BWI Airport - AirTran or Southwest

[Carole]

We always book Southwest. I was wondering about AirTran flights. Do you like them? Better or worse from BWI? I like on-time flights - are they?

Thanks!

 

[skiwee1]

We always take Airtran from BWI now. We used to take SW but have grown to hate them. I do not like the cattle call type loading and hated the filthy planes. Airtran has always been clean, professional, new planes, on time, and generally cheaper and non stop too. I would even pay more to fly Airtran then to ever have to deal wit SW again. I have flights booked with them for my October trip.

 

[bujuni]

I was wondering about this as well. I posted similar question in TUG BBS. I am more concerned about SW not having preferential boarding for families with children. I heard this sometimes happens to flights to ORLANDO. Too many families with children. Although, this has not happened to us yet. I would really hate if this ever happens to us.

 

[skiwee1]

Another thing. Airtran lets you chose your seats 24 hours before your flight online. So there is no cattle call with them.

 

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

For our September trip, I picked SW. They had a better selection of flights to chose from and the prices seemed better than Airtran. I've flown SW before and had no complaints.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I used to fly Airtran (I go out of BWI) but I am using SWA from now on. We flew Airtran this past May. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:40am, well 5 mins before we were supposed to board, they announce the flight is delayed b/c a part of the plane is missing. After an hour, they annouce the part still hasn't arrived. After about another hour, they announce that the part is here, but the mechanic is too big to fit in the space where the part needs to be installed. Finally after 3 LONG HOURS, they announce they are putting us on another plane- why they couldn't have done that sooner is a mystery to me, I guess the situation may have been beyond their control but it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

The year before when we flew Airtran, the flight was delayed a little bit b/c the air conditioning was broken.

So, from now on, I'd rather fly w/SWA.

Also, someone said Airtran lets you pick your seats in advance. This perk used to be availiable to everyone, but if you've checked their website you will notice this has changed.

They now have 3 fares:

Coach Lowest Fare: these are the low $79 rates, now you choose seats at check in, NOT online.

Coach Advance Seating: you can pick your seats online w/this fare, but it is more expensive- like $166, I don't think its worth paying an extra $80 for picking your seats in advance.

Business Class: the most expensive, picks seats in advance as well.

Hope that helps! -Stephanie

 

[skiwee1]

The website states what you have said but you can still chose your seats online. I have done it three times after getting the cheapy prices that says you cannot do this. As far as problems with your plane I had to laugh as that is what happened on our last flight using SW. We were already on the runway when the SW pilot made an announcement that the fuel light was reading empty. He "thought" they filled the tank but thought it was a good idea to check! Duh! So we go back to the airport where we unload and wait and wait until finally we are told that the light was just burnt out so they had to wait for a new bulb. Oh goody! ! So we wait and we wait. Meanwhile my heavily drugged mind is now starting to clear and I need another drink too! I hate to fly with anything less then a nice foggy haze in my mind. I ws a nervous wreck. We waited 4 hours before being allowed back on the plane. I will never fly SW again! So there are problems with all airlines I guess.

 

[Brenner965]

Originally posted by Ilovestitch
Also, someone said Airtran lets you pick your seats in advance. This perk used to be availiable to everyone, but if you've checked their website you will notice this has changed.

They now have 3 fares:

Coach Lowest Fare: these are the low $79 rates, now you choose seats at check in, NOT online.

While it is true that with this lowest fare you can't choose seats at the time of purchase, you can still check in online for your flight at Airtran.com starting 24 hours before departure and pick your seats.

By checking in online, you also can use an expedited line at the airport to check your bags, at least this is the case at the Akron-Canton airport.

To answer the original question, I prefer flying AirTran to SWA.