How is Air Tran?

[Paging Tom Morrow]

Regarding "overbooking":

I have flow AirTran over 20 times. The will always ask for volunteers before "selecting people". The normal compensation offered is one free roundtrip for each person that bumps. If they don't get enough people to volunteer with that, they'll offer 2 free, and then 3, etc. My wife and I have bumped three times and have used our free flights to go to:

Orlando - WDW
Grand Bahama Island
Akron (sister in law lived there)
Los Angeles

We actually prefer to use AirTran b/c we have a good chance at essentially paying once for multiple flights!

 

[dudspizza]

As far as I can tell my paper tickets do not have seat assignments on them. I guess I'll call Airttran when it gets a bit closer to vacation time. I most definitely do have paper tickets that came directly from Disney Travel. It even has a purple paper stuck to it that states "THIS IS AN ACTUAL PAPER TICKET AND MUST BE PRESENTED AT AIRPORT CHECK IN."

I hope that they assign the paper ticket seats ahead of time so that my party can sit together. I don't really mind being split as long as the 2 smaller kids can have an adult with them. We are 6 persons total but only two are under 10 but my DS is only 4 and most definitely needs an adult.

From what I have read, an travel agent can get your seats assigned when you purchase the tickets, even at the lowest airfare... maybe call Disney Travel and see if they can do it for you... or call Airtran.

duds

 

[triplefigs]

Our flight home on AirTran is at 4:40pm. We will be at the MNSSHP when it is 24 hours before our flight (have an ADR at LTT at 4:20pm). We won't get back to the CR until after midnight. If I don't check in right at 4:40pm will this be an issue? We are a family of 5 with 3 children.

Can I have someone else (friend/family member) check us in with my info while we are at the party and then have the Concierge desk at the CR print the boarding passes later that night? Or do you have to print them immediately after you check in? Is there anywhere in the MK with internet access?

Thank you!

 

[DaisyD]

Our flight home on AirTran is at 4:40pm. We will be at the MNSSHP when it is 24 hours before our flight (have an ADR at LTT at 4:20pm). We won't get back to the CR until after midnight. If I don't check in right at 4:40pm will this be an issue? We are a family of 5 with 3 children.

Can I have someone else (friend/family member) check us in with my info while we are at the party and then have the Concierge desk at the CR print the boarding passes later that night? Or do you have to print them immediately after you check in? Is there anywhere in the MK with internet access?

Thank you!

You can have someone else chose your seats and then print them out whenever you want. Sometimes my DH will do this for me when I can't get to a computer at the correct time. He choses my seats and then later I go to the business center and to my online Airtran account and print out the boarding passes.

 

[triplefigs]

You can have someone else chose your seats and then print them out whenever you want. Sometimes my DH will do this for me when I can't get to a computer at the correct time. He choses my seats and then later I go to the business center and to my online Airtran account and print out the boarding passes.

Thanks. I'll just have someone sign in at 4:40pm and pick them for us. Then I'll get them printed later that night or early the next morning. I appreciate the info.

 

[mjh8955]

The cheap tickets are the ones that do not have seating assignments until you go online and check in 24 hours before your flight. I believe you CAN get advance seating assignments with the more expensive tickets. Be aware, the last time we flew to Orlando (from central Illinois) the Airtran flights both going down and coming back left the gate EARLY. I guess we were full so it didn't matter, and we were flying in and out of a small airport with very little air traffic. About any hotel desk will be able to print out your boarding passes for you. We've never encountered anyplace that wouldn't. If you aren't sure, call the hotel before you leave and check.

 

[westjones]

Regarding "overbooking":

I have flow AirTran over 20 times. The will always ask for volunteers before "selecting people". The normal compensation offered is one free roundtrip for each person that bumps. If they don't get enough people to volunteer with that, they'll offer 2 free, and then 3, etc. My wife and I have bumped three times and have used our free flights to go to:

Orlando - WDW
Grand Bahama Island
Akron (sister in law lived there)
Los Angeles

We actually prefer to use AirTran b/c we have a good chance at essentially paying once for multiple flights!

We are flying Air Tran in a month for the first time. We wouldn't mind delaying out return home if they need people to bump (and we can get free tickets for it).

I have a question, do they also put you up in a hotel room that night if they can't get you out the same day?

We did a bump this past March on NWA they put us in a hotel and gave us food vouchers to use.

We recieved free round trip tickets, but have since figured out that on NWA that doesn't mean much because they didn't work for any flights we tried. Thed ended up being worth $200 each (still nice, but they offered $300 vouchers OR free tickets, and we didn't know the "game" and actually believed we would get free tickets so took that instead of the $300 vouchers).

Does Air Tran offer $ Vouchers OR Free Air Fare, or is it just the free Air Fare? And if it is just the free Air Fare are there really trips you can use them on (I guess so based on what you listed, but was it really hard to find those trips).

A word of advice for anyone flying NWA and taking a bump, go for the $ Voucher and NOT the free tickets. We had two other passengers advice us on this after we had picked the free flights, but now we know.

DJ

 

[Minnesota!]

We will be flying Airtran out of MSP next month.

If I check in 24 hours in advance, and get my seat assignment, what do I do about my luggage the next day? I still go through the check in line, correct?

Never been on an airline like this!

Thanks!!!

 

[tmeyer]

Regarding the overbooking

I was just reading on the AOL homepage and the had the ratings out for all of the airlines, and Airtran was ranked 2nd for overall customer satisfaction, and they were ranked 3rd for bumping people from flights. This was out of 17 airlines, so I think chances of being bumped are very very low. This was published by Air Travel Consumer Reports.

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

My question is.....

I am flying through Atlanta on my way to MCO. So can I check in for both flights at the same time? Or is it 24 hours in advance of the AKR-ATL then wait an hour or so and do ATL-MCO

Debbie

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

We fly Airtran and have found them (knock on wood) to be an airline with the fewest glitches. Two thumbs up for us!