Airtran?

[BOTL76]

Hi Disney Fans,

Wanted to know if anyone is familiar with Airtran, especially out of Buffalo? We flew with them years ago and remember reading that southwest bought them out over a year ago. Saw that Airtran is still taking flights, does anyone know if this is just the nature of the take-over by Southwest, that they keep using the airtran namesake?

Just curious beyond all else, any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[pumpkinboy]

AirTran is owned by SouthWest now, but continues to operate as it did prior to the merger. SouthWest is gradually converting some AirTran cities over to SouthWest cities, and I for one am quite happy about that. I will gladly trade assigned seats for free checked luggage - and when more people check their luggage, there is more room in the overhead bins. I think they are keeping the AirTran brand for the international routes and maybe for a few others. I think they are figuring it out too. They seem to be increasingly integrated though.

Good luck with the transition. Whichever airline gets you there, AirTran or SouthWest are both still good airlines; I have reservations booked on both at the moment (SW in Dec and AT in Feb). Whichever you end up with should be fine.

 

[Spunky946]

We flew Airtran from Pittsburgh last year and this year we are flying Southwest one way and Airtran the other because of better times. The only difference there seems to be the ability to transfer over points and certficates.

 

[Jenny3]

We flew AirTran last year and are using them again for this trip. No complaints on my end, the rates were low, the plane was clean and the flights were on time (if not a bit early)

We did pay the $6 pp for our seats; well worth it IMO if you want to be sure you are sitting with your family.

I also liked that when the rates went down, we received a credit that we were able to use towards our seats or luggage.

Hoping for another smooth flight this November!

 

[karly05]

I haven't flown AirTran... yet. But I've been reading up on them a lot lately, as I'm leaning toward flying them for my trip next February. (I don't have Southwest... yet.)

Here's the situation as I understand it: Southwest now owns AirTran and is slowly absorbing them, city by city, with AirTran service being replaced by Southwest. It's a long, ongoing process, but I believe that eventually there will be no more AirTran, just Southwest.

In some cities, AirTran has ceased flying and has NOT been replaced by SW. In some cities, AirTran service has already transitioned over to SW. And in some cities, AirTran is still flying until SW either replaces them or ends their service entirely.

I found a news article just today that announced 4 more cities transitioning to SW in April. Here's a quote from the Dallas Morning News:

"AirTran will end service on April 13 in Charlotte, N.C.; Flint, Mich.; Portland, Maine; and Rochester, N.Y. Southwest will began service in those cities the next day. Southwest plans to release a new flight schedules on Monday."

I don't know what the plan is for Buffalo, but that's a general idea of what's going on.

 

[DebbieB]

It's supposed to be complete sometime in 2014. They are selling AirTrans 717's to Delta so the combined airline will still be all 737.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/...inds-taker-for-airtran-717s-in-delta/699512/1