How was your Air Tran experience?

[livndisney]

Wow... Only 10 minutes after scheduled departure...I probably would have snapped too.

Was the day that you waited two hours to check bags the same day the lines were backed up halfway through the atrium?

We were there once and DME was late also that day..

If you are "snapping" when a customer asks a reasonable question after 10 minutes-you may be in the wrong line of work.

As far as the 2 hours-lines were not to the atrium that I saw. It was more a case of the employees had NO IDEA what they were doing. The SAME worker told us to check in at two different places on opposite sides of the airport.....

AND the flight took off late (with no luggage) and did not make up time in the air.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

10 minutes. Being in customer service...no I wouldn't go ask the desk why our flight hasn't boarded yet. They can still make up the time in the air.

This is not my standard of Airtran but more of a consideration
of the poor people behind the desk who are only doing their job. You don't know what was going on with the person behind the desk. You don't know how many others have come up to her and asked the same question. Maybe her manager won't let her make an announcement. You don't know...do you? I have been in situations like this and I guess I am more patient and relaxed on a vacation and usually are happy just getting to my destination in the end.

I am more considerate of anyone in a customer service position....maybe because I have been in their same shoes for years.

And that one incident makes all gate agents rude...yeah ok

So at 10 minutes past departure they are going to drag a plane up, board and still "make up the time in the air"? Maybe on a flight to Europe, but on an hour long flight They don't want to burn that much fuel. (Seriously that is a consideration and generally the airlines will not authorize the spend!)

(And as for what was going on behind the desk... not much!The agent who "snapped" had been cutting up with the other agent for a while, joking with the pilot etc... Having dealt with them before I figured in their mind they were still on time so I had already looked up the flight online and realized we were running 45 minutes late and was on the phone with my travel agent looking at my options. )

However, I think we have established that my level of acceptable customer service and yours might be different. I used to work retail and did a lot of customer service and IMHO the action I saw was not an appropriate way to treat a customer, but views vary! So AirTran may be great for you.

Last week I flew SW from Phoenix to Atlanta and at least in Phoenix SW announced the delays (and there were lots of them!) Heck, even Delta and Spirit do that. The only three other times in 20 plus years of travel I have seen anyone just pretend they weren't delayed and get bent out of shape by customer questions were (A) AirTran (different flight from the one I am currently discussing) (B) America's Sorriest Airline (ASA the Delta Commuter who has the rude rejects from AirTran, AMAZINGLY badly run operation! I have had to fly them a lot and yes, most of their gate agents or either rude or incompetent, I am not sure which but either way it's a nightmare. I don't know that I have ever had an on time flight and I once had them decide not to announce a gate change because they were oversold and they admitted that! ) and (C) A USAir flight were the gate agent announced "we lost the plane, I don't know where it is" (A call to the 800 # discovered it had to divert to another airport due to the storm, the agent on the phone could not stop laughing when I told her what the gate agent said!)

 

[pigletto]

I flew with them once roundtrip and the flight to Orlando was pretty wretched. It was a very rough flight that at one point did enough of a drop that the flight attendants kneeled on the floor and covered their heads. I don't know what happened.. if we lost altitude or the captain intentionally did an emergency descent.
They had been at my seat filling a drink at that point. People shrieked and gasped. A few people were crying. It was frightening. Drinks rolled off the cart. One of them onto my lap. I had to work hard to keep my 14 year old calm for the rest of the flight.
I have a decent amount of flight experience and this was unusual. The part that bothered me most was that when things were calm again and the flight attendants stood up they handed me napkins and nobody said a word to anyone. Not a "everything is ok", no announcement from the captain, nothing.
It would have gone a long way to hear someone say "Sorry for that folks, everything is fine". But nothing came. We still had a good 45 minutes after that and while it was a little turbulent it was fine. But we were still pretty much terrified as was everyone around us.
This flight was through a pretty major thunderstorm and really could have happened on any airline. It was just the lack of communication that left me cold.
That being said I booked with them again for my upcoming trip because it had been a few years. I wasn't feeling bad about it until now..but I'm not really looking forward to it. Incidentally that was the flight that now has me calling my doctor for anxiety meds every time I fly.
Again, it could have happened with any airline. It was just the way they handled it..or didn't handle it rather, that left me with a poor impression.

 

[lylone]

Let's see here...

1) u failed to mention that there was no plane at the gate.
2) u didn't say anything about the gate agent laughing before the incident.

So, u happy....I am wrong and u are right.

Our 25+ flights with AT are crap even though we have never witness nasty planes or rude gate people and since you have... All are bad.

I have 8 years of retail and 17 years of customer service after that and I guess that makes me more considerate of people in service related jobs.

Once again you proved me wrong like u have in past. I hope you have a great day and stay away from my Airtran flights.

 

[Dan Murphy]

As pp's have said, Airtran is very good. I have flown for a number of years now, since Midwest Airlines went out. Always excellent.

 

[maxiesmom]

As pp's have said, Airtran is very good. I have flown for a number of years now, since Midwest Airlines went out. Always excellent.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Airtran. I'm very sad to see them go, and Southwest take over.

 

[beckyx3]

I'm glad I found this as I had the same question! We're flying out of PHL next month. A few weeks after we booked they moved our flight a little later. I was concerned if that was a sign of things to come. I've read some people saying that when they checked in at the 24 hour mark you get an assigned seat? So no boarding groups like SWA? Could someone explain this to me? I'm a SWA fan so I was a little worried that they weren't really operating many flights to MCO and we mostly had to choose from AirTran flights. I'm just used to SWA I guess.

 

[tyzzle]

I'm glad I found this as I had the same question! We're flying out of PHL next month. A few weeks after we booked they moved our flight a little later. I was concerned if that was a sign of things to come. I've read some people saying that when they checked in at the 24 hour mark you get an assigned seat? So no boarding groups like SWA? Could someone explain this to me? I'm a SWA fan so I was a little worried that they weren't really operating many flights to MCO and we mostly had to choose from AirTran flights. I'm just used to SWA I guess.

When you check in you will be randomly assigned a seat left over from the seats that were not prepurchased ahead of time. If the seats are scattered your party can request a seat change at the gate, but there is no guarantee that they will seat your party together.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm glad I found this as I had the same question! We're flying out of PHL next month. A few weeks after we booked they moved our flight a little later. I was concerned if that was a sign of things to come. I've read some people saying that when they checked in at the 24 hour mark you get an assigned seat? So no boarding groups like SWA? Could someone explain this to me? I'm a SWA fan so I was a little worried that they weren't really operating many flights to MCO and we mostly had to choose from AirTran flights. I'm just used to SWA I guess.

Did you purchase an AirTran flight through AirTran? If so, you should have had the option when you purchased the tickets to purchase seat assignments. If not, they will assign you seats from whatever is left.

If you purchased an AirTran flight through Southwest, or vice versa, things get a little more tricky.

 

[beckyx3]

Oh wow! Yes I booked through SWA and the way I read it I guess I interpreted it as the same procedure that Southwest follows. It's only two of us in our party so I'll just hope for the best. Thanks tyzzle and maxiesmom!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Oh wow! Yes I booked through SWA and the way I read it I guess I interpreted it as the same procedure that Southwest follows. It's only two of us in our party so I'll just hope for the best. Thanks tyzzle and maxiesmom!

All the procedures for booking AirTran through Southwest are clearly explained on Southwest's website.