SouthWest or AirTran From PHL to MCO??

[Bill From PA]

I just booked a quicky stay at Swan for the Food&Wine thing in '07 and we want to do this on the cheap. I'm looking to drive to PHL and do the park 'n fly at a nearby hotel and catch a direct flight early on 10/11 with either AirTran or SouthWest. I've never used either nor have I ever booked a flight where I didn't know my seating before we boarded. It will just be the two of us. Any advice on either of these carriers or tips on getting seats together would be appreciated. Also, is the chance of being bumped any greater here as opposed the the legacy airlines?

Thanks,

Bill From PA

 

[NJDad18]

Our trip in December we flew down on Southwest and we flew back on AirTran. The key with Southwest is to print your boarding passes 24 hours prior to the departure time so you get the A seats. You will see at the Southwest gates there are sections for A, B and C. People will start lining up at the A line pretty early. You can go that if you choose. As long as your A you're one of the first people on the plane and you'll have your choice of seats.

On our return trip we flew AirTran and we could not pick seats until we checked in for the flight. We checked in 24 hours prior to departure at the Boardwalk concierge desk. It was no problem getting 4 seats in a row.

For our anniversary trip a few years ago we flew Southwest both ways and we had A for the way down and C for the way back. The flight attendants were very good on the flight and asked some people to change their seats so DW and I could sit together.

Bottom line, as long as you print you boarding passes early for Southwest, you'll have no problems sitting together. You can print you boarding passes at the concierge desk at any WDW hotel.

 

[CarolA]

With AirTran you can book your seats 24 hours in advance.

However, having flown both of them several times I really perfer SW. SW has a better on time record and generally nicer employees IMHO. I don't find the seating to be an issue. Also with SW you have a smaller chance of a bump then the legacy airlines, they don't overbook as much. Not sure about AirTran.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We even had B boarding passes once and still got 4 of us together. Yes, it was further back, maybe a little past the wings, but still no big deal at all. The SW employees really make a difference for us. They're funny and seem to like their job. Our flight last Sept/Oct. were $44 each way.
They have plenty of non-stop flights from PHL. Good luck

 

[Mark P.]

Another vote for Southwest, Bill.
We've flown them from PHL several times now, and have had no problems to date. We've always been on time, and sat together (family of 4), with the "coveted" A pass.

We've been staying at the Dolphin lately (Govt. dicsount), and one nice perk in staying there is being able to print out boarding passes at the kiosk in the lobby 24 hours before flying.

Enjoy the festival...We did it last October, and it was great!

-Mark

 

[helenk]

While I have had excellent service with Airtran I really prefer either SW or even USairways. Airtran really changes their schedules alot, with a bigger time difference than I have experienced with Usairways.
With SW I have never had any problems getting an A boarding pass, I just go on line and get the boarding pass at the 24 hour window.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Only had one problem with SW which was weather related. I can't blame them because it affected almost every single air carrier in the PHL airport on the evening of Dec 1. My husband was due to meet up with us in WDW and he had an 8 pm flight. We had flown out at 7 am. Bad weather came in to Philly (high winds and rain) and on top of that, a snow storm had hit the midwest that afternoon. Air travel was paralyzed and it was a trickle down effect of delays across the board. He eventually flew out at 2 am.
But I'm with the others....as long as you can print out your boarding passes 24 hours in advance, you'll be ok.

 

[Blondiex46]

I went air tran last year and it was fine. I am waiting for the Ding for Southwest to open up for June (they are open up until then) to see what the prices would be. I already checked AT and they are 99.00 one way.

 

[Bill From PA]

Thanks for all the input. The note by MiaSRN62 strikes a chord regarding something I forgot about our March '06 trip. We were due to fly out of PHL via USAir early on March 2. The night before it was all over the local news that the ice storm of the century was coming the next morning. We got up to light drizzle, no Ice, caught the shuttle to PHL and took off on time. While in the shuttle, the driver said that SouthWest had already cancelled all morning flights and things were a mess at PHL with passengers scrambling for flights. We didn't notice anythig out of the ordinary, and I never bothered to verify the shuttle driver's story, but it does give me pause. Other DISers I know got off the ground from PHL even later in the day. At any rate, it appears that either would be a good, and cheap, choice because ice or snow are not likely mid March.

Bill From PA

 

[MiaSRN62]

At any rate, it appears that either would be a good, and cheap, choice because ice or snow are not likely mid March.

I'm holdin' ya to this Bill because I am no fan of PA winters !
But, we have had some snow/ice in mid to late March. I believe last year or the year before was one such season. I was caught coming home from work at around midnight by the local nbc10 TV crew outside a Wawa where I made a pitstop (Wawa is similar to a 7-11 for those that aren't familiar). Anyway, the reporter (Mike Strug if you get the Philly broadcast in Wilks Barre Bill), decided he wanted to interview me live for the local news about the snow/ice we had gotten that day. I think it was about 3 inches of snow with some sleet thrown in as well. It was already spring because I recall stating this on TV. I have memories of getting even bigger snowfall amounts in March, but we will just let those possibilities fall off.......I've got my fingers crossed for you Bill, because if you have to travel during the winter, mid March is probably the safest bet.

 

[Disneyhappy]

I fly frequently out of PHL on either SW, Airtran or US Air for work and pleasure. If rates are equal, I prefer being able to pick my seat when I check in on line with Airtran. Airtran is known to change its flight times so I usually keep checking them weekly. I can usually find better rates with SW, especially if a Ding comes along. One thing I like about SW is that there is no penalty to cancel or change a flight. If it is a non-refundable flight, you will be given a credit for a future flight. In the last 2 years, I have had to cancel or change flights with SW about 8 times and it was great not having a penalty. If you are leaving in the early morning, try a Park and Fly hotel although I think their prices have skyrocketed lately. We usually park at Ampco off of Island Ave. It is easy to get to off of Route 95. There is usually a coupon on the internet and they give $1 off with a AAA card. I have found them to be the best shuttle service with minimal waits to be picked up.
Good Luck!