Jet Blue, Air Tran or Southwest???

[CJK]

We're thinking of going to WDW this fall so I'm investigating flights. We've flown Southwest a few times before, but aren't thrilled with the seating arrangement set up. However, their prices are the cheapest as of right now. What are Jet Blue and Air Tran like? I'm interested in hearing about your experiences. TIA!!!

 

[marty15]

Can't speak for the other two, but we've flown with Jet Blue and have found it exceptional. Personal TVs, quickest checkin, clean, cheap... I'm sure there's some negatives, but I don't think there are any perfect airlines.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Curious to know what you don't like about Southwest's seating arrangements? I like it much better now that when you sign in you get a particular order for boarding so that you don't have to line up at the airport.

 

[CJK]

Thanks for the replies so far!

I actually don't mind lining up at the airport itself in category A, B, C... I just really don't like HAVING to check-in online exactly 24hrs beforehand to make sure we get a good spot. More often than not, I don't have a computer handy, or I have to wake up at an inconvenient hour, etc... I much prefer pre-assigned seats - preferrably at time of purchase, but even at check-in is better.

Do Jet Blue or Air Tran have pre-assigned seats?

 

[corky441]

Can't speak for the other two, but we've flown with Jet Blue and have found it exceptional. Personal TVs, quickest checkin, clean, cheap... I'm sure there's some negatives, but I don't think there are any perfect airlines.

I'll 2nd that - My husband & I LOVE JetBlue. In addition to what was said before - they have the newest planes and leg room to die for.

I always book my flights as soon as possible with them - then I watch their site and as soon as I seen a reduction in price I call and get a credit for the difference. On our last trip, I called 3 different times when the prices went down. I now have a credit with them that will pay for my next fight in full.

Yes, they have pre-assigned seating.

 

[shoppgirl]

I love Jetblue because they have seatback direct tv screens, preassigned seating, and resort airline checkin! However, their flights are more expensive than Southwest. We bought one way tickets on each airline.

Flying down on Southwest so a little nervous about that. I wonder how strict they adhere to the boarding order. Last time I flew Southwest, I know for a fact there were people with higher numbers than I bording first because they don't care and just went to the front to line up. The flight was empty so not a big deal and it was just DH and I.

I bit the bullet and just purchased our flights home on Jetblue because we had vouchures and we want to use the resort airline checkin since our flight isn't until late afternoon. Our flight last year on Jetblue was delayed by more than 3 hours and they quickly compensated us with vouchures and gave us free pay per view on the flight!

 

[mc'smommy]

Southwest gets two thumbs up from me, cheap flights and no charge for 2 pieces of luggage....And NO charge to change your flights and a credit should the flights change in price...

 

[dancin Disney style]

I have flown with SW and AirTran. My brother flys Jetblue often. He would agree with what has been posted.

As to SW and ATA I have no complaints about either one. We will book the cheapest flight. SW has been very good to us in the past. One time in particular we had a very rough flight to MCO and my DD was really scared. On our return trip we were assigned 'C' boarding cards. My DD was crying, afraid she would have to sit alone. Since she was over the age for pre-boarding I thought we might have a problem. I went up to the podium at the gate and explained what had taken place and they were more than happy to allow us to pre-board. They even took us on first with a crew member.

We are going with ATA again this year because the fare was about $300 less than SW. However, they do charge for checking a bag and if you want to pre-assign your seats you have to pay for that too. The baggage fee is $15 and the seats are $6 one way. So adding that in we are still getting our 4 tickets for $610. The only negative with ATA is that they sometimes change flight schedules but if they do you can often change to another flight at no cost to you. The times we have traveled with them we have not had any issues other than one minor change in a layover. They made it about 20 minutes longer than when I had booked.

 

[DISNEY4TROY]

Lol, I'll put in my 2cents hehee. So I've flown Air Canada all my life every time, no matter what. Their customer service is Canada's top notch for our country (lol, its not near close to the luxury of those other carriers across the pond(lol the Atlantic, heh or pacific depending where you live) lol, but anyhow... My last trip I held my breath as I booked my JetBlue Ticket..I had to drive across the border as a certain little someone didn't have a passport yet lol long story short, it was no ``air canada`` but it did have the real-time tv and plenty of leg room. The FA's were a bit more casually dressed and they did not brief me about flying with my nine month old (I was SHOCKed), but it got me from point A. to point B. pretty quick (1hour delay but thats like that anyway in December) and it was pennies compared to the price of A.C. so I will reccoment Jet blue, lol as I know nothing about any other one

 

[michelle1]

We typically fly SW and have always had excellent service. I had booked with Airtrans once before and ended up cancelling it (they gave me a full refund) because they kept changing flight times and a non stop flight turned into a flight with a stop so never again. For our next trip we are going with Jetblue on the way down and SW on the way home. The prices were comparable so I went with 2 different airlines to get the best non stop flight times. This will be our first time on JB but the prices have dropped recently so I now have a credit with them for 1 year. I would say in Jetblues favour are the TVs and preassigned seating but SW doesn't charge to make any changes and 2 free bags.

 

[riu girl]

Does anyone have any idea how Airtran is doing financially? I have booked SWA for the past several years but this December want to fly to a destination that SWA does not go to.

Any info. would be really appreciated.

Thank you

 

[rune_74]

Funny I would never call air canada's service "top notch" It usually gets one of the worst costumer service ratings in the industry.

 

[WDWcanuck]

I can understand what you mean about the seating arrangements with Southwest. You pretty much have to ensure that you're near a computer 24 hours before your flight so you can get on the plane first.

In terms of Air Tran, I found that the service/experience was onpar with other carriers, like Delta, United, and US Airways. I upgraded to the emergency exit the one time and found that made a huge difference. Regardless, it's still a standard experience.

With that being said...

My preference has always been for JetBlue. You do get a few more inches of legroom compared to the other airlines. I upgraded to the 38" legroom and, even though the space was great, found that it wasn't necessary the next time I flew with them. If you happen to get on the E90 planes (they have 2 x 2 seating), sit in rows 13 and up. They have a bit more space than the rows in the front. The A320s all have 34" of legroom, unless you get the upgraded 38". Oh...plus, you get a TV at your seat!