Booked airtran thru southwest. So confused.

[Neesy228]

Largely skipped most of the discussion over the AirTran southwest merger/seating when it was happening and now I'm confused. I'm hoping someone can give me a brief explanation or "this is what's best for you" instructions?

We booked round trip AirTran flights thru the southwest website several months ago. We leave this weekend and I was just reviewing our itinerary and noticed that we could select seats. SO, I went to pick seats (thinking it was an AirTran perk) and they want $10/seat. Round trip, for the 5 of us would be $100.

What happens if we don't buy these seats in advance, but check in at the 24 hour mark through southwest? If I do buy the seats, do I still have to check in at 24 hours?

We have three kids, two of them young enough that I don't want them sitting alone, so if I have to pay the $100, I will. I'm just confused as to what the best course of action is in this case.

I'd appreciate any guidance! Thanks!

 

[disny_luvr]

We flew AirTran a few weeks ago. We purchased tickets through AirTran and picked our seats, but while waiting at the terminal I got talking to another family that purchased their AirTran flight through Southwest. The lady I was talking to told me that they were assigned the left over seats randomly at the 24 hour mark. Their family was split 2 and 2. I'd guess they'd try to keep families close together but I don't think there are any guarantees. I can tell you that once we boarded and were in flight I noticed there were families spread out throughout the plane.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If you don't pay for seat assignments, seats will be assigned to you at check in. If you have young children, your best option is to pay for seat selection now or there is a real risk your family will be spilt up during seat assignment.

You never have to check in 24 hours in advance, whether or not you have seats. If you choose not to pay for seat selection, I suggest that you check in as soon as you can.

 

[Jenn]

Just flew AirTran yesterday that I booked with Southwest reward points. I was able to pick my seat for free when I checked in 24 hours prior. There were several seats available (20-30 I would guess), but you probably won't get 5 in a row.

 

[Neesy228]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm spending $100 for seats!

 

[DisneyDiana!]

Thanks for your post, Neesy228. I'm in sort of the same predicament. I want to fly with my husband and 2 kids (5 and 2) I don't want to be nickeled and dimed by AirTran for the bags and the seats but I'd rather pay to avoid being split up. I do have a question though, if you book through Southwest you still get the free checked bag and the option to pay for selecting your seats right? If that's the case I should book an AirTran flight through Southwest to get the bags but pay for the seats as I would through AirTran. Is this right? Thanks all!

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks for your post, Neesy228. I'm in sort of the same predicament. I want to fly with my husband and 2 kids (5 and 2) I don't want to be nickeled and dimed by AirTran for the bags and the seats but I'd rather pay to avoid being split up. I do have a question though, if you book through Southwest you still get the free checked bag and the option to pay for selecting your seats right? If that's the case I should book an AirTran flight through Southwest to get the bags but pay for the seats as I would through AirTran. Is this right? Thanks all!

That's not the way that it worked when I flew AirTran by booking thru Southwest back in October.

I got my free bags and I could check in at the 24-hr. mark but since it was an AirTran aircraft operating under AirTran, I could not pay to select my seats. They were assigned by AirTran when I checked in online. I had the option to try to switch my seats once I arrived at the airport. Since it was just adults flying, it wasn't an issue for us, but I can see how it would matter to a family.

Basically, you can book thru AirTran and pay for your bags and seat selection or you can book through Southwest and get your bags flown for free but have no say in where your seats end up being.

 

[ICF]

That's not the way that it worked when I flew AirTran by booking thru Southwest back in October.

I got my free bags and I could check in at the 24-hr. mark but since it was an AirTran aircraft operating under AirTran, I could not pay to select my seats. They were assigned by AirTran when I checked in online. I had the option to try to switch my seats once I arrived at the airport. Since it was just adults flying, it wasn't an issue for us, but I can see how it would matter to a family.

Basically, you can book thru AirTran and pay for your bags and seat selection or you can book through Southwest and get your bags flown for free but have no say in where your seats end up being.

Same for us when we flew to Orlando last summer.

 

[Alexle2007]

We had the same thing happen when we booked through SW for AirTran. My DS6 was sitting totally separate from DH and I but the nice counter agent sat us together. Apparently, in the same seat as someone else. Although that person wasn't complaining since they got moved to 1st class.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

That's not the way that it worked when I flew AirTran by booking thru Southwest back in October.

I got my free bags and I could check in at the 24-hr. mark but since it was an AirTran aircraft operating under AirTran, I could not pay to select my seats. They were assigned by AirTran when I checked in online. I had the option to try to switch my seats once I arrived at the airport. Since it was just adults flying, it wasn't an issue for us, but I can see how it would matter to a family.

Basically, you can book thru AirTran and pay for your bags and seat selection or you can book through Southwest and get your bags flown for free but have no say in where your seats end up being.

This is not the way it works anymore. People who book AirTran through Southwest still get 2 checked bags free, but now they also get the opportunity to pre-purchase seat selection for $10/seat. It's officially the best of both worlds.

 

[Neesy228]

Thanks for your post, Neesy228. I'm in sort of the same predicament. I want to fly with my husband and 2 kids (5 and 2) I don't want to be nickeled and dimed by AirTran for the bags and the seats but I'd rather pay to avoid being split up. I do have a question though, if you book through Southwest you still get the free checked bag and the option to pay for selecting your seats right? If that's the case I should book an AirTran flight through Southwest to get the bags but pay for the seats as I would through AirTran. Is this right? Thanks all!

Yes, that's right.

We booked thru Southwest, so we got the 2 free bags. Then we paid $10/person/per flight to get seats together. It was worth it for us to do that with younger kids.

I was looking around on our flight and saw several families separated. There was a mom in front of us with one son and a father several rows ahead with another. The boys were having a rough time being away from mom, so at one point she ended up with both kids in one seat next to her. And there were several people walking up and down the aisles to talk to other family members and/or get something from them.

 

[wiigirl]

That's not the way that it worked when I flew AirTran by booking thru Southwest back in October.

I got my free bags and I could check in at the 24-hr. mark but since it was an AirTran aircraft operating under AirTran, I could not pay to select my seats. They were assigned by AirTran when I checked in online. I had the option to try to switch my seats once I arrived at the airport. Since it was just adults flying, it wasn't an issue for us, but I can see how it would matter to a family.

Basically, you can book thru AirTran and pay for your bags and seat selection or you can book through Southwest and get your bags flown for free but have no say in where your seats end up being.

Thats how my experience with AirTran was also.

 

[Marionnette]

This is not the way it works anymore. People who book AirTran through Southwest still get 2 checked bags free, but now they also get the opportunity to pre-purchase seat selection for $10/seat. It's officially the best of both worlds.

Good to know if I ever book AirTran thru Southwest again. AirTran doesn't appear to fly to MCO out of my airport anymore. It's all Southwest. In fact, I haven't seen any AirTran flights come up when I've search Southwest for ANY flights out of my airport. Maybe they've completed their switch here for domestic flights.

 

[jimandami]

One other thing to be aware of is that the airline resort check-in is having a problem checking guests bags if they flew in on Air-Tran via Southwest. On our departure day, we arrived at the counter to check our bags in before ME pickup and because my mother and I had flown in on AT via SW, they couldn't take ANY of our bags, which was kinda painful since we had 7 bags and 2 small children. Plus, the line to check-in at the airport was crazy long. If that does happen to you, get your boarding passes printed at the hotel concierge before leaving on ME and use the sky cap outside to check in...much, much faster.