Please give me your thoughts on airtran?

[mckinley]

I have never flown airtran, we have only used delta, sw & american. I found a little cheaper rate using bookingbuddy.com. Its flying american to orlando but airtran flying back home. I would much rather use them than sw so we don't have to worry about being able to sit together.

Do you get assigned seats?
Do they change your flights often?
Any other thoughts please. I just am unsure about if its worth saving the extra $ on.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You do not get assigned seats unless you pay for them the start at $6. 00 per person per flight segment.
I like airtran. I have flown with them a few times and have never had an issue. The concourse they fly out of at Orlando does not seem to be as crowded.

Check on the transporation tread for the link to get a $25 off coupon and use it on your flight. I booked one way tickets for our up coming trip and saved $100 for the two of us. They only allow one coupon per email address so you might want to open up a new email acct with hotmail or yahoo to get multiple coupons.

As with any airline there is always a chance that your flight times might change or they may cancel the flight all together. If so then just call them they will change your flight or refund your money.

 

[jamounger]

If you go through kayak to book airtran there is no charge to choose seats.

 

[DVCBELLE]

You should check out airtran and see what the one way charges are for the flight. The coupons are good for $25 off the flight for each member of your party. If you book as two one-ways you would get the $25 off each leg. You would need a coupon emailed for each member of your party to separate email addresses. I made some up on gmail.

the link is airtran.com/sunshine

You can also book through Kayak.com (this site finds the fare and then links you directly to airtran) and then you don't have to pay the $6 seat fee.

They do change flight times a lot but when they do, they will let you change your flight.

We love Airtran. I find them to be the most accomodating airline we have used!

 

[mckinley]

thanks for the replys i will check out airtran coupons

 

[jamie@dvcstore]

Hi mckinley,
I have flown Air Tran more times than I can count and I would say for 90% of our trips. I love them. You used to be able to choose your seats though with the recent changes i.e. paying for checked luggage, now you have to pay to choose them.

I have never had a problem with this as I usually check in online 24 hours in advance and you can choose seats then. I also had one trip where I checked in at the airport the day of the flight and the seats still were not that bad.

They often offer an opportunity to upgrade to first class for a $59-$99 charge when you check in online. I have done it before on the longer flights we take and it has been worth the money.

Good luck on the tickets and have a great trip.
________
Buy e cigs

 

[mckinley]

I went ahead and booked with Airtran allthough the fairs was up a little higher today than yesterday. I just had disney book it with our pkg, they was able to book the same flight and rates i was going to get on the internet myself. I wasn't able to use the coupons though since my travel dates was past the coupons date. I also chose not to pay the extra for picking my seats, airtran cm did tell me when i called them that my dd9 would not be put by herself(hope thats true) In all i did save $262 better than nothing. Now if my flights just don't get changed or cancelled i will be in good shape.

 

[DVCBELLE]

I went ahead and booked with Airtran allthough the fairs was up a little higher today than yesterday. I just had disney book it with our pkg, they was able to book the same flight and rates i was going to get on the internet myself. I wasn't able to use the coupons though since my travel dates was past the coupons date. I also chose not to pay the extra for picking my seats, airtran cm did tell me when i called them that my dd9 would not be put by herself(hope thats true) In all i did save $262 better than nothing. Now if my flights just don't get changed or cancelled i will be in good shape.

Just a head's up that the Airtran rep was wrong.

They will seat your DD seperately from you if there are not seats available together. You HAVE to check in at the 24 hour mark if you have any hope of getting seats together.

I have seen parents who were seperated from their children. I used to feel the same way until I read about stuff on here - how would you feel if you had paid for seats and someone who didn't pay got your seat instead b/c they had a child? Airtran will not move people who paid out of their seats for you. They will ask if anyone will move but they can't promise someone will.

Odds are - as long as you check in at the 24 hour mark - that you will be seated with her but it is not guaranteed. If it is important to you that you be with her or you can't check in at the 24 hour mark - you should probably pay the seat assignment fee.

For future reference - if you had booked through Kayak.com - they would have waived the seat fees and you wouldn't have to worry about it. Also, since Disney booked your seats - if there are any changes to your flights - you will have to deal with Disney instead of Airtran now.

 

[MissRoseDarrensAngel]

My mother booked our flights with Airtran thru AAA.

On the way there, I sat with my nephew and my niece sat with my mother. We didn't check in 24 hours ahead either. We checked in at the airport.

On the way back, the RAC issued our passes @ Pop and my niece (7) and nephew (9) ended up sitting in one seat, me in another seat, my mother sitting right behind the kids. My mother pleaded some with a flight attendant, and the lady who was sitting with my sister's kids on the return flight kindly swapped seats with my mother so she could sit with the kids.

 

[hsmamato2]

to the pp's...from where I see it- going through airtran site itself and buying a seat is cheaper than using kayak,as kayak is saying $99 for the same flights that are posted as $89 on airtran.com......
I'm ticked b/c they were $69 2 weeks ago......

 

[dawgrif]

Did you click to go to got to the Airtran site while you were on the Kayak site? On the Airtran site it showed a rate of 49 and on Kayak it showed 89. Once I clicked through I was able to get the 49 price and free seats so the initial price on Kayak was not the real price.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Did you click to go to got to the Airtran site while you were on the Kayak site? On the Airtran site it showed a rate of 49 and on Kayak it showed 89. Once I clicked through I was able to get the 49 price and free seats so the initial price on Kayak was not the real price.

Sometimes if the price change has been recently - then Kayak doesn't always show it but as soon as you click through - you WILL always get the current Airtran.com price.

 

[hsmamato2]

OH!!!!! ack....if I had only known this before booking 1 leg of our trip already....so,how does the free seat thin through kayak work? is it automatic,if I click through kayak to the airtran site?

 

[StregaNona]

I bought two seats on Airtran's web site (without seat assignments). Then I called the airline and explained why I preboard on another airline (Southwest). Airtran gave me assigned seats right then and there, and I did not have to pay anything. Hopefully the seats will be available next month !

 

[dawgrif]

OH!!!!! ack....if I had only known this before booking 1 leg of our trip already....so,how does the free seat thin through kayak work? is it automatic,if I click through kayak to the airtran site?

Yes you can pick you seat at no charge once you click through.

 

[HappyHappy]

My son booked Airtran thru Disney. I tracked his flight every day and when they changed his flight time, I was able to change the flight # and time thru Airtran - no charge. Disney didn't notify him of the original Airtran change until about a month later.

 

[mckinley]

thanks for the heads up on the cm being wrong, & about disney having to change all the flight information. I will keep tabs on it daily till we go allthough i do hope we dont get changed.

Can i go ahead and still pay for the seat assignments now or am i to late?

Also i was also told that since my flights are early in the day they are less likely to change early flights?

 

[Zoo Keeper]

Be sure you have time to spare. Airtran frequently changes flight times
I just flew them yesterday out of Orlando through Atlanta to Philadelphia
They announced 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time that due to mandatory crew rest the flight would not depart until 3 hours later. They then went on to tell us that everyone on the flight needed to go to customer service to rebook connections. (so imagine that mad rush) (and btw, a woman in the line had said she was supposed to leave a day earlier but they cancelled that flight) So instead of getting home at 5:30, we arrived at 9:10 (and then had a two hour drive)
Also on every leg yesterday there were families delaying the boarding process by trying to get people to change seats so they can sit together. (on one flight it was a family of 10 )

I probably won't use Airtran again after my own expereince and reading the boards.


You can check the on time stats for flights on www.flightstats.com

 

[mckinley]

I went ahead and called airtran and they let me select my seats, i didn't have to go through disney to do it.

Zoo Keeper, I sure hope that doesn't happen to us. We have been delayed evertime we have flew do to weather, but never had to worry about changing our flights. If something like this does happen to us i will most definitly pay the extra next time. Thanks for the link to check status on flights i will keep track of it.

If they cancel and we can't get on a flight till next day, do they compensate for a hotel room?

Since i paid for my seats do they make sure we are sitting together if we have to change flights?

 

[3disfans]

You should check out airtran and see what the one way charges are for the flight. The coupons are good for $25 off the flight for each member of your party. If you book as two one-ways you would get the $25 off each leg. You would need a coupon emailed for each member of your party to separate email addresses. I made some up on gmail.

the link is airtran.com/sunshine

You can also book through Kayak.com (this site finds the fare and then links you directly to airtran) and then you don't have to pay the $6 seat fee.

They do change flight times a lot but when they do, they will let you change your flight.

We love Airtran. I find them to be the most accomodating airline we have used![/QUOTE




I would love to take advanage of this if I could. We are traveling Dec 15-26, most likely FNT to MCO, but maybe DET to MCO for the return for better flight times and a non-stop..
Airtran did change our flight time from leaving at 7:00a to leaving at 7:30a., can I cancel my reservation without fees because of this?

I just love the thought of saving some money where we can!!
Thank you all so much!!