ANyone else notice Airtran flights have disappeared for March?

[TaraPA]

I have 2 trips to WDW in March so I've been watching Airtran like a hawk. Airtran is the only airline to offer non-stop service to MCO from my home aiport, so I've been using them pretty much exclusively for the last few years.

Up until Sunday, our airport was offering 2 flights every day to MCO. Then I noticed some days of the week the pm flight was gone - I thought maybe they were sold out (Spring Break maybe?). Now today every single day is reduced to 1 flight in the am. And the price is HUGE for the am flight. Most are $245 one way - argh!

I'm getting nervous about the Southwest/Airtran merge & wondering if this has anything to do with it. Southwest does not fly from my home airport, so I'm worried that they will pull Airtran out as well.

Thankfully I saw what was happening with all the pm fiights disappearing, so I went ahead & booked my first March trip - $137 going down & $87 coming home. Ugh. I've never paid more than $69 for each leg of an Airtran flight so I was just about sick as I hit "purchase ticket!" That 1st leg is now up to $176 so I got it in the nick of time. Now the flights I wanted for the second March trip are gone, and if I choose a different flight it's $245 each way. With 3 of us flying, that may be a deal breaker for taking the trip at all. We could fly another carrier with a layover (and 6-8 hour travel time vs. 2 hours non-stop on AT) but even those fares are $350+ each. In past years AT rates were up & down & all over and it paid to wait to book, but in 2011 they only went up, up and up.

Ok vent over, just curious if anyone else had flights disappearing or being reduced from your airport on AT.

 

[Badger Brent]

I can only speak for Air Tran flights from Milwaukee to MCO. All flights are available as previous weeks and months. They did reduce all flights by $11.00 each way. We had free tix from previous trip for volunteering to get bumped to a later flight that day. Just checking prices to see how much we are saving this time.

 

[aubriee]

Thanks to the Southwest purchase and Wright Ammendment, all Air Tran flights were pulled out of Dallas as of Nov 22nd. Which means the only nonstop flights from DFW to MCO are on American Airlines. American's prices have now jumped from around $198.00 to over $400.00. Air Tran always kept American prices in line. Both usually charged $158.00-$220.00 r/t, but as soon as Air Tran pulled out, American prices skyrocketed (more than doubled).

 

[AllesonWonderland]

After I bought my January tickets for Airtran out of Branson, my flight times changed. (Yeah, no surprise.) When I got online to look at my options, I saw they had added a later return on the Sunday morning I was coming home, so I called and had them switch me to that one. A few weeks later, it disappeared and I was automatically moved back to the earlier flight. I looked at other travel dates, and it was still there, so I guessed maybe they didn't need that many flights in Jan. since it was a lower peak time? I was bummed, but, really I wasn't any worse off, since I had originally booked the other flight. I was just excited about a few extra hours of sleep the night before we leave.

I hope your prices come down and you get at least a bit of a refund before March! (That was one good thing that happened with me. I bought when the prices weren't awful, even though they were more than I had paid in past years, but they dropped for a few days later on and I got enough back for our seat and baggage fees.) Good luck!!

 

[4forMe]

I just received an email yesterday that they eliminated our non-stop flight home and put us on a flight with a layover. No way!!!

I called AirTran and complained since they had two other non-stop flights available. They switched us to the earlier non-stop.

I checked today and the other non-stop is completely booked. The one we are on is showing a one way rate of over $500! I booked these tickets as soon as the dates were released and couldn't believe the high prices. We paid almost $400 roundtrip per ticket (highest airfare I ever paid), but I booked it because it's for Spring Break and was told the prices would just keep going up.

I noticed that Southwest has also decreased the number of non-stops traveling between Chicago and Orlando. I wonder how this is all going to work out once the consolidation is complete. I think our days of roundtrip tickets under $200 are over.

 

[DebbieB]

Thanks to the Southwest purchase and Wright Ammendment, all Air Tran flights were pulled out of Dallas as of Nov 22nd. Which means the only nonstop flights from DFW to MCO are on American Airlines. American's prices have now jumped from around $198.00 to over $400.00. Air Tran always kept American prices in line. Both usually charged $158.00-$220.00 r/t, but as soon as Air Tran pulled out, American prices skyrocketed (more than doubled).

Southwest pulled their PIT-PHL flights, leaving USAirways as the only non-stop. USAirways fares went from $118 to $698 roundtrip! The PA senator is looking into it. That is just crazy for a 300 mile flight.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11334/1193504-100.stm

 

[wed100105]

At least you still have Airtran. They are pulling out of Moline/Quad Cities and Bloomington. No more direct out of our hometown area.

I'm glad to see that you were able to score a reasonable price.

 

[Traveliz]

At least you still have Airtran. They are pulling out of Moline/Quad Cities and Bloomington. No more direct out of our hometown area.

I'm glad to see that you were able to score a reasonable price.

I am so sad - I am still hoping that some airline steps up with some flight options.

Liz

 

[disny_luvr]

I have 2 trips to WDW in March so I've been watching Airtran like a hawk. Airtran is the only airline to offer non-stop service to MCO from my home aiport, so I've been using them pretty much exclusively for the last few years.

Up until Sunday, our airport was offering 2 flights every day to MCO. Then I noticed some days of the week the pm flight was gone - I thought maybe they were sold out (Spring Break maybe?). Now today every single day is reduced to 1 flight in the am. And the price is HUGE for the am flight. Most are $245 one way - argh!

I'm getting nervous about the Southwest/Airtran merge & wondering if this has anything to do with it. Southwest does not fly from my home airport, so I'm worried that they will pull Airtran out as well.

Thankfully I saw what was happening with all the pm fiights disappearing, so I went ahead & booked my first March trip - $137 going down & $87 coming home. Ugh. I've never paid more than $69 for each leg of an Airtran flight so I was just about sick as I hit "purchase ticket!" That 1st leg is now up to $176 so I got it in the nick of time. Now the flights I wanted for the second March trip are gone, and if I choose a different flight it's $245 each way. With 3 of us flying, that may be a deal breaker for taking the trip at all. We could fly another carrier with a layover (and 6-8 hour travel time vs. 2 hours non-stop on AT) but even those fares are $350+ each. In past years AT rates were up & down & all over and it paid to wait to book, but in 2011 they only went up, up and up.

Ok vent over, just curious if anyone else had flights disappearing or being reduced from your airport on AT.

I am assuming you are flying out of Allentown. Did you look into Harrisburg? We are flying from Harrisburg in June. I booked our flight down at $87/per ticket. I haven't booked our return flight yet. I've been watching ABE too because my parents are dropping off/picking us up at the airport so we can fly in and out of anywhere within reason. A few days ago ABE prices were reasonable for our returning day, but within the last day the price has jumped to $245/ticket. That is insane. Unfortunately, I do think it has something to do with the SW merger. Harrisburg dropped the second flight a day a few weeks ago also. Argh!

 

[TaraPA]

Yes Allentown! I did also check Harrisburg, and the flight times & prices weren't any better than ABE. I'm over an hour from there so it would have to be a steal for me to drive that when I'm only 15 min. from ABE! It's nice that you have both airports to choose from that are reasonably close for you. I refuse to drive to Philly or Newark even though those are both 60-75 min. for me & have several non-stop options (including SW). I've been super spoiled by AT out of ABE & see it slowly slipping away!

I DID however get a $7 credit last night from AT. While doing my daily stalking on the AT site for my 2nd March trip (no changes in flights or prices), I saw that my return flight on 3/8 dropped from $87 to $80. I felt like an idiot calling to request $7 but I figured why not, I can use that for a $6 seat assignment some other time.

 

[DebbieB]

I don't know that it's the SW merger. AirTran has done that for a long time, unfavorable schedule changes when it's too late to change to something else. It's been awhile since I've flown them, at least 6 years, and they changed our flight to MCO from morning to afternoon about 30 days out.

 

[TaraPA]

My concern isn't schedule changes (which they do seem to be infamous for - but we've been lucky in the last few years!). They've always always always had 2 flights per day from ABE to MCO most months, and they were showing them all up til a few days ago - now poof! All the pm flights are gone. They've cut their available flights in half - and during spring break which wouldn't be a slow time for them historically. Looks like Harrisburg is in the same boat, suddenly down to 1 flight per day. It makes me nervous!

I probably wouldn't have even noticed but I check their site daily & one day the flights were there, a few hours later gone. I feel like an Airtran stalker! If they track how many times someone hits their site they've got me flagged.

 

[kaffinito]

Thanks to the Southwest purchase and Wright Ammendment, all Air Tran flights were pulled out of Dallas as of Nov 22nd. Which means the only nonstop flights from DFW to MCO are on American Airlines. American's prices have now jumped from around $198.00 to over $400.00. Air Tran always kept American prices in line. Both usually charged $158.00-$220.00 r/t, but as soon as Air Tran pulled out, American prices skyrocketed (more than doubled).

I just received an email yesterday that they eliminated our non-stop flight home and put us on a flight with a layover. No way!!!

I called AirTran and complained since they had two other non-stop flights available. They switched us to the earlier non-stop.

I checked today and the other non-stop is completely booked. The one we are on is showing a one way rate of over $500! I booked these tickets as soon as the dates were released and couldn't believe the high prices. We paid almost $400 roundtrip per ticket (highest airfare I ever paid), but I booked it because it's for Spring Break and was told the prices would just keep going up.

I noticed that Southwest has also decreased the number of non-stops traveling between Chicago and Orlando. I wonder how this is all going to work out once the consolidation is complete. I think our days of roundtrip tickets under $200 are over.

I noticed the prices have gone up too. The number of flights seems to have decreased as well. But, there are still some "deals" out there. I was able to snag $157 both ways by not booking RT on Airtran for NYE. Of course I had to "stalk" them as well.

And I am seriously bummed that they've pulled out of DFW. I got used to flying my kids from DFW to MCO to meet up with them for a WDW fix. If the prices are that high then I'll just have to skip it.