Airtran seating

[skiwee1]

We are booked on Airtran next week and wanted to know if there is anyway to find out the type of plane you are flying on ahead of time. I've read other posters "see" the type of plane on their confirmations. Mine say nothing about that. I know we can choose our seats online 24 hours before the flight and I guess will at least see it at that time? I'm just curious about the configuration. Also will my seats be guaranteed after choosing them or should I plan on getting to the airport hours ahead of time? Thanks!

 

[erikthewise]

If you're flying Airtran, you're flying a Boeing 717; AFAIK that's currently the only aircraft in their fleet. Their website is just chock full of information about it; they're very proud to fly it! It has 105 coach seats in a 3-2 seating configuration, and 12 Business Class seats in 2-2 configuration..

 

[skiwee1]

Thanks Erik. I also see on their website that they use DC-9s too. I was hoping to figure out if we would be stuck on one of those instead of the 717s. Hopefully they are far and few between!

 

[erikthewise]

You are right -- I had missed the DC-9. I believe they are in the process of phasing them out. They recently placed a big order with Boeing for more 717's and also some 737-800s if I remember correctly.

 

[smart cookie]

The DC-9's will be all gone in 2 months.

They will begin adding new 737's (larger planes with longer range) next summer for some of the longer and or more popular routes.

 

[Niagara2]

We just flew Airtran last week - 4 segments. The planes are clean and the flight crew very professional. The 24 hour check In was fun to do with the kids as they got a choice. It works great. My only complaint, and my DH....the seats are very, very uncomfortable. The leg room is terrible. My knees were up agaist the seat in front of me and my poor DH was crushed in it seemed. Then the guy in front put his seat back, UGH! The actually seats were pretty flimsy and lumpy. They need to take a row or two of seats out to give more legroom! Southwest and Jetblue are much more comfortable. Our backs hurt after these flights and we don't have back problems.

 

[NCRedding]

We just got off Airtran. They also use CRJ for some of their flights. We tried to confirm online less than 24 hours prior, but we're not able to confirm and print out passes--but when we got to the airport the next day, we were assigned the same seats as I had picked online. Coming back, for the last leg of the trip on a CRJ, we were not assigned seats together. But, due to weather and mechanical problems, we missed the flight on the CRJ, and were rebooked on a DC9. I liked Airtran. We were an hour late flying out of Orlando because of maintenance issues, but they kept us informed every step of the way. When we got to Atlanta, they had personnel waiting at the gate with our boarding passes, meal vouchers and a coupon for a flight certificate (to earn flights on Airtran) for each of us. We were treated so much better by Airtran than American (we missed our flight fromDFW because AA waited 2 hours deciding they needed a new plane--they did put us up in a hotel overnight, but didn't give us meal vouchers, or toiletries, and we had to call to get our new flight info). I would consider Airtran again--I just wish they didn't have to go thru Atlanta.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by smart cookie
The DC-9's will be all gone in 2 months.

They will begin adding new 737's (larger planes with longer range) next summer for some of the longer and or more popular routes.

We are going in 5 days but hopefully those DC9s are somewhere else! Thanks!

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by Niagara2
We just flew Airtran last week - 4 segments. The planes are clean and the flight crew very professional. The 24 hour check In was fun to do with the kids as they got a choice. It works great. My only complaint, and my DH....the seats are very, very uncomfortable. The leg room is terrible. My knees were up agaist the seat in front of me and my poor DH was crushed in it seemed. Then the guy in front put his seat back, UGH! The actually seats were pretty flimsy and lumpy. They need to take a row or two of seats out to give more legroom! Southwest and Jetblue are much more comfortable. Our backs hurt after these flights and we don't have back problems.

All for of us are fairly short. Okay, really short! LOL! Since we are only going on a two hour flight I'm sure we can handle it. DH and DS flew Airtran last year. I got a great web deal of $125 R/T each for them on non stop flights. They are both tall so when they got to the gate they upgraded for $35 each to business. Not a bad deal and they had no complaints which is unusual as DS complaings about everything!

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by NCRedding
We just got off Airtran. They also use CRJ for some of their flights. We tried to confirm online less than 24 hours prior, but we're not able to confirm and print out passes--but when we got to the airport the next day, we were assigned the same seats as I had picked online. Coming back, for the last leg of the trip on a CRJ, we were not assigned seats together. But, due to weather and mechanical problems, we missed the flight on the CRJ, and were rebooked on a DC9. I liked Airtran. We were an hour late flying out of Orlando because of maintenance issues, but they kept us informed every step of the way. When we got to Atlanta, they had personnel waiting at the gate with our boarding passes, meal vouchers and a coupon for a flight certificate (to earn flights on Airtran) for each of us. We were treated so much better by Airtran than American (we missed our flight fromDFW because AA waited 2 hours deciding they needed a new plane--they did put us up in a hotel overnight, but didn't give us meal vouchers, or toiletries, and we had to call to get our new flight info). I would consider Airtran again--I just wish they didn't have to go thru Atlanta.

Wow! They treated you very well! When I fly I always pick non stop flights to avoid having layovers. The flight I'm on is one of only two that are non stop. The others do stop in Atlanta. I'm glad I'm avoiding that as I've heard horror stories about the Atlanta airport.