Annoyed with Airtran

[lovemy3girls]

Airtran changed our flight home which was nonstop MCO-PHL. We now have a layover in ATL and are arriving home 2 hours later than our original flight! I am quite annoyed by this. We are flying with 3 little kids and really don't want a layover- we specifically booked nonstop flights for a reason. On top of that we land after midnight- too late for our kids! Is there any way Airtran will let us pick a different flight without charging us a fee? What are the chances that they will change our flight again? Does this happen often? Hope you experienced air travelers can answer some of my questions- we usually drive to Disney! Thanks!

 

[kileybeth]

annoyed would be an understatement for me. I called Airtran immediately and let them know this would in no way work for us at all. Did you see the layover times? 45 minutes? Have you ever flown out of Atlanta?! ugh. we have 6 people, 2 strollers, etc. and there is no way on a late day flight we could hope to make it for pre-board at all and most probably the way Atlanta runs, not even make our connecting flight!

they are not running the 629 flight anymore mid week is what I was told (or possibly in Sept at all). CSR did offer to switch us to the only other avialable non stops which fly out of MCO at 8am, noon and last non stop is at 3pm. I was so upset with this . We will lose our last day of vacation! I'm debating what to do now, but either way, Airtran is gonna make good or I will raise a fuss and get something comped out of this.

Southwest has $49 flight right now but they do not participate with resort check out and luggage handling which is a biggie for us or I would have switched in a flash. Of course no guarentee they won't change flight times as well. One of guys in DH's office just had a travel nightmare
with southwest involving a land/sea package, lost a whole day and a half of vacation time.

At this point I'm staying with airtran but I'm in no hurry to make up my mind which flight I'll take b/c she also said they would move our flight to accomadate us, even another day?

anyone had this happen on Airtran before? I'm so afraid this will not be last change to Itinerary. It is already effecting two trips (see my sig)

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

:

At this point I'm staying with airtran but I'm in no hurry to make up my mind which flight I'll take b/c she also said they would move our flight to accomadate us, even another day?

I think they should have said will move you anytime as long as there are seats available. Not sure I would be "in no hurry to make up my mind". You just might loose the option to change if the flight is full.

 

[zurgswife]

This is why I fly SW. In all the years they have flown out of Philly I have never had any flights canceled. The only times I have heard of a change of flight times for SW has been due to weather problems which is not something the airlines fault. Other airlines change times all the time as far as I'm able to tell through these boards

 

[tcp0421]

Yes, we are flying from Philyl also. I called Disney and they took care of it for us. We decided to stay a day longer and take a 12:08pm flight home the next day. They did not charge us for the change.

 

[mlclements]

Airtran had changed our flight times and I did not want to leave any earlier from Disney World to come home. I called Airtran and they cancelled our tickets and now I am booked with Southwest. SW has such great flight times for Kansas City. I really wanted to try Airtran, especially now that you can pick your seat ahead of time.

 

[tooh8ful]

I bought our air tickets for our September trip back in April. Since then AirTran has changed our flight times (not flights) 3 times, only by 1 to 11 minutes.
I started worrying about our seats not being together if all the other passengers choose their seats early, and since my DD is 4 she CANNOT sit by herself on a flight. Anyway, I called AirTran yesterday to reserve 3 seats together and while I was on the phone with the agent, who was very nice by the way, I asked about all the time changes. She said they would change me to another available flight that day, or a day before or after, if they had availability, to accomodate my schedule better.

The end result was, at no cost to me, I was able to change our flight home from a flight with a 1 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta to a non stop flight, later in the day and getting home 1 hr 20 min earlier than before!

I have to say, I haven't actually flown AirTran yet but I'm thrilled with their customer service so far.

 

[lovemy3girls]

Well, I just got off the phone with Airtran, and I was able to switch to a morning flight the next day. Could have taken a 3pm nonstop the same day, but would have lost a vacation day because ME would have to pick us up by 12 or 1. Hopefully POR has room for me to add a night to our reservation. I am still annoyed with Airtran, but hey, we get an extra night out of it!

 

[cbrfan]

Congrats on the extra day!! That would have been my choice, too. I'm sending pixie dust your way that POR has your room available for an extra night. If not, I'm sure they'll find something that would be suitable for you. Sometimes the best part of a vacation are the things that weren't planned.

 

[englishteacha]

Airtran cancelled our flight home! I happened to check because someone here mentioned they'd changed schedules around, and sure enough, our flight didn't exist! I called Airtran immediately and was switched to a later flight home than our original flight. So I get more time in Florida at no extra cost to me. The later flight was almost $100 more a person than the one I was originally on, so I'm not complaining too much. I am bothered that they didn't notify us of the change, and I had to check the flights myself. Needless to say, I've been checking the flights weekly since!

 

[dis-happy]

Airtran tip: make sure you register your e-mail address with them. Then you'll get notified of flight changes. HTH.

 

[keishashadow]

Airtran tip: make sure you register your e-mail address with them. Then you'll get notified of flight changes. HTH.

last flight with them, lost count of time changes after 6 or so...not once did i get an email as to change (one was over 8 hours earlier )...yes, i did request a flight credit @ that point & booked fare home w/SW that time.

fyi, i'm flying them both ways trip this week (cheaper than SW lol).

 

[TDC Nala]

I got notified of a flight change for Southwest in October. My flight is now leaving 5 minutes later than before.

When I've flown Airtran they changed flights and flight times a few times, and I never found out about it unless I checked my reservation through their website.

 

[tcp0421]

I got notified of a flight change for Southwest in October. My flight is now leaving 5 minutes later than before.

When I've flown Airtran they changed flights and flight times a few times, and I never found out about it unless I checked my reservation through their website.

Still annoyed here! Ok we got our flight all taken care of, but we had to stay and pay for an extra day at Disney in order to get a flight that was good. At first I was happy becuase we are staying an extra day, but then I felt like I just ben had. DIsney really made out on the deal by this. Am I right to think this way?

 

[cbrfan]

Still annoyed here! Ok we got our flight all taken care of, but we had to stay and pay for an extra day at Disney in order to get a flight that was good. At first I was happy becuase we are staying an extra day, but then I felt like I just ben had. DIsney really made out on the deal by this. Am I right to think this way?

I guess it all depends on your personal preference. Either stay an extra day at Disney AND have a decent flight time. OR leave Disney earlier/later than planned. I wouldn't have to think very long on that one.

 

[tcp0421]

I guess it all depends on your personal preference. Either stay an extra day at Disney AND have a decent flight time. OR leave Disney earlier/later than planned. I wouldn't have to think very long on that one.

Here is our options. I really dont remember the excate times but is around the times. ANyway, our orignal flight was to leave MCO at 8:40 arrive Philly at 10:20. A two hour ride home after the flight get home about 2:00am. They changed our flight to a later flight would not land in Philly until almost 1:00 wont get home until after 4am. I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old who get very grabby when they are tired. Or another flight left MCO at 3pm (which would ruin our whole day) that is too early. We would have to leave our hotel by 11 am or so.

 

[cbrfan]

Here is our options. I really dont remember the excate times but is around the times. ANyway, our orignal flight was to leave MCO at 8:40 arrive Philly at 10:20. A two hour ride home after the flight get home about 2:00am. They changed our flight to a later flight would not land in Philly until almost 1:00 wont get home until after 4am. I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old who get very grabby when they are tired. Or another flight left MCO at 3pm (which would ruin our whole day) that is too early. We would have to leave our hotel by 11 am or so.

That's why I agree with your decision. You can get the full day's use out of your pass and get a good night's sleep before having to travel. Not to mention that with an earlier flight you greatly lessen the chances of having to spend the night in the airport because of mechanical or weather problems.

 

[TDC Nala]

Still annoyed here! Ok we got our flight all taken care of, but we had to stay and pay for an extra day at Disney in order to get a flight that was good. At first I was happy becuase we are staying an extra day, but then I felt like I just ben had. DIsney really made out on the deal by this. Am I right to think this way?

Well, you can see it that way...don't think Disney worked this one out with Airtran though.

I'd be happy to have an extra day at Disney if I could get it. I'm usually pretty closely planned around my work schedule and can't swing that, though.

 

[kileybeth]

yup, I'd like to stay an additional night as well and take the non stop home the following day but coming up with the extra nites money for room is the trick. and convincing DH this is the best plan...

 

[lovemy3girls]

I do feel that it's unfair that we have to shell out another $160.00 for the extra night (plus food). But for us, it's better than losing that entire last vacation day that we had already had planned on having. I am seriously going to think twice about using Airtran next time we fly to Florida, though. By the way, there was availability at POR for that extra night, so we are all set. 14 weeks to go!