Airtran time change and cancellation question

[pigletto]

I got an email from Airtran that our flight time on the return leg of our trip has changed by several hours. The time no longer works for us and it was the only direct flight of the day.

My question is.. if I wanted to cancel because of this time change will they refund the full roundtrip fare that I booked? Or do they just refund the leg of the flight they changed (in this case the return)?

It's changed all over the place, the return flight no longer works for us, and I found flights out of another airport that I would prefer. So I am hoping they will refund it all together. OR barring that I would rather stay with Airtran and book out of the other city so that I can get direct flights again.

Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks

 

[aubriee]

Air Tran has probably the best customer service around. They will work with you. If those times don't work for you they will gladly refund your entire fare, move you to another flight that does work for you, move you to a flight on a different day, or even allow you to fly with them out of another airport, without charging you a thing.

This past Oct 9th-17th my husband and I was going down to WDW. We didn't realize that first weekend fell on my husband's weekend to be on call. My husband's boss decided to be a horse's tail and refused to let him switch weekends with a coworker, who had agreed to cover for him. We decided that I'd go ahead and fly down on Saturday and my husband would fly out on the first flight on Monday morning. A few weeks after we bought our airline tickets my husband's boss, came back to laugh and say he'd just been joking. Knowing how flexible Air Tran is and that if they change you flight by even a few minutes you can either cancel or even move your flight to another day, I waited hoping that Air Tran would change one of his flights. They moved my departing flight up by 30 minutes, but didn't touch his. His return flight they finally changed by like 2 minutes. I waited until just a few weeks prior to the trip before I finally gave up. I called, expecting to pay out the nose. I expected to pay the change fee, plus the difference in fare. I got a very nice customer rep and when I explained the situation and asked how much it would cost to get him on my flight, I laughed and said if it was too much, he'd just have to fly out by himself on Monday. The rep laughed and said no we needed to be together, so let him see what he could do. After putting me on hold he came back and told my my husband's return flight had changed by a couple of minutes, but not his departing flight, which didn't help us. I told him I knew that and just wanted to know what it would cost to get him off the Monday flight and onto my Saturday flight. He said he was going to see what he could do for me and again put me on hold. After several minutes he came back laughing and said he'd performed some magic and had not only moved my husband to my flight, but had put him in the window seat, next to my aisle seat, and it was done as a courtesy move, so wouldn't cost me anything. (We had prepaid for each of our seats when we booked our respective flights).

Last Dec they changed my nonstop flight to one with a long layover in Atlanta. I called and while there was no longer any direct flights, they offered to either refund my complete fare, switch to a direct nonstop flight the day before or the day after, or move me to a different flight. I took the earlier flight with a shorter layover, but it was my choice. I could have flown out the day before on a nonstop flight.

Anyway, give them a call. You probably won't have any trouble having them just move you to a flight out of the other airport. It won't even matter if that flight is more expensive. I know my flight had gone up significantly since we'd booked our flights, but we didn't get charged the difference and I've read several posts on here where people have had to change flights, even days or airports and didn't get charged the price difference. If Air Tran makes a time change of even a few minutes they will bend over backwards to accommodate you.

 

[pigletto]

Air Tran has probably the best customer service around. They will work with you. If those times don't work for you they will gladly refund your entire fare, move you to another flight that does work for you, move you to a flight on a different day, or even allow you to fly with them out of another airport, without charging you a thing.

This past Oct 9th-17th my husband and I was going down to WDW. We didn't realize that first weekend fell on my husband's weekend to be on call. My husband's boss decided to be a horse's tail and refused to let him switch weekends with a coworker, who had agreed to cover for him. We decided that I'd go ahead and fly down on Saturday and my husband would fly out on the first flight on Monday morning. A few weeks after we bought our airline tickets my husband's boss, came back to laugh and say he'd just been joking. Knowing how flexible Air Tran is and that if they change you flight by even a few minutes you can either cancel or even move your flight to another day, I waited hoping that Air Tran would change one of his flights. They moved my departing flight up by 30 minutes, but didn't touch his. His return flight they finally changed by like 2 minutes. I waited until just a few weeks prior to the trip before I finally gave up. I called, expecting to pay out the nose. I expected to pay the change fee, plus the difference in fare. I got a very nice customer rep and when I explained the situation and asked how much it would cost to get him on my flight, I laughed and said if it was too much, he'd just have to fly out by himself on Monday. The rep laughed and said no we needed to be together, so let him see what he could do. After putting me on hold he came back and told my my husband's return flight had changed by a couple of minutes, but not his departing flight, which didn't help us. I told him I knew that and just wanted to know what it would cost to get him off the Monday flight and onto my Saturday flight. He said he was going to see what he could do for me and again put me on hold. After several minutes he came back laughing and said he'd performed some magic and had not only moved my husband to my flight, but had put him in the window seat, next to my aisle seat, and it was done as a courtesy move, so wouldn't cost me anything. (We had prepaid for each of our seats when we booked our respective flights).

Last Dec they changed my nonstop flight to one with a long layover in Atlanta. I called and while there was no longer any direct flights, they offered to either refund my complete fare, switch to a direct nonstop flight the day before or the day after, or move me to a different flight. I took the earlier flight with a shorter layover, but it was my choice. I could have flown out the day before on a nonstop flight.

Anyway, give them a call. You probably won't have any trouble having them just move you to a flight out of the other airport. It won't even matter if that flight is more expensive. I know my flight had gone up significantly since we'd booked our flights, but we didn't get charged the difference and I've read several posts on here where people have had to change flights, even days or airports and didn't get charged the price difference. If Air Tran makes a time change of even a few minutes they will bend over backwards to accommodate you.

What a wonderful detailed post! Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I was anticipating a nightmare. Your post made me realize I should just call and see what they offer before I anticipate trouble changing things. If we can't move it ..well then we can't and I'm not going to cause a fuss. But I can at least call and try and be polite and see if there is some way to work it all out. Thanks

 

[pigletto]

Just wanted to post an update. I spoke to Airtran and they were extremely helpful. I was able to change airports to get us home in time and switch to more expensive non stop flights for absolutely no fee change.

I am truly impressed with their customer service

 

[TaraPA]

Thank you for the update. There are many of us who will be sad to see Airtran go when they merge with Southwest! I'm hoping all the red tape takes a LONG time LOL!

 

[aubriee]

Just wanted to post an update. I spoke to Airtran and they were extremely helpful. I was able to change airports to get us home in time and switch to more expensive non stop flights for absolutely no fee change.

I am truly impressed with their customer service

Glad everything worked out for you! They have the best customer service.

Thank you for the update. There are many of us who will be sad to see Airtran go when they merge with Southwest! I'm hoping all the red tape takes a LONG time LOL!

Same here! Unfortunately the Southwest takeover is already affecting us here in the Dallas area. The last Air Tran flight out of DFW is Nov 21st. I need flights for Nov 26th and Dec 4th. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. Southwest has always been alot higher than other airlines here and without Air Tran for competition, American Airlines can now charge whatever they want.

 

[smj2610]

I agree Airtran is the best....I recently got notification that my return flight on 7/3 had gone from a non stop coming in around 1:30 pm had been changed to one with a long layover in atlanta not getting in until almost 6 pm, this would not work for us as my fiancee has to be at work by 8 pm...I called Airtran we ended up having to come back on the last non stop flight on 7/2, since we were going to be losing our part of our last day at the parks, airtran refunded us 75.00 per ticket...this saved us 375.00 for a party of 5, luckily it was far enough in advace I was able to get a refund on the last night of our hotel stay too.

 

[pigletto]

One thing I didn't mention is that when we bought these flights they cost us just over 800 for the 4 of us so we were thrilled (and that was with seat selection). One thing I was scared of was that I couldn't find anything remotely close to those prices now and it was going to completely destroy the budget to move them around.
She told me that I could have a refund but she would be happy to see what she could change me to since it was Airtran who had changed my flights.

The new flights I am on are currently priced at 2300.00 for the four of us

That is more than we paid for 13 days of hotel reservations!!! And I was able to move without any charges. That's a difference of almost 1500.00 that they did not charge me for due to it being their flight change.

I was very very impressed and told her so

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I was able to change airports to get us home in time and switch to more expensive non stop flights for absolutely no fee change.

That is what should have happened. When your flight time changes by hours, you can reschedule with no change fee.

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I love to fly Airtran, but their customer service does not seem to include lost baggage. They sent our bag to San Francisco when we went to WDW last December and they did not seem to care at all. Took two full days to get it straightened out with bell services from POFQ and DH doing all of the work to get it resolved. They put the wrong baggage tag on at the airport, so it was their fault completely. And, because they had changed our flight departure time without notifying anyone, the agents were trying frantically to get everyone in line for that flight through and on their way. We didn't have time to check our baggage claim or anything else. Happily, our resort spread their Disney magic and compt our room with $100 to buy necessities. Now THAT'S great customer service!

Still, we do love Airtran and we are hoping the merger doesn't change our ability to fly with them. Southwest doesn't fly out of Akron, but Airtran does. I'm glad they are so accommodating when it comes to changing tickets after they make a change. Good to know!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just adding that I agree fully, AT customer service is great!!!