Tell me about Airtran from Boston

[Simba's Mom]

I'm trying to find a non-stop flight from Boston for my parents and Airtran came up. What can you tell me about them? Do they have seating like most other airlines (not Southwest style). My parents want assigned seating. Anything I should know about Airtran? And can anyone recommend any other airlines non-stop out of Boston, Providence, or Hartford?

 

[TheWog]

Assigned seating is an extra fee service. You need to pay to choose your seats, but you can do it. They seem to change the schedule a lot, particularly if you book very early. They have XM radio at the seats. We paid for the upgrade on the return trip to the business class seats and it was worth every penny. The seats seemed more cramped than I was used to.

JetBlue out of Boston is our choice lately. Roomy seats, tvs at each seat, decent to competetive fares (depending on when your trip is).

 

[myfavvac]

I have flown to Florida on both AirTran from Boston and Southwest from Manchester Airport in New Hampshire and have had only positive experiences from both. The only exception was AirTran was very slow to unload the checked baggage. I am flying down to Orlando on AirTran again in a few weeks and was able to book using promotion codes, which if you sign up twice using two email addresses, will allow you a $25 discount for each passenger. http://www.airtran.com/sunshine/ When booking through AirTran online for a $6 fee each way you can reserve and choose your own seats in advance which I strongly recommend. I checked AirTran's website every night and deleted my cookies on the computer until I got a fare I could live with. Non-stop out of Logan for $89 each way. Hope this helps.

 

[areno79]

We looked at Airtran and Jetblue for our upcoming trip, and Jetblue ended up being about $250 cheaper with better flight times AND nonstop both ways. I've never flown JB, but I've heard good things, and you don't have to pay to have assigned seating. The only downside is that JB only flies out of BOS, and Manchester is WAY more convenient for me, since I live literally a mile down the road from the airport.

 

[TheWog]

We looked at Airtran and Jetblue for our upcoming trip, and Jetblue ended up being about $250 cheaper with better flight times AND nonstop both ways. I've never flown JB, but I've heard good things, and you don't have to pay to have assigned seating. The only downside is that JB only flies out of BOS, and Manchester is WAY more convenient for me, since I live literally a mile down the road from the airport.

We live about 15 mins south of you on Route 3 and love flying out of MHT (family would drop us off). However, JB makes it worth it for us to fly out Logan. I think you will like JetBlue. We use a car service to get to Logan and it works out great.

 

[areno79]

Cool! I work in Nashua, and live on the Litchfield line, so sometimes I "forget" that I'm a Manchester resident

I'm thinking we're going to drive and park the car at Logan. Not my first choice, but it is the cheapest and easiest option. I'm hoping traffic won't be too bad, since our flight leaves BOS at 8am on a Saturday.

 

[Minniekins]

Have not flown out of Boston, but have flown out of Chicago. I've had no problems and been very happy with them. Sometimes they do change flight times so you need to keep checking that, but if the changes won't work for you, you can change to another flight within about, I think, 24 hrs of that flight time before or after. If nothing else at all will work you can get a full refund if flights times are changed, more than about 30 min(again, I think). I think their prices are great compared to anything else I can find so I don't mind the possibility of time changes. This next trip is the only one I've actually had a bigger time change, but it actually works great for us.

Also, if you book AT through Kayak . com there is no charge for making a seat assignment ahead of time. I just learned this this trip and it worked great. I went to Kayak and looked for the trip I wanted, it brought up the AT flights which were same price(well it's about ten dollars higher, but it's the same as AT in the end when AT adds on the fees), then clicked on the link that goes directly to AT, then booked my trip directly through AT. So after the initial start at kayak, you deal directly with AT after that. I signed into my account at AT and chose my flights I wanted and selected my seats and though it says the charge is $6 on the page where you select seats, the charge for the seats on the invoice page is $0.00. So, booking through kayak saves a little bit anyway and you still get to pick your seats! You can still use your coupons, too.

Anyway, hope some of this info is helpful!

 

[buzz5985]

I'll let you know, I'm flying AirTran for the first time this November out of Boston. No other airline could beat their price $84 down and $69 back, nonstop, plus the $6 seat fee. I booked about 10 days before SW prices came out - and I was happy I did, the cheapest I could get our of MHT was 119 down and 109 back. Jet Blue was even higher than that.

 

[Darcy03231]

We live about 15 mins south of you on Route 3 and love flying out of MHT (family would drop us off). However, JB makes it worth it for us to fly out Logan. I think you will like JetBlue. We use a car service to get to Logan and it works out great.

Check out www.parksleepfly.com. Last time we had an early morning flight out of Boston it was less expensive to stay at the Days Inn in Saugus and leave our car there for the week than it was to park at the airport. Their shuttle service was great.

 

[TheWog]

Cool! I work in Nashua, and live on the Litchfield line, so sometimes I "forget" that I'm a Manchester resident

I'm thinking we're going to drive and park the car at Logan. Not my first choice, but it is the cheapest and easiest option. I'm hoping traffic won't be too bad, since our flight leaves BOS at 8am on a Saturday.

You shouldn't have any traffic issues at all. Good luck and have a great time.

 

[bjscheel]

I have been looking at Airtran for my imaginary upcoming trip...

I am seeing $59 each way most days, nonstop out of Kansas City. My husband says jump on it but I wasn't really planning on a trip this fall. I wonder if they will be there in the spring.

I was wondering about assigned seating, I think I would get it. Good to know about Kayak and sunshine. If you have 4 passengers, do you need to sign up 4 emails?

 

[myfavvac]

Using four different emails was the only way I was able to do it. Each code I received was a unique number. I purchased four different tickets on one reservation and it allowed me to enter a code for each ticket so I saved $100

 

[kritter]

I have flown to Florida on both AirTran from Boston and Southwest from Manchester Airport in New Hampshire and have had only positive experiences from both. The only exception was AirTran was very slow to unload the checked baggage. I am flying down to Orlando on AirTran again in a few weeks and was able to book using promotion codes, which if you sign up twice using two email addresses, will allow you a $25 discount for each passenger. http://www.airtran.com/sunshine/ When booking through AirTran online for a $6 fee each way you can reserve and choose your own seats in advance which I strongly recommend. I checked AirTran's website every night and deleted my cookies on the computer until I got a fare I could live with. Non-stop out of Logan for $89 each way. Hope this helps.

Thank you for the coupon code.....I wish it was good for the seats I am purchasing in FEB>>!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks everyone, but Mom and Dad decided to go with Jet Blue instead.

 

[TheWog]

Thanks everyone, but Mom and Dad decided to go with Jet Blue instead.

IMO that's a good choice

 

[areno79]

Ditto!