ATA 90 Minute Hold Time!!

[inkkognito]

Since we hold half a dozen upcoming ressies on ATA, and since four out of the six have been goofed up due to schedule and seat changes, I gave them a buzz today. Literally 90 minutes later (7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.), while still on hold, my cordless phone battery died so I had to give up. Just a warning to others who may need to make changes...call ASAP, and be prepared to WAIT. I am really starting to get worried about their viability. They never called me about any of the changes, which is not like them at all, and I've never been on hold for an hour and a half without being able to reach anyone.
Barb

 

[robinb]

I gave up last night after 30 minutes on hold.

I wonder when a good time to call might be !

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Same here... 30 mins on hold, so I hung up. They never informed me of the time changes on all four legs of our two upcoming flights, either. Yet I know our flight times have changed according to my online ressies.

Oh, and when I was able to talk to a human for about 20 seconds, telling her the flight times changed, she said, "Oh yeah, we were going to call you about that." Huh?

Well, trying again soon. Good luck to all of us!

Tink

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We don't have ATA around here, and I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take this the wrong way, but are they normally that good that you'd be willing to put up with all the changes and lousy customer service? Are there any other reputible carriers you could switch to? Hope it all works out. Good luck!!

 

[DemoBri1]

The reason we're so up on ATA is the wonderful service we've had in the past. Also, no FCFS like on SW for seats. It seems as though this past 6 mos. has seen a remarkable change in ATA for the worse. I'm hoping we at least have a plane to fly down and back on in November.

 

[Gary M]

ATA started in Indianapolis several years ago. We have flown with then since their beginning and have always had good service. If you fly on any airline enough you will most likely have a problem pop up. ATA matches SWA with low prices and as mentioned earlier you get assigned seats. They have many non-stop flights out of Indy to good vacation spots.

It does look like ATA and some other airlines may not make it through these difficult times. These service problems with ATA is a new situation as far as I'm concerned. We are flying to MCO in Dec. on SWA and hopefully on ATA during Feb. of next year.

 

[Figment2]

According to my log here at work, I called around Noon and total time on the phone was 6.03 minutes. Must have picked a good time!

Cyn

 

[NotUrsula]

With almost any airline, I find that if I need to call, the wee hours of the morning (between midnight and 6 am) are the best times.

Tip: take a look at the Weather Channel before calling. If there are serious weather delays happening at one of the airline's major airports, you can expect to sit on hold forever, b/c of all those stranded passengers on their cellphones, trying desperately to get rescheduled.

 

[powellrj]

Originally posted by Luckymommyx2
We don't have ATA around here, and I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take this the wrong way, but are they normally that good that you'd be willing to put up with all the changes and lousy customer service? Are there any other reputible carriers you could switch to? Hope it all works out. Good luck!!

In a word, YES they are that good. We have flown with them for over 20 years ( even back when they were Amassadair) and think they are great. WE used Delta last year and it wasn't worth the few bucks we saved not going with ATA. I have been worried about our flight ever since they started talking about the money problems. We leave on monday and they have called us each time our flight time has changed and according to the website, they haven't changed the times since our last phone call from them. I did notice they have change the radio spots trying to keep the local hometown connection.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thanks for clearing me up. I know Barb (almost?) always flys ATA but I didn't know much about them. Hopefully it's just a minor glitch and they'll be able to straighten everything out soon. It's hard to find a good airline that you feel comfortable with nowadays. Wish ya' all the best that this gets resolved quickly.

 

[inkkognito]

A big reason that we are tied into ATA now is their very generous frequent flyer program (free companion ticket after only three roundtrips). Even before that, we really liked them, especially their cushy 757-300 planes with leather seats and headrests. That hold time is VERY unusual...normally they have called me and left messages about changes, and when I called back, it was only a few minutes on hold. I'm just hoping this unusual pattern is not part of their financial troubles and indcative of the possibility of going out of business soon! I would hate to see that happen; even though we've had some issues, overall we find them to be really good.
Barb