Is AirTran a good airline?

[meloneyb21]

Honestly, I've never heard of it until I started planning for this trip....

 

[Servants of Evan]

They're fine. I've flown with them on several occasions with no complaints. They're along the Southwest variety (bargain carrier) so as long as you're not expecting "First Class" service, you shouldn't be disappointed. They have many flights out of our regional airport and the prices are tough to beat. The only drawback to Airtran is that you may only pick your seats 24 hours in advance. I know, the other airline I mentioned earlier doesn't let you pick them at all, until you walk down the aisle that is. For me, I really like booking my flights ahead and actually selecting where my seats are when I book... Sure, it's obsessive but the few times I was unable to book them myself, I wasn't happy. Did you ever sit in the last row of a 727 with the Jet turbine inlet approximately 4 feet from your head? Man, is that LOUD.

 

[HLAuburn]

I fly them all the time, with no problems, other than a few late departures. It's definitely "no frills", but you get super cheap fares, new planes, and even a bag of pretzels and a coke!

 

[biggroofy]

Is AirTran = Air Transat?

 

[DebbieB]

Is AirTran = Air Transat?

No - it's just Air Tran

http://www.airtran.com/

I've flown them a few times. The only complaint I had was they change their schedules frequently. Last May our flight to FL got moved from 11:00am to 1:00pm, which meant we arrived a little later than I wanted. Many of the cheap fares do not get assigned seats until check-in, which you can do online 24 hours before. I've never had a problem not getting seats together.

 

[localdriver]

Is AirTran = Air Transat?

AirTran used to be ValueJet.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

The only problem with AirTran.....as already mentioned....is that they are constantly changing their schedules. I suggest you get the first flight out (if you can). They only change this flight by a few minutes either way. After that you never know what they will do. Sometimes a flight time is changed by a lot....or cancelled completely. They do send you an e-mail, but when this happened to us we got the e-mail way after I knew about the change by watching their on-line schedule. Other than that they are good and cheap, and the employees are pretty nice and friendly.

 

[ameraumi]

Our AAA agent was able to get us a flight using AirTran and they already assigned us seats. I wonder if I should do some double checking now to see if this was an error. I'm already nervous since this will be both my first time flying and going to WDW!

 

[Servants of Evan]

AirTran will reserve seats -- but the ticket costs more. You can always go to www.airtran.com and do your own search -- they offer several options for each flight, and display the costs which will range significantly. Unfortunately, you have to know the difference between a 'b' fare, 'u' fare, etc. but you can get an instant idea of the difference in prices.

 

[MNNurse]

I saw a $99 airfare for Airtan but did not book right away because I was concerned about being able to get seats next to my daughter (7) if I couldn't pick seats until check-in. I sent off an email and they responded back they would be happy to assign my seats. Well, I went back to the website and all tickets for those prices were gone, so I sent an email thanking her for the offer but the prices were back up to $341 so I wasn't going to purchase them. She went out of her way and got me the airfare for the $99 and assigned our seats for the whole round-trip travel. I may have been lucky and just got a nice employee or they may all be that way. After having to deal with Northwest Airlines for years it is nice to see some real customer service.

 

[Tiggerfan14]

I have flown airtran a few times. Hey some of their planes have XM Satelite radio to listen to throughout the entire flight, and you can use your own headphones too!!
I will be using it this sun and return thurs. but you can pick your seats up to 24hrs ahead of your flight. i figure that most people will be doing that since its a third of the price to do that.
i have actually seen prices from $49 each way to orlando and for normal flight times.
so for my money they are just as good as the others if not better

 

[28c234]

Found roundtrip air from NY to Orlando on Spirit Air for $125.40 pp (8-12 to 8-26). I've flown Spirit Air in the past and it's o.k. and within my price range.

 

[cyndibelle]

we always fly airtran..love them..we got a rate as low at 59 bucks each way once......never have a problem with them...

 

[Carys]

In December my sister and I flew on Airtran from WDW with one stopover. They oversold the first flight by one seat, and asked for volunteers to be bumped. We volunteered, and received a free upgrade of our replacement flights to business class, and a free return trip per person anywhere the airline flies valid for 1 year. Our replacement flights got us to our final destination only 90 minutes after our original scheduled arrival. We give Airtran the thumbs up for a decent bump policy and excellent customer service while booking (I accidently booked the wrong dates online - off by 3 months - and when I realised later that day, I called their customer service and it was no problem to change with no ticket change fee charged).

 

[puffkin]

I have been impressed with Airtran.

New planes, XM radio (complimentary headphones or use your own), soda and a snack, cheap fares.

They do change their schedule frequently, but it has always been in our favor. I also prefer booking my seats at check in rather than suffering through the Southwest cattle call.

It is a no frills airline, but we have been fairly happy with them out of PHL.

 

[keishashadow]

Honestly, I've never heard of it until I started planning for this trip....

Good?...Good enough to keep booking on despite them losing my luggage (initially denied responsibility/existence of bag but, when it showed up @ another customer's home; did give me vouchers to shut me up - lots of them ).

I find their fares to be consistently lower than SW out of PIT, and there's none of that line A, B & C business to deal with...

Do hate how they tinker with the flight times (couple of occasions I found out when checking fares on their web-site - no e-mail!).

Also, late flight out of MCO has been delayed, for hours, due to "acts of God" - non-compensatable reasons - of course.

But, we like their flight times to MCO, do their miles CC & have Wendy's vouchers, so we'll be flying them for a while.

Good luck.

 

[LtlTee]

I just found the $79 each way fare for my dates in August. I usually fly US Air, but the Air Tran rate is about $52 cheaper than US Air. Not being able to choose my seat ahead of time doesn't bother me (not flying with kids). The one thing that is bothering me is the possibility of them changing the flight times. I'm only going for 4 days (fly out early Fri and fly home late Mon), so if they change my Friday flight to a later one or my Monday flight to an earlier one, I lose a major chunk of my quickie vacation.

So, how often does this actually happen? Has it majorly changed anyones plans? I guess I have to decide if $52 is worth my piece of mind...

 

[allonte]

I love AirTran! I flew them for the first time on my way to MIA from Detroit. Bring headphones because they have free Satellite Radio on every seat!

 

[keishashadow]

I just found the $79 each way fare for my dates in August. I usually fly US Air, but the Air Tran rate is about $52 cheaper than US Air. Not being able to choose my seat ahead of time doesn't bother me (not flying with kids). The one thing that is bothering me is the possibility of them changing the flight times. I'm only going for 4 days (fly out early Fri and fly home late Mon), so if they change my Friday flight to a later one or my Monday flight to an earlier one, I lose a major chunk of my quickie vacation.

So, how often does this actually happen? Has it majorly changed anyones plans? I guess I have to decide if $52 is worth my piece of mind...

To/from PIT I've experienced in the area of half-hour or so delay but, from MCO they occas. tinker w/the last flight home (sometimes moving it up an hour, other times delayed an hour or so...always makes me nervous 'cause it's "the last flight out of Dodge"...hope we never get stuck but, always want to stretch out that last day @ the motherland .

I get more annoyed w/them not sending a conf. email all the time (of course, they insist they do); advise you to check before you travel. Good Luck.

 

[LtlTee]

To/from PIT I've experienced in the area of half-hour or so delay but, from MCO they occas. tinker w/the last flight home (sometimes moving it up an hour, other times delayed an hour or so...always makes me nervous 'cause it's "the last flight out of Dodge"...hope we never get stuck but, always want to stretch out that last day @ the motherland .

I get more annoyed w/them not sending a conf. email all the time (of course, they insist they do); advise you to check before you travel. Good Luck.

Thanks for your input! I guess an hour either way isn't too much of a big deal, and I wasn't planning on taking the absolute last flight out on the return trip home. (Although I also like to squeeze that last bit out of my day at WDW! ) I guess the key is to just keeping checking right up until you leave...