Should everyone in my family have an Airtran A+ acoount??

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Is there really any benefit if we only travel once a year max?? I have an account...but don't know that I've received anything because of it yet...not sure that we travel enough. Thanks for any help!

 

[NYDisneyKid]

Is there really any benefit if we only travel once a year max?? I have an account...but don't know that I've received anything because of it yet...not sure that we travel enough. Thanks for any help!

are you talking frequent flier account? (accrue miles). yes do join because you can always transfer miles to someone else so maybe one person can end up flying free somewhere in the future.

 

[Donaldswife]

are you talking frequent flier account? (accrue miles). yes do join because you can always transfer miles to someone else so maybe one person can end up flying free somewhere in the future.

This! If everyone has an account you can transfer all their credits to one account and get a free ticket. You never know when you MIGHT have to travel more than once per year (illness/death in family, out of state job opportunity, unforeseen once in a lifetime opportunity-ie free SuperBowl tix ) and the credits could be useful to you or someone close to you. Plus, only 2 roundtrips with Airtran and you have enough credits (4) to upgrade to business class. I paid the fee at the airport to upgrade to business class last month on Airtran, and I have to tell you it is very nice to have that extra room and be comfortable while you are flying.
Airtran also lets you buy additional credits for $39 each so if you are only one or two credits away from a free ticket you can buy them and possibly save some serious $$$$ depending on where you need to fly.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

i have 143,737 miles todate and more to come next month and in may.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

so it really isn't a "miles" program...but credit?

 

[Christine9125]

So, if I have this correct, with my account, I am only going to get the points for my ticket, not the 5 I am buying with my account for my family?

 

[Traveliz]

So, if I have this correct, with my account, I am only going to get the points for my ticket, not the 5 I am buying with my account for my family?

Correct - and there is a fee to transfer their credits to you so that doesn't always work out to be cost effective.

Liz

 

[Christine9125]

Correct - and there is a fee to transfer their credits to you so that doesn't always work out to be cost effective.

Liz

Thanks I am signing them all up right now

 

[Christine9125]

1 more question, how do you register children who don't have email?

 

[NYDisneyKid]

1 more question, how do you register children who don't have email?

i believe you can use your email. my granny (deceased now) still gets email at mine.

 

[keishashadow]

1 more question, how do you register children who don't have email?

gmail or hotmail works for the kiddos

ps even if you don't use the credits before the expiry date, please donate them on AT's website to charity (troop leave)

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Big bummer alert!! So when I called up Airtran to sign up the rest of my family...she explained how you get one credit per flight...and after 8 credits (4 round trip tickets) you get a free one-way flight. I thought...great....we fly once a year to WDW...so after four years/trips...we'll each get a free one-way ticket...cutting our cost in half...NOT!!! They expire after ONE YEAR!!! So unless you take FOUR or more round trip tickets a year....there is no point!

 

[NYDisneyKid]

my miles are with american. they never expire as long as there is some type of activity on the account. they have partners with them that i use to keep it active,,,mostly dining at certain restaurants and car rentals.

 

[Christine9125]

gmail or hotmail works for the kiddos

ps even if you don't use the credits before the expiry date, please donate them on AT's website to charity (troop leave)

I set up a hotmail account for my daughter, but can't sign her up for A+ without calling first to set her up

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

you don't need to set up emails for your children...you can use your own email...trust me....I already signed up all four of my kids on the phone this way.

 

[TaraPA]

Like everyone else pointed out, and as you already found out, the program isn't as great as other airlines. Yes you can sign kids up on your email via telephone, but it costs $19 per point to transfer points, so it's usually more expensive to transfer a few points than it is to just buy a ticket. And yes they expire after a year - you can pay to extend them, but again, not cost effective.

I always seem to get just to the 8 points I need, and then have nothing planned & lose them. I had 4 points expiring Feb. 15th so I cashed them in for a busines class upgrade voucher last week. Now I have 1 year to use the voucher - so keep that in mind, you can cash out your points for a reward close to when they expire, and then you have 1 year from that point to use the reward. I don't know if this works for flights - not sure they award "vouchers" for flights or not.

I've found the best way to accumulate points is with their gift certificate sale, which I think is the beginning of January. For about 2 weeks you get 1 A+ reward for each $100 in Airtran gift certs you buy. Since we usually travel in March, I'm ready to book at that point & buy however many $100 gift cards that I need to pay for the flights. Then I turn around & use them to book right away.

I just booked flights on AT today with no promos or codes, it killed me! About a month ago I got fares of $62 each way ($145 total RT) for my 1st trip in March (12-16) so it was hard to hit "purchase now" for 3 tickets at $200 each for March 22-28. But I've been watching the dates like a hawk for weeks & they've only increased. Last year at this time they were up & down frequently, and I took the risk of waiting to book 2 weeks out & it paid off. Since I didn't see any price fluctuation in the last 4 weeks I just bit the bullet & bought them. Now I'll play the watching game to see if they go down, so I can call & get a credit towards another flight, or towards seat assignments.

Tracking airfare can be a full time job!

 

[disneygma11]

Can anyone explain how this AirTran program works? I recently signed up and have joined the emiles program and already earned enough for a half of a credit. How many credits does it take to earn a free round trip ticket? Also, when we book our flights I will be purchasing seven tickets, so I am only gonna get credit for my flight alone and not the rest of my family? If I sign them up can they get credit as well? I am new and have only flown once in my life when I was 16. So I am in no way familiar with rewards programs or airlines. I just knew that Airtran seems to be one of the cheapest airlines out of STL going to MCO so that is why I chose them. Any thoughts?

 

[TaraPA]

Hi disneygma!

The Airtran frequent flyer program is different from other airlines because you don't accrue miles, you accrue points. You earn 1 point per one-way ticket. It takes 8 points to get a free one-way ticket, 16 points for a free round-trip ticket. With 4 points you can get a voucher for a Business Class upgrade.

You are correct, if you purchase tickets in other people's names, you do not get the points. You only earn points on your own flights. You can set up an account for each person flying, then they will each get their own points.

I am also a member of e-miles and e-rewards. You can earn 1/2 or 1 A+ point for your credits accumulated there. Just be aware that once you transfer credits from those programs, they will expire in one year, so don't transfer them until you need them. Also, you can often only request one award per every 6-months with some programs like e-miles & e-rewards - so even if you have enough credits to get 4 A+ points, you can only request 1 every 6 months.

You can get the Airtran A+ credit card to accumulate points faster, but it has an annual fee, so I won't sign up for it.

I've come to the conclusion that you have to fly several times a year on Airtran to get any benefit from the program, unless you have the credit card, or are in some other promo with them. I'll be flying them 3 times this year & still don't see how I'll have enough for anything other than a Business Class Upgrade voucher. Hey I'll take it - the program is free, so why should I complain. Airtran's fares are cheaper than the major carriers (in our airport anyway) so that's a plus to me.

Another thing to keep in mind - with Airtran merging with Southwest next year (or at some point), the whole A+ Rewards program might just disappear.

 

[maciec]

I have their cc and it's wonderful for us. We pay for everything with it and pay it off at the end of the month. I have earned a lot of free flights for our family. Even if it just pays for 1 ticket that cancels out the price of the annual fee. Oh and with the cc you get 2 $50 off a rountrip ticket coupons.

 

[keishashadow]

Hi disneygma!

Another thing to keep in mind - with Airtran merging with Southwest next year (or at some point), the whole A+ Rewards program might just disappear.

those of us who do participate are awaiting wordmore than likely it'll just merge into SWAs imo

re their CC: the points are good for 2 years. they did start charging an annual fee a couple of years ago but as stated above the reward vouchers more than offset it.