is new to me. I book our trip for August back in January with Airtran. This will be the first time my step-daughter (8) and my daughter (3) will be flying.

We are leaving at 7am on a sunday morning (non-stop flight) and when we return its a 9pm Saturday night flight (non-stop)

I am re-thinking that I might need to buy the upgrade to get the seats together for us.

I guess I just didnt see them splitting up a family with 2 younger children?? Would they?

If that is all that is available,then yes, they would split you up. Imagine everyone else on the plane paid for their seat assignments and you chose not to. Is it really fair to ask those passengers to move so you can sit with your children? Every person has a reason for paying for a certain seat. I want to sit with my family and my kids are 11 and 14. We traveled with another family of 5, so 9 of us total. Sitting together is part of the adventure and we gladly paid $6 each for seats in the back of the plane.

You are not paying for an "upgrade".... you are paying for your seat assignment. If sitting together is important, and it sounds like it is, then you should pay the fee. You can still do so by logging on to www.airtran.com

Simply click on "find itinerary", enter your 6 number/letter code and other info and it will give you the option to purchase seat assignments. Look at the cost as part of the overall ticket and don't look back.....

You'll have much more piece of mind knowing you are sitting together.

Duds

 

[TDC Nala]

I guess I just didnt see them splitting up a family with 2 younger children?? Would they?

Yes, they might. Buy the seats if you must sit together.

 

[singleinthe city]

I guess I just didnt see them splitting up a family with 2 younger children?? Would they?

They can and they will if there are no seats together. Just a bit of food for thought. How in the heck is the airline to know you have 2 kids. There isn't a place on the webpage to enter age, so how would they know you are a "family" and not just 3 relatives traveling together. As others have said, don't expect others who have paid for advanced seating to rearrange to seat your family.

 

[aubriee]

This is new to me. I book our trip for August back in January with Airtran. This will be the first time my step-daughter (8) and my daughter (3) will be flying.

We are leaving at 7am on a sunday morning (non-stop flight) and when we return its a 9pm Saturday night flight (non-stop)

I am re-thinking that I might need to buy the upgrade to get the seats together for us.

I guess I just didnt see them splitting up a family with 2 younger children?? Would they?

They most definitely will. I've seen it on every single flight I've been on this year. While waiting to board, it's interesting to sit close to the desk and listen to all the parents having a hissy fit, because even though they didn't pay for their seats, they expect Air Tran to move people who did, just to accomodate them. The conversation is nearly always the same, "well no we didn't pay for our seats. We didn't think we needed to. We didn't dream you guys would seperate us from our kids. You're going to have to move someone." The answer is always the same, "We didn't seperate you from your kids. You had the option but chose not to pay for seats together. There is nothing we can do". Then when those parents get on the plane you hear them asking others to move. If you do a search here on the DIS you will find lots of discussions on this subject. Flights to Orlando are always full of families all of whom want to sit together. Couples want to sit together and even solos often have a reason to choose the seats that they do. Alot of my trips are solo, but for personal reasons I do not sit in the back of the plane, nor do I do middle or window seats. Thus I pay for the aisle seat close to the front of the plane that I need, as do alot of other people. Those $15.00 seats are more expensive than the $6.00 seats in the back of the plane. It is not fair to expect those of us who paid for our seats (no matter what we paid for them) to give them up for some family who refused to do so. For our trip in May I paid an extra $60.00 for seats for me and my husband ($15.00/person/each way). Sorry, I'm not giving those seats up for no one. Others who pay for their seats feel the same way. Every Air Tran flight I've been on this year has been oversold. I'm making sure I have a seat on that flight and that it's in a location I want. I don't mean to be harsh, but if you need to sit with your family, then pay for the seats you want and don't expect others to accomodate you if you choose not to.

 

[aubriee]

Every person has a reason for paying for a certain seat. I want to sit with my family and my kids are 11 and 14. We traveled with another family of 5, so 9 of us total. Sitting together is part of the adventure and we gladly paid $6 each for seats in the back of the plane.

You are not paying for an "upgrade".... you are paying for your seat assignment. If sitting together is important, and it sounds like it is, then you should pay the fee.

Duds

I agree! Air Tran has cheap fares and one of the reason is that they piecemeal their prices. Basically you can pay for the services you use. If I wanted to do carry on only and if I didn't care where I sat, then my fare would be $80.00 cheaper than what we are now paying. However, we choose to check one bag so I pay $20.00 fee to do so. I also choose to sit in an aisle seat close to the front of the plane and I want to sit next to my husband so I pay $60.00 seat fees to do so ($15.00/person/each way). There is a good chance that the person next to me paid less than we did because he chose not to check a bag and didn't care if he sat next to his family or not. Therefore he got a cheaper price. When looking at the price of airfare I don't mind paying for what's important to me, so I just add in the price of a checked bag and paying for my preferred seat as part of the price. I then compare that price to any other airline I'm comparing it to. Even with the seat fees and luggage fees Air Tran is still nearly always cheaper than other airlines that fly out of my airport, so I pay the fees for the services that I want to use and for me that is luggage fees for one checked bag and the ability to choose an aisle seat, close to the front of the plane in what I know is boarding zone 1.

 

[dudspizza]

I agree! Air Tran has cheap fares and one of the reason is that they piecemeal their prices. Basically you can pay for the services you use. If I wanted to do carry on only and if I didn't care where I sat, then my fare would be $80.00 cheaper than what we are now paying. However, we choose to check one bag so I pay $20.00 fee to do so. I also choose to sit in an aisle seat close to the front of the plane and I want to sit next to my husband so I pay $60.00 seat fees to do so ($15.00/person/each way). There is a good chance that the person next to me paid less than we did because he chose not to check a bag and didn't care if he sat next to his family or not. Therefore he got a cheaper price. When looking at the price of airfare I don't mind paying for what's important to me, so I just add in the price of a checked bag and paying for my preferred seat as part of the price. I then compare that price to any other airline I'm comparing it to. Even with the seat fees and luggage fees Air Tran is still nearly always cheaper than other airlines that fly out of my airport, so I pay the fees for the services that I want to use and for me that is luggage fees for one checked bag and the ability to choose an aisle seat, close to the front of the plane in what I know is boarding zone 1.

I think that is one of the things families don't do (include fees in the total airfare)...... they look at airfares only and then complain that they have to pay fees for seats and baggage.

My last trip Airtran was HUNDREDS cheaper than the next closest airfare. Add in seat and baggage fees and they were still cheaper!

Price out some of the legacy carriers. They charge $500r/t to MCO from MSP, while I paid about $282pp including all seat and baggage fees. It pays to figure it all out. Also keep in mind, those same legacy carriers also charge for baggage!

The problem with many people traveling in America is that they want the cheapest possible flights, which is ok, but then they complain when they have to pay for service........ ask any business traveler what they pay for their flights and most leisure travelers would shut up in a hurry!

 

[networktek]

every time we fly with airtan and dont pre pay our seats me and wife never sit together so we always pre pay our seats