Question about Airtran Standby policy

[mousey]

Anyone tried to get on an earlier flight with Airtran. I called and they said you could do standby for free on the day of the flight. We have a flight that leaves in the evening and there are 4 flights that leave earlier in the day. This is between Christmas and New Years. Any suggestions??

 

[Missytara]

I am not a seasoned flier by any means, but for what it is worth, I would think it would be risky trying to fly stand-by between Christmas and New Year's. So many people have so many different times off for the holidays, the airport will probably be busy that entire week.

Not sure I would want to hang around the airport for hours after I find out the other flights are completely booked and everyone made their flight.....I think it is up to personal choice.

 

[Goofy_Dad_24]

the day before I would go online and try to book seats on the earlier flights, so you can see how many seats are still available and therefore have a small idea of whether you will be able to get on the flight or not.

 

[mousey]

I was thinking the same thing about going the night before. I only live 20 min away from the airport so its not a big deal. The first flight out is 6:09am, 10:46am, 1:30pm and 7:05pm. Out of Atlanta where the connection for 3 of the flights is, there is 20 connections to Orlando. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[dudspizza]

I was thinking the same thing about going the night before. I only live 20 min away from the airport so its not a big deal. The first flight out is 6:09am, 10:46am, 1:30pm and 7:05pm. Out of Atlanta where the connection for 3 of the flights is, there is 20 connections to Orlando. Thanks for the suggestions.

Be very careful flying standby and having a connection. You could conceivably get on a flight out of your home airport, but then would still have to standby for the connecting flight in ATL. You could possibly get stranded there if you can't get on a flight.

Duds

 

[mousey]

I know one of the flights is non-stop which would be great, however, I will ask about the Atlanta connection. That's a good piece of advice.

 

[Lewisc]

You have to assume you'll get scattered middle seats. Think twice if you need to sit next to a child. I agree with the PP, don't board a flight that requires a connection unless AirTran is willing and able to confirm your connecting flight.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Last 3 trips we have taken we flew standby on Airtran for an earlier flight with no problem. We went to the ticket counter asked if they had seats on an earilier flight and they were able to give us tickets on the earlier flight as well as the contecting flight in Atlanta.

 

[mousey]

Middle seats are okay for us. It would be so nice to get into Florida before 11:30pm. When I booked the tickets that was the cheapest flight by over a $100. A few weeks later they opened up the non-stop but it would be $75 to change each reservation--times 5 that is not happening. I plan on going to the airport the night before and checking those am flights for availability though! If it works out fine, if not, at least we tried.

 

[mousey]

Thank you Shelley F. Finally a success story. I know it is a busy time to travel, but I would love to get in Orlando earlier than 11:30pm, so we will take the chance of standby.

 

[crashbb]

How many of you are traveling? Do you all need to be moved to same flight (I'm assuming "yes", but you never know).

Your chances of success are dependent on how many seats you need.

Since you are looking to go on an earlier flight, the worst that happens is that you waste a day at the airport and end up at WDW at the time you originally planned on getting there. Hoping to get onto a later flight or connecting through a different city, is much more risky.

 

[mousey]

There are 5 of us and we don't all need to be on the same flights--although it would be nice. We live 20 min from the airport so we can always just go back home and wait it out. I'm just mad that I chose that later flight because the prices were way up there and that was the only reasonable flight and then 2 wks later the non-stop goes the same price. Go figure!

 

[Pixie Princess]

Good luck with the standby mousey! With any luck, if you have to make a connection in ATL, you won't be forced to change concourses. That can be a big ol' mess in ATL. Sounds like you have lots of connecting flight options so you'll be able to have enough time to get from point A to point B.

 

[mousey]

Thanks Pixie Princess! I'm really hoping that the nonstop is the one with open seats, but, I know its probably going to be that early 6:09am flight if anything. If we do get on that early flight though, the last time this happened when we were scheduled for that early flight, a snowstorm occurred and that early flight was the only one that got out. I'm not going to stress over it, but I would sure like to get to Orlando earlier than 11:30pm.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Not sure what your chances will be with 5 of you flying stand by. It might be tough. When we did it there were just 2 of us and the flight did end up be completely full. So go prepared that it may be hard to get stand by with that many people.

There are 5 of us and we don't all need to be on the same flights--although it would be nice. We live 20 min from the airport so we can always just go back home and wait it out. I'm just mad that I chose that later flight because the prices were way up there and that was the only reasonable flight and then 2 wks later the non-stop goes the same price. Go figure!