AirTran

[DiznyDi]

We fly AirTran 2-3 times a year and have been doing this the past 6 or so years.
Only once has the flight time changed to an unacceptable time, which we corrected by leaving earlier. We fly direct Akron Ohio to MCO. Go to their site and sign up for their frequent flyer program. Like Bobbi said, with 4 flights you get a free business class upgrade. If your booked flight goes down in price after booking, they're real good about applying a credit to your account. But you must call them. This is not something that will happen automatically. Because of flight reductions, our Dec 2011 flights ended up costing us $89. each way plus fees/taxes. IIRC the original booking price was $124. each way.

 

[Starr W.]

We fly AirTran 2-3 times a year and have been doing this the past 6 or so years.
Only once has the flight time changed to an unacceptable time, which we corrected by leaving earlier. We fly direct Akron Ohio to MCO. Go to their site and sign up for their frequent flyer program. Like Bobbi said, with 4 flights you get a free business class upgrade. If your booked flight goes down in price after booking, they're real good about applying a credit to your account. But you must call them. This is not something that will happen automatically. Because of flight reductions, our Dec 2011 flights ended up costing us $89. each way plus fees/taxes. IIRC the original booking price was $124. each way.

We also were AT flyers, usually out of DTW, but for last spring break we drove over to Akron(nice small airport) since it was $200+ pp cheaper than DTW.

We've not had a big problem with AT changing times out of DTW for the direct flights to MCO. We've been flying with them since 2007. We are going to miss the Business class and all the dirty looks and some not so nice comments you get from people flying coach!

 

[dvc_john]

AirTran unfortunately pulled out of my local airport recently. But prior to this, I flew with them most of my trips to Florida. I always had a great experience. Only once did they change my flight to a less convenient time. If they still flew out of my airport, I'd still be booking them.

+1

I assume you used MLI. So did I. So far, they've dropped (or announced dropping) 16 locations, but I guess that might be it.

 

[keishashadow]

We also were AT flyers, usually out of DTW, but for last spring break we drove over to Akron(nice small airport) since it was $200+ pp cheaper than DTW.

We've not had a big problem with AT changing times out of DTW for the direct flights to MCO. We've been flying with them since 2007. We are going to miss the Business class and all the dirty looks and some not so nice comments you get from people flying coach!

i harbor a glimmer of hope they'll keep some form of it

 

[seelyt2]

We flew AirTran twice from Philadelphia to Orlando. Our fares were so low....$113 one-way - a price that can't be beat. The only problem we ran into was the massive line for check-in at the airport. We always pick the earliest flight out and the line was out the door....seriously....o-u-t t-h-e d-o-o-r. There had to be 200+ people in line. They had 4 people working the desk and it took us about 40 minutes to get through. Luckily we arrived an hour and a half early for our flight so we didn't have any problems making our flight, but it was a little nerve-racking. Other than that - no frills - no problems. Staff were friendly and flight was fine. They offer free XM/Sirius music so bring your own ear buds. We're using them this summer for our trip. Enjoy!

 

[AimKo]

We have always used Airtran because the are the cheapest and offer direct flights...the past 3 trips though we have been the victim of changed flights! We booked early am flights and got shoved to late ones for our trip to MCO and early for our departure...really screws up park time, especially on shorter trips.

we are in a smaller market, so the options for nonspot flights are pretty much limited to Airtran here

I have heard recently that Southwest is taking over Airtrans spot at our airport....really looking forward to that change as I've heard much better experiences on Southwest than what we've had with Airtran!

Aim

 

[Dano1182]

Flew Air Tran twice at the time i upgraded to 1 class for about 25 bucks.

First class was more or less a reg seat on most airlines.The plane seats and tight space reminded me of a greyhound bus.That being said the flights were good ontime flight crew were pleasant.just smaller seats than i am used to and NO LEGROOM

 

[ajf1007]

Thanks for posting - we just booked our flight with AirTran (PHL to MCO) for April. I booked thru Kayak and we are flying USAir down and AirTran back and I think we paid @ $238 per person (round-trip). We live much closer to Newark but the tickets are around $500 per person!

Glad I didn't know about flights being switched around before I booked. Philly is a pretty big airport, so I don't think we will have much to worry about. If my flight gets moved for some crazy reason I will try to remember to come back here and post! Fingers crossed for both of us!

I won't lie, I'm a bit nervous!! Especially the more I hear about flights being moved. I booked our flight for 7:25 am thinking, what can go wrong that early in the morning? I guess stuff can still happen. I'll make you a deal, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and you do the same for me. Please let me know how you make out....who knew I'd stress more about the flight than the planning for 10 people!

 

[ajf1007]

We flew AirTran twice from Philadelphia to Orlando. Our fares were so low....$113 one-way - a price that can't be beat. The only problem we ran into was the massive line for check-in at the airport. We always pick the earliest flight out and the line was out the door....seriously....o-u-t t-h-e d-o-o-r. There had to be 200+ people in line. They had 4 people working the desk and it took us about 40 minutes to get through. Luckily we arrived an hour and a half early for our flight so we didn't have any problems making our flight, but it was a little nerve-racking. Other than that - no frills - no problems. Staff were friendly and flight was fine. They offer free XM/Sirius music so bring your own ear buds. We're using them this summer for our trip. Enjoy!

Ok, now you've really got me nervous. We were contemplating going down the night before and getting a hotel across from the airport so we didn't have to get up so early. We live alittle over an hour from PHL so for a 7:25am flight, we'd have to get up and out the by 4:45ish. I think we'll just do the hotel now, plus, it's not like I'm going to really sleep anyway, I'll be too excited.

 

[Anal Annie]

I won't lie, I'm a bit nervous!! Especially the more I hear about flights being moved. I booked our flight for 7:25 am thinking, what can go wrong that early in the morning? I guess stuff can still happen. I'll make you a deal, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and you do the same for me. Please let me know how you make out....who knew I'd stress more about the flight than the planning for 10 people!

We have used AT out of BWI several times. I like them OK as long as their pirce is right. Lately they have been high. I have found that although they DO move flights around the first one of the day they leave alone so you should be good going down! I always book that first one of the day if we're not leaving after work. It's the afternoon ones that tend to get shifted around a bit. AT is not alone in this flight re-arranging stuff though. We're booked on Jet Blue out of Dulles for spring break and they just did the same thing. I purposely booked an 8:00 PM flight so it wouldn't interfere with work or school & they have moved it up twice since I booked it. It is now up to 5:10 PM which we'll make but DH will have to leave work early & it will be tight. It's an hour drive w/o traffic & DS gets home from school at 2:30...parking at Dulles is very expensive & I HAD planned on parking at one of the local hotels that offer a park & fly deal then we could take their shuttle. BUT NOW if we're not there & checked for the parking in by 3:30 we'll have to wait for their 4:00 shuttle. By the time the shuttle gets us to the airport it could be 4:15 or 4:20 which gives us less than an hour. I never trust security lines when we fly and prefer to allow 90 minutes so now I think we'll have to park at the airport & it will cost us twice a much to park. ANYWAY, any airline could change your flight. You never know who's gonna mess with ya. But relax about that first flight out - you'll be fine on that one.

 

[DonnaL]

Have used AT many times from Allentown, PA (ABE) to MCO.....excellent prices, great smaller airport, never had a problem with major flight time changes..... at the most five or ten minutes a few times. Unfortunately, ABE is one of the airports AT is pulling out of mid August........so, I guess it's back to making the 2 hour drive to PHL for either AT or SWA (which we have also flown from PHL many times) or pay extremely high prices to fly from AVP (which is practically in our backyard) AND have it take us 8 to 10 hours to get there.....since there are no nonstop flights from AVP to anywhere!

 

[Chellymouse]

We fly Airtran out of Akron, OH to Orlando since we moved here in 2010. The planes are okay. We're hoping that changes with the merge with Southwest. They are much cheaper and less of a hassle than flying out of Cleveland. It's great - gets us to Orlando in under 2 hours, and it's more reasonable!
The only problem I had once was going to DesMoines - the plane was late, and I would have never made the connection. So far no major problems with Orlando.
I've had friends fly Airtran out of Allentown - they loved it - less of a hassle than Newark, and half the price. They had a late afternoon flight with no problems. On the way home they were early.
As for bags, I only take a carryon suitcase - I've learned to travel light. So I don't pay for bags.
You got a great price...book it!

Howdy neighbor!! We also fly from Akron-Canton on Airtran (Cleveland is really getting to be a pain) and rarely have we had a problem. Airtran does have a tendency to change it's flight schedule like its socks, however, it has been better lately. The planes are very no frills, however, we know that and we pack our own snacks and our DVD player and we're off. Atlanta is really the villian word and it you can avoid a layover, do it. We usually double pack our suitcases (that is the 2 medium size ones go in the 2 big ones) so we only pay for 2 on the way down and depending on how much "lettuce" we feed to the "mouse" is if we have 3 or 4 on the way back. It does save us some $$.

 

[seelyt2]

DonnaL....I live 10 minutes from AVP. I feel your pain! We've been flying from Philly lately because we can't stand it taking all day to get to Orlando. we haven't had problems with flight changes on AirTran, but we have on US Air.

 

[mjlass11]

I've flown from Milwaukee to Orlando over 10 times, direct as well as connecting through Atlanta, and have never had a problem. They have changed flight times a little, but never anything that has made us change our plans or miss connecting flights. We always upgrade (then can check 2 bags) if available.

 

[JimMIA]

AirTran is the new name for Valuejet.

Small airline, and therefore much less ability to accommodate equipment or crew issues -- so you'd expect the kinds of flight reschedulings some have mentioned.

On the bright side, they probably fly to some small markets not served by major airlines. Depending on the distance from where you live to a major airport, that may be a big plus.

 

[ajf1007]

We have used AT out of BWI several times. I like them OK as long as their pirce is right. Lately they have been high. I have found that although they DO move flights around the first one of the day they leave alone so you should be good going down! I always book that first one of the day if we're not leaving after work. It's the afternoon ones that tend to get shifted around a bit. AT is not alone in this flight re-arranging stuff though. We're booked on Jet Blue out of Dulles for spring break and they just did the same thing. I purposely booked an 8:00 PM flight so it wouldn't interfere with work or school & they have moved it up twice since I booked it. It is now up to 5:10 PM which we'll make but DH will have to leave work early & it will be tight. It's an hour drive w/o traffic & DS gets home from school at 2:30...parking at Dulles is very expensive & I HAD planned on parking at one of the local hotels that offer a park & fly deal then we could take their shuttle. BUT NOW if we're not there & checked for the parking in by 3:30 we'll have to wait for their 4:00 shuttle. By the time the shuttle gets us to the airport it could be 4:15 or 4:20 which gives us less than an hour. I never trust security lines when we fly and prefer to allow 90 minutes so now I think we'll have to park at the airport & it will cost us twice a much to park. ANYWAY, any airline could change your flight. You never know who's gonna mess with ya. But relax about that first flight out - you'll be fine on that one.

I think I did pretty good $$ wise, it was $225 round trip when I was looking at others that were $375 and up. I'd really rather not drive either, but that was were we were headed I think. But you are so right, flight changes happen every where so I have to keep that in perspective. I am with you on the 90 min prior, I'd rather sit for 2 hours at a gate then spend it frantically driving to the airport or sweating it out in line. I think we're the 2nd or 3rd flight out that morning, there were 6am flights but they weren't non-stop, the 7:25 was the first non-stop but I still think that early, my chances are slimmer for changes/delays. NOW - your flight sounds stressful and expensive. Wow, I'm going to be keeping my fingers crossed for you, I think until your at the gate and boarding, you'll be holding your breath! Thanks for making me feel better though

 

[bmalonef45]

We too have flown Airtran almost exclusively to MCO for the last 5 years. We live in a small market and they have helped get the costs down. I would say that in the 20 or more flights I've had with AT we've only had one problem and it was weather related. I think the fact that we're in a small market helps with keeping the flights from changing times. In Oct. we flew AT to MCO at 150.00 RT. It seems since then the prices have gone way up, almost double.

Southwest will be continuing service in our market (just announced) so I'm very interested to see how things change. I can't wait to get the bag fee waived and see if they offer non stop routes again. Staying away from ATL is so nice if we can.

Good luck. Hopefully you'll have a smooth trip and be happy AT customers like we are.

 

[smjj]

We usually fly Airtran. They have have more direct flights from Indy to MCO and we can always find a flight that suits our needs both down and back. The baggage issue was a concern this last trip so we tried SW. This one time they(SW) had a direct flight that fit our needs so we booked it. About a month after we booked it we found a Airtran flight that was cheaper and better even paying for our luggage than the SW flight. By then it was to late to change so we stuck with SW. SW was OK but they need to make up for the no baggage claim and they do it with higher fares. Our next flight we will again shop around but as in the past, Airtran will probably beat SW both in price and convenience. I think from Indy at least this is due to Airtran offering 9 to 10 flights to MCO a day and SW offers about 2 or 3. Hopefully with SW buying Airtran this will not change this.....smjj

 

[Kuzco]

+1

I assume you used MLI. So did I. So far, they've dropped (or announced dropping) 16 locations, but I guess that might be it.

MLI is correct. Losing those direct flights really hurt.

 

[Kidanifan08]

They have have more direct flights from Indy to MCO and we can always find a flight that suits our needs both down and back. . . I think from Indy at least this is due to Airtran offering 9 to 10 flights to MCO a day and SW offers about 2 or 3. Hopefully with SW buying Airtran this will not change this.....smjj

I agree with you! We love that 7AM Airtran flight that gets to MCO @ 9:15! Although, getting to MCO at 5AM is a bit of a challenge.

When first reading about the SWA acquisition of Airtran, I think I read that the airline would adopt most of the SWA processes: open seating, free luggage, no business class. I can live with that as long as they keep multiple direct flights from Indy. I do worry that without the competition from Airtran, SWA prices will go up after the merger is completed We need another discount airline from IND to give them some competition.