lowdown on Southwest vs Airtran

[kemommy]

Thanks!!

 

[Anal Annie]

We have always flown Southwest but for our trip in May their fares are high....$120.00 BWI to Orlando....so I checked into Airtran and they are $67 plus $15 per bag and I noticed that it is $6.00 per person to get a seat assigment and they charge $75 to cancel a reservation unlike Southwest.

I guess I am wondering if I should just wait for the southwest fares to come down although I am not thrilled with paying extra to get an "A" seat assigment.

Am I missing anything between these 2? should I wait for Southwest or is Airtran a good choice? Thanks!

Our airline of choice from BWI is Air Tran over SW...I'd much rather have an actual assigned seat than just a boarding group. As mentioned by others, if you book Air Tran thru kayak.com you can avoid actually paying the $6 pp fee for that. It's just some glitch in the computer system. They do offer a lot of flights from BWI - but you do have to watch for changes. If they change your orig. flight & it's not acceptable just call them and ask to be moved to the next best one. If you've done seat assignments make sure they keep your seats on the other flight too. (You may have to move a row or something.)

Meanwhile, we just booked Air Tran coming home and SW going DOWN over spring break as the Air Tran fares were higher when they first came out. At first I didn't do the EBCI thing but then a couple months later I went back & added it bcuz it's an evening flight at the start of spring break and it could be originating from somewhere else - more odds that we'd have trouble getting an 'A' at T24. It did irk me tho that I paid $10 pp and still don't have a seat number. We try to fly more in carry-ons now but it IS nice that the bags are still free on SW. I have a feeling that they're burying that in their ticket prices now tho.

I find it's funny that you're concerned that you may "have to" use Air Tran and I had the same feeling about using SW. Air Tran has a nice A+ Rewards program too. It only takes 4 flights (2 round trips) to have enough points for a free upgrade to Business Class. Splitting up our spring break trip messes us up on that one for our summer vacation. Their participation in the RAC program is another plus.

 

[Missytara]

If you book with Kayak, does that limit the ability to have Airtran move you to a more expensive flight if your flight time is changed since you are not dealing with Airtran directly?

You are dealing with Airtran directly. When you go to kayak.com and pick the Airtran flight you want, it will take you directly to their site.

The theory is that they do this, to get free advertising from kayak.com.... I haven't confirmed it, just a hunch.