Ata - Chicago-orlando Route No More

[profdsny]

Imagine my surprise today to have two phone messages asking me to call ATA. Apparently they have discontinued the Midway to Orlando run, and wanted at first to route us through San Juan! Finally found out that they were still flying to Ft. Myers. As these are tickets we have left from being bumped in December by ATA, imagine my shock, and surprise. If you planned on going this route, better find something else. For those who have taken this route before, you know that planes are always full. I don't get it.

 

[drusba]

You should ask ATA if you can switch your flight to Southwest Airlines under their codeshare agreement. Southwest is the one taking over many of the gates and flights that ATA (currently in bankruptcy) had at Midway. In fact, many of the "ATA" flights currently flying out of Midway are actually now controlled by Southwest.

 

[Daydreamin]

We had booked before the buyout but were bumped from an evening direct flight to an early am flight when the SWA merger was announced. I'm thinking that this ATA non-stop route has been discontinued but I'm not sure?

Has anyone flown into St Petersburg before? Curious also about the car rentals thru Alamo.

We're flying back to Chicago via Ft Myers so hopefully it won't be quite as crowded as going down.

 

[iankh]

They should be able to switch you to a SWA flight.

 

[jkfreeman33]

We were booked on ATA for 2/16/05 - 2/25/05 and they bumped us to SWA.
I really miss ATA. I'm not a lover of SWA and their cattle call boarding style.
Plus, from Midway, ATA was always cheaper than SWA.

 

[inkkognito]

We too were affected by the switch, as we used to take ATA to MCO at least twice a month. I agree that the SW fares are generally higher, but I recommend signing up for SW's "Ding" (a tay icon you download that notifies you of sales). My husband got Dinged last week for $126 on SW. Not bad, even by ATA's old standards. We're not thrilled with the cattle call, either, but at least SW is Midway, too. Be sure to check in online to get A passes and you'll be okay.
Barb

 

[EdDome]

I ran into the same thing. I heard rumors about discontinuing the MDW to MCO route so I checked my reservation on-line and saw the routing through San Juan. When I called about it, they refunded my money and I rebooked myself on SW (at the same $176 / rt). I rebooked myself to get a better flight selection and to get the SW rapid rewards credits. Don't really need ATA credits it they're no going to MCO.

 

[sgtdisney]

It seems that ATA is pulling out of the markets where they used to compete directly with SWA. Very smart of SWA to do this codeshare arrangement with them. Now ATA co-operates with them, pulls out the the very competive markets and allows SWA to up their prices, gradually of course. ATA is very quickly becoming a small shell of what they used to be. I was worried that this would happen when they purchased all those brand new aircraft as quickly as they did.

 

[Brian Noble]

And, from the looks of things, Northwest is doing their level best to knock ATA out of IND, too:

http://www.nwa.com/offers/ind05/

 

[Kae]

ATA pulled out of South Bend completely. Loved those cookies! I did not fly them that much because they normally had 3hr layovers at Midway. But I do like for non-stop to Ft Myers out of Indy. We are flying airtran out of midway next month to Ft Myers And SW out of Indy to Orlando in june.

Kae