AirTran with kids - seating?

[PurpleTurtle]

How is AirTran for families sitting together? My kids are 14, 11, 9 & 9. We've only done Southwest and JetBlue before, so I'm concerned about us all sitting together.

 

[bear_mom]

I pay for my seats when booking and I don't have any problems sitting with my family.

I have seen on one of our flights were a family didn't pay for seats and were sitting 2 and 2 (with one being across the isle) and the flight attendants didn't do anything to make people move.

On the other hand, dd and I took a bump for free flights and we were separated in seating and I nicely asked the man sitting next to me - window seat at the back of the plane, if he would mind switching seats (I had asked first if he was travelling with family - he wasn't) with my dd, isle seat near the front of the plane and he agreed. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have made a big fuss over it.

Emily

 

[Shagley]

The only way to guarantee you will be sitting together on Airtran is to pay to reserve your seats. You may get lucky and have most of you sitting 2 and 2, but odds are with as many people as you have in your party, some of you will have to sit alone. You may be able to nicely ask another passenger or two to switch seats so a couple of your kids can sit together, but if you do not pay to reserve seats, the flight attendents usually will not help you to find seats together. Sorry to be so blunt, but that is the way Airtran usually works and why they give you the chance to pay to reserve your seats ahead of time.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

AirTran will not request anyone to move to allow you to sit with your kids (especially considering the ages)

If you think it's very important I would recommend you pay. Getting a block of 6 seats together at 24 hours when you check in is going to be very tough IMHO.

Other people have paid and probably won't want to change. Now if you have "better seat" (like the seat up front on the aisle the earlier poster had) then you might get a trade, but if not.... no go.

 

[ZoeBell]

How is AirTran for families sitting together? My kids are 14, 11, 9 & 9. We've only done Southwest and JetBlue before, so I'm concerned about us all sitting together.

Our on January cruise I paid to pick the seats on our returning flights. The $6 seats. Then when I checked in and paid for my baggage fees I noticed the fees were only $14 instead of $20. AT deducted the $6 I paid for the seats off the baggage fees.

Is that how it always works?

Also on the flight going I didn't prepay for seats. When I went to check in I had my pick of plenty of seats together. If you can check in right at 24 hours you might be ok. But if they deduct the $6 off the luggage fee then why wouldn't you prepay?

 

[pooh4evr]

Does anyone know how this works when you book AirTran flight thru the Southwest site? It says something about getting your seats at the gate? We always fly southwest but this time the AirTran flight times are better (and when booking thru SW, You don't pay bag fees)

 

[n2mm]

We had friends fly AT several years ago. They split the entire family up and the kids, ages 3 and 6 had to sit by themselves. The 3 year old cried throughout the trip. It was the last time they ever flew (that was 5 years ago).

 

[maxiesmom]

We had friends fly AT several years ago. They split the entire family up and the kids, ages 3 and 6 had to sit by themselves. The 3 year old cried throughout the trip. It was the last time they ever flew (that was 5 years ago).

Did they pay for seat assignments? That is the question.

 

[loudisneyfan]

I just flew AirTran two weeks ago with my two ds. I did not reserve my seats when I booked but rather checked in right at the 24 hours before flight and was able to get all our seats together.
I kept checking the website before hand to make sure not too many seats were taken. If the plane had begun to fill up, I would have reserved my seats.

 

[hpriamson]

We had friends fly AT several years ago. They split the entire family up and the kids, ages 3 and 6 had to sit by themselves. The 3 year old cried throughout the trip. It was the last time they ever flew (that was 5 years ago).

This sounds pretty unbelievable. Why wouldn't one of the people sitting next to the crying 3 year old offer to trade with one of the parents? There's no seat on a plane worth that.

 

[loudisneyfan]

Does anyone know how this works when you book AirTran flight thru the Southwest site? It says something about getting your seats at the gate? We always fly southwest but this time the AirTran flight times are better (and when booking thru SW, You don't pay bag fees)

We've just done the same thing, booked Air Tran through the SW site due to better times but still getting the two bags free.
When you check in, you will be given a Zone number. The plane loads by zone number starting at #1.
If you pay the early boarding fee, $12.50, you are in Zone 1. i just check in right at the 24 hours before and usually get in Zone 2 or 3.

 

[Disneylover99]

If you want to sit with your children, pay the $6 per person seat fee.

We always pay our seat fees to sit together. It would bother me if somebody asked me to move knowing I had paid to sit with my family.

I would also not be able to stand a 3 year old being separated from their mom or dad and being left to cry in a different seat. I would definitely volunteer to move if it would help reunite a parent and child. However, I would feel very resentful of those parents who in my opinion were either too cheap or thoughtless to pay the money.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If you want to sit with your children, pay the $6 per person seat fee.

We always pay our seat fees to sit together. It would bother me if somebody asked me to move knowing I had paid to sit with my family.

I would also not be able to stand a 3 year old being separated from their mom or dad and being left to cry in a different seat. I would definitely volunteer to move if it would help reunite a parent and child. However, I would feel very resentful of those parents who in my opinion were either too cheap or thoughtless to pay the money.

I agree. However, I do not believe for one second that people on that flight would rather listen to a three year old cry during an entire flight than switch seats. I think this story didn't happen or was highly exaggerated.

 

[Traveliz]

This sounds pretty unbelievable. Why wouldn't one of the people sitting next to the crying 3 year old offer to trade with one of the parents? There's no seat on a plane worth that.

I have no idea (and I pay for seats and I travel alone) but it could be the 3 year old was seated next to a 35 year old with her 5 year old...so no one there is going to give up their seat.

Liz

 

[tyzzle]

We've just done the same thing, booked Air Tran through the SW site due to better times but still getting the two bags free.
When you check in, you will be given a Zone number. The plane loads by zone number starting at #1.
If you pay the early boarding fee, $12.50, you are in Zone 1. i just check in right at the 24 hours before and usually get in Zone 2 or 3.

But that isn't how it will work if we if you are getting on an airtran plane. If you are getting on on airtran flight that yoy booked through southwest there are no boarding groups. The agent will give you an assigned seat to sit in.

 

[Ima Disnewby]

just to play devil's advocate for a moment here, maybe the parent of the 3 year old didn't know that could/would happen

this will by our first time flying in many years (about 18 for me) and certainly a first for our children. if not for me joining DIS and reading about things like this here, i would NEVER have known it was a possibility that my 8 & 5 yr olds would be seperated from me! call it stupid, call it naive, whatever! the parents just may not have known better.

however, i could never bear to see or hear that poor child crying and so afraid the whole trip. how upsetting

 

[The Lorax]

I have a family of 5, DW and 3 DD's, we have flown Air Tran twice from Portland, Maine to MCO (via Baltimore), in 2009 and in 2012. On both occasions we opted not to pay the seat assignment charge. However as our departure dates closed in I kept very close eye on the available seats for at least 2 or 3 possible seating options for us to sit together - risky I know but unless the flight was getting too full I was willing to play the seat assignment gamble.

On both trips (4 flight segments) we had seats together, either 5 in the same row - or immediately in front/behind one another. Must have been lucky, but I was willing to pay for the seat assignment if seats became scarce when checking available seats online. As always YMMV.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

If the parents of the 3 year old acted the same age as the child, it greatly reduces the number of fliers willing to move. This is one instance where being nice is better


That said I tend not to believe 2nd or 3rd hand horror stories. I did see a child once sob hysterically because while he sat with mom dad was someplace else. Of course he probably would have been fine if mom and dad had not acted like 3 year olds over this 45 minute separation.

 

[letsgoreds]

Definitely watch the flight to see if the pre-booked seats are filling up, if so, pay the fee, if not, grab as many as you can get at 24hrs on the dot.

I don't buy the 3yo by themselves...

Last Jan Delta magically moved and kept 6 of us together on two flights. I had seats, booked waaaay early, but didn't realize that carseats were a nono for the row in front of an exit seat. Quick switcheroo, and they kept all 6 of us together. I have no clue how they did this at the 11th hour on a booked solid flight...but the attendants were rock stars. FAN of Delta!

Never had an issue with Airtran, but I would ALWAYS pay the seat fee if I was traveling with kids that I wouldn't feel comfortable letting sit on their own.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have a family of 5, DW and 3 DD's, we have flown Air Tran twice from Portland, Maine to MCO (via Baltimore), in 2009 and in 2012. On both occasions we opted not to pay the seat assignment charge. However as our departure dates closed in I kept very close eye on the available seats for at least 2 or 3 possible seating options for us to sit together - risky I know but unless the flight was getting too full I was willing to play the seat assignment gamble.

On both trips (4 flight segments) we had seats together, either 5 in the same row - or immediately in front/behind one another. Must have been lucky, but I was willing to pay for the seat assignment if seats became scarce when checking available seats online. As always YMMV.

I think this scenario happens a lot. People don't want to pay the seat fees so they plan to check frequently for seats that are together and then buy them if many are gone. Unfortunately, life gets in the way and you forget and put it off until it is too late. This is what happened to someone I know. Fortunately for them their children were older, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

That is why I always say, if you have young children and you know about the seating policy, then buy your seats!