Delta or Air Tran

[Missy29]

I am about to book my airfare for May and Delta and Air Tran have about the same price, I have flown Air Tran before without any problem but what are you thoughts on the two? Who should I book with? Thanks

 

[bear_mom]

Does one have better flight times? Is one non-stop? That is what I would base my decision on. For us, Airtran has a lovely non-stop flight to MCO in the morning and wonderful non-stop flight home in the evening. (from FNT)

We have flown both and they are both fine. Both can move flight times - some will say Airtran moves their flight times more than other carrriers, but that isn't my case, Airtran moves thiers less that Detla for me.

Keep in mind you have to pay for seat assignments on Airtran ($6/seat).


Emily

 

[vacationclub]

Does one have better flight times? Is one non-stop? That is what I would base my decision on. For us, Airtran has a lovely non-stop flight to MCO in the morning and wonderful non-stop flight home in the evening. (from FNT)

We have flown both and they are both fine. Both can move flight times - some will say Airtran moves their flight times more than other carrriers, but that isn't my case, Airtran moves thiers less that Detla for me.

Keep in mind you have to pay for seat assignments on Airtran ($6/seat).


Emily

Actually you don't HAVE to pay for seat assignments, it's an option. If you don't pay extra, they will assign you a seat but you will have no control of where that assignment is, and if you prefer a certain part of the plane, or a absolute guarantee you won't be broken up (however unlikely) then the 6 bucks can be well worth it. You may also be given the seat choice for free if you wait until check in at 24 hours, but will have far fewer options to pick from at that point. Before they starting offering this as an option, people did just fine with the airline assigning them seats. The only difference is now, if you don't pay, they don't tell you at the time of purchase where they've assigned you, you must wait until check-in to find out, at which time you may be able to change for free if there are any better options. By not paying 6 bucks you just revert to the old method.

IMO Airtran is way more reliable that Delta in terms of possible schedule changes. Airtran does routinely make changes, but usually in my case when flying out on the first flight, the change is never more than a few minutes or up to an hour at the most when they switched routes time between ATL and BWI. I always take the non-stop return from MCO and it rarely ever changes more than 10 minutes. They give you the option to switch if that happens to you. For me, Delta's schedule switch changed everything including dropping a direct flight and putting us on a much less desirable transfer in ATL that we almost missed because Delta has a habit of waiting for gates to open up at ATL. Airtran's ATL hub doesn't usually have this issue. (at least for me).

 

[Missy29]

Thanks, they both have times I want to fly out at so thats not a problem. If I choose Airtran I would definitly pay for the seat assignments so we are not seperated from our kids. So I guess Airttan would be alittle more expensive on the end.

 

[DebbieB]

One thing to consider is AirTran's change fee is $75 vs Delta $150.

 

[vacationclub]

One thing to consider is AirTran's change fee is $75 vs Delta $150.

Delta's change fee is $150? My gosh, it's cheaper to buy a whole new ticket! I knew Delta was bad, but wow.

 

[DebbieB]

Delta's change fee is $150? My gosh, it's cheaper to buy a whole new ticket! I knew Delta was bad, but wow.

All the legacies are $150 (Delta, USAir, United, Continental). Southwest is the best - zero. All would also charge any increase in fare.

 

[NancyIL]

If you check bags, AirTran charges $20 for the first checked bag pp vs. Delta's $25.

 

[ain0004]

We fly Delta out of Detroit. Always good service. Always been willing to help with seating assignments if needed. I hate paying to pick my seat delta you don't have to. We will be flying with them again in May!

 

[Brian Noble]

Does one have better flight times? Is one non-stop? That is what I would base my decision on.

This. Otherwise, I don't think it makes much difference. Both are similar in terms of airport and in-flight service.