Should I Trust ATA?

[Cinders1]

We have already booked a flight for June 5th with ATA. I read some distrubing information about the status of this airline on here so I contacted them. ATA is assurring me that the flights from Indy to Orlando will not be affected by their current situation. I am freaking out! I cannot get my money back and spent around $900.00 for our tickets. I am terrified I'll get to the airport in June and they will have gone belly up. Any ideas? Am I worring needlessly? Is anyone else set to fly from Indy early June on ATA?

 

[CarolA]

There is not much you can do except keep watching.

 

[sgtdisney]

I have to agree with CarolA. There isn't much you can do right now. Your tickets are bought, and unless they really shift your schedule around they won't refund your money.

Personally, at this point I wouldn't buy tickets from ATA anymore than a month or less out and then only if they were the only option. I think you will be alright since you are in Indy and that is the market they are trying to keep at this point. But really all you can do is wait.

 

[inkkognito]

At this point, I would trust them about as far as I could throw one of their 757-300 jets. We were frequent flyers on ATA (at least two round trips per month), and I've lost count of the broken promises. Read the threads about people who have been flipped over to SW for their flights and proceed with CAUTION. I used to be very loyal to ATA, but if they announced tomorrow that they were reinstating the Chicago to Orlando route and were selling tickets for $50 each, I still wouldn't touch 'em. I ended up giving away the tickets we earned as frequent fliers just so they wouldn't go to waste.
Barb

 

[twinscandc]

Cinders =

We are in the same boat as you. We bought our tickets with ATA in January. It wasn't a week later that they announced all the cancellations, etc.

My DH has spoken with ATA several times and they have assured us that our flights will go.

The thing I'm most upset about now is that we had great flight times to begin with and now they have moved our times later for leaving Indy and earlier when leaving Orlando!! That upsets me b/c it's less time at Disney....Oh well. We got a pretty good airfare - $109 RT. We are just keeping our fingers crossed!!

 

[SB in KY]

The good news is that they are now code sharing with SW....so if ATA goes belly up SW will honor their tickets...so at least you won't be stranded.

 

[MinnieMe67]

I too WAS a loyal ATA customer. Have taken several trips with them over the past couple of years. We fly out of Midway in Chicago as well, and when the whole ATA situation hit the fan last year, we were assured by ATA, even going so far as to place ads in the Chicago papers, that they wouldn't be leaving Midway. My oh my how a new year has changed things.

It is true that they haven't left Midway, but with the schedule they have left us they might as well have left. There are no flights to Orlando at all. I think the closest might be Ft. Myers. Why would I fly to Ft. Myers? Doesn't it make more sense to fly into Orlando? Maybe flying into Ft. Myers doesn't cost them as much.

I also heard that they are scaling back their Indianapolis operations moreso than originally thought. If they're doing this at their home hub, it doesn't really bode to well in my mind for their viability. I really hope they get their act back together and reinstate more service from Midway. But, it now looks as though I'm going to have to abandon Midway and fly out of O'Hare. Geez...I hate having to fight the traffic going all the way up there. Midway was just more convenient.

Hey Ted...do you hear opportunity knocking at your door??

 

[EdDome]

I was holding ATA reservations to MCO from MDW in mid-June. Since ATA has been bumping to SW, I called to find out if my flights changed. The agent confirmed that after March, ATA won't have any routes to MCO, not even through Indy. I requested a refund and booked on SW at the same price.

 

[cdrn1]

I took a chance yesterday and booked May flights with ATA out of Indy. We had a free voucher from some problems with a previous flight that was expiring soon. They are down to one flight a day each way for the time we are going but the times fit so I booked it. I'll keep my fingers crossed. They were my favorite airline for Indy to Orlando. So sad about the bankruptcy.

 

[WDWBetsy]

I am being really risky I guess! I'm right outside of Indianapolis and hoping that ATA will get back on its feet. Booked our flights for late November through ATA. I had a free companion ticket to use up, so I have 2 tickets nonstop from Indy to MCO for $201.90.

The way I look at it, if people stop booking at all with them, they will go belly up. I'm just going to keep an eye on the situation and hope for the best.

If not, we'll drive if we have to!!! Or pay out the wazoo for alternate tickets!

 

[DVCBob2]

We to were loyal ATA customers. Just back from our Reaccom. flight from Midway to LAX. We originally had n/s flights but were changed to a connecting flight out (four hours earlier) and a s/o on the way back. A couple of observations. No flight left on time. The no assigned seating is NOT more efficient. On two segments it took 1.5 hours for beverage service to arrive and we were in the first 10 rows each time. Preboarding is abused! Will fly with SW in March for spring break (Reaccom. from ATA) but not again after that. Just my two cents.

 

[inkkognito]

I felt the same way was WDWBetsy until ATA kept telling lies...we're not pulling out of Midway...yes we are...we're staying in Indy...no, we're not. We bought tickets on them for as long as we could, even after the problems, and I am very sorry about the bankruptcy and subsequent implosion...it destroyed what once was a very good airline. We had great luck with them (on-time, customer service, etc.) up until the time they were deep into their problems, and they had the most generous frequent flyer program anywhere. Now we have no loyalty to any other carrier...since we have to travel from Chicago to MCO couple of times a month, we've been splitting between Ted, Air-Tran, SW, and even American (they just had a good sale). I have yet to take my first SW flight...I'm NOT looking forward to the cattle call, but I will just keep reminded myself that the price was right. ATA's competition was what kept the prices reasonable to MCO from Chicago, and I really miss them.
Barb