Air Tran Airways...?

[sandheichert]

Has anyone flown Air Tran. Looking at booking for our December trip for a great price but have never heard of them before.

 

[mikeb1967]

AirTran

Hello, we flew AirTran in 2007 from Pitt. to MCO for $59 each way, $555.00 total for our family of 4, round trip, that was half of US Air cost for the same non-stop flight. We flew them 2008 for $99 to MCO and $66 return this Sept. Still a great deal considering the fuel costs. And we booked for Dec. 2008 @ $79 to MCO and $99 return. However, Airtran sometimes changes the flight times and we chose to fly a much earlier, connecting flight on our sept. 2008 trip in order to maximize the time on our first day. In that case, they book another flight at no cost, no problems. We always check our flight info every week all the up to the day before to check for a time change. We were alerted by email, but others have written of not being informed at all by Airtran. So check often. MikeB

 

[dinandmick]

I've flown with them a few times and have never had any problems. I think their headquarters is in Atlanta.

 

[Rob562]

I've flown with them a few times and have never had any problems. I think their headquarters is in Atlanta.

A lot of their offices are in Atlanta, including Customer Service and Marketing, but their corporate headquarters are in Orlando (because, as another poster said, AirTran used to be ValuJet, which was based in Orlando)

http://www.airtranairways.com/contact/contact_other_locations.aspx

And you can lump me in with those who vote "won't fly them unless it's necessary". I was booked on the only non-stop of the day from BOS to MCO. They moved my flight hours earlier (without informing me), and made it so early that I wouldn't have been able to get to the airport in time via public transportation. At about the same time, JetBlue had a sale (my return flight was already booked on JetBlue), so I cancelled AirTran, got a refund and booked JetBlue.
On the same trip, my friend flew AirTran round trip, and he said it would be his last time. After booking, they eliminated all non-stops from DCA to MCO, and instead routed him through Atlanta, leaving DCA on a flight 3 hours earlier than his original one. (Again, all these changes happened without him being contacted) They futzed with the departure times on his flights twice more before our trip.

-Rob

 

[jjgoo]

I might take a chance and fly them again if the price was right.

Had a very bad experience with them where the flight crew for our 8am flight never showed up (completely the Airline's fault). Since we were flying out of Westchester, NY (a smaller airport) their next flight was not until 1pm.

Coming home there was a delay also but that was because of thunderstorms. However, they had us moving from one gate to the next, to the next to get on the plane. So I would guess their operational management is not so great. That is probably why so many people complain about moved flight times with no notification.

The other thing that bothers me about them is they are one of those airlines that charge you an extra fee to choose your seat. That's one of those things that I wish they would either offer or not, but not play games with it. I don't want to have to pay extra to keep from taking a chance of not sitting next to my wife.

So like I said at the beginning of my post if the price was really good I might take a chance again (figuring in all the extras like choosing a seat and bags). Otherwise I'm not dealing with them again.

 

[thrupaytonseyes]

I might take a chance and fly them again if the price was right.

Had a very bad experience with them where the flight crew for our 8am flight never showed up (completely the Airline's fault). Since we were flying out of Westchester, NY (a smaller airport) their next flight was not until 1pm.

Was this in Sept 07?? If so I was on that same flight with my at the time 3 month old and 4 year old. We got free round trip tickets for a future flight because of it.

Other than that flight I have never had any problems with Airtran. When they did change the time of one of my husband's flights we got an e-mail right away. It didn't work in his schedule so we cancelled and were immediately credited.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Have you checked their safety record? You don't want to risk any in-flight decompression accidents.

Thanks for flying,

Qantas

Buh-Bye

 

[WildLodgeFan]

We flew on them for the first time this year and we would likely fly again with them. They did make a few changes to our itinerary but since we booked through expedia, we seemed to be notified regularly about the changes and we immediately contacted the customer service department for better flights if they were available. So based on that, I would caution that you definitely keep an eye on your flights on a regular basis, but we saw no moevement with ours under 60 days. But all our flights were on time and they are as comfortable as you can get on an airline these days. The XM radio is a nice touch, though I wish Jet Blue flew out of our airport so I could enjoy television on a flight.

 

[jjgoo]

Was this in Sept 07?? If so I was on that same flight with my at the time 3 month old and 4 year old. We got free round trip tickets for a future flight because of it.

Other than that flight I have never had any problems with Airtran. When they did change the time of one of my husband's flights we got an e-mail right away. It didn't work in his schedule so we cancelled and were immediately credited.

:lol: Yes that is the flight and I thought it was a giagantic screw up. They did not give everyone a free future flight. We had our travel agent call and they gave us a small credit which we used when we changed our flight home to a day later because we lost our first day to that delay. We did notice that some people did call and get free flights but we were already disappointed with the delay and did not want to start our vacation with a fight with the airline (it seemed like people were having to do a lot of arguing).

I was actually happy that we got the 1pm flight. I heard other people saying that they could only get them onto the 4pm flight.

Anyway between that and the run around to find a gate on the way back we were not inspired with confidence in Air Tran. I suppose you take a chance with most airlines these days. Look at what happened with Jet Blue two years ago. I still really like Jet Blue despite of that one huge problem. I think that is why I have not totally written off Air Tran.

 

[Mot]

Has anyone flown Air Tran. Looking at booking for our December trip for a great price but have never heard of them before.

My Family and I have flown them numerous times from Indianapolis. It is a carrier similar to the former American Trans Air prior to its restructuring and Northwest. You do need to make seat selections ahead which costs $5 or $6 extra per seat per flight. If you don't wish to accept the additional charge for this, your family could end up seperated on your flight.

 

[StingraySam]

I've flown them many times (enough that I have the AirTran Visa for points towards free flights). I have only had one problem over the past several years. I was flying from West Palm Beach to Philadelphia, AirTran had two direct flights that evening to Philly. I was on the earlier flight but for some reason my one of two of my bags decided to take the later flight. I had two choices when I arrived. Option 1 wait for the later flight to arrive and get my bag, 2 hours later, or Option 2 they would deliver it to me as earlier as possible the next day. Since it was late and I really didn't need anything in that bag until the next day I opted for Option 2. It turned out that their phone call to me the next morning for directions to where I was staying was actually my wake up call for the day so I never really missed that bag at all.

 

[StingraySam]

My Family and I have flown them numerous times from Indianapolis. It is a carrier similar to the former American Trans Air prior to its restructuring and Northwest. You do need to make seat selections ahead which costs $5 or $6 extra per seat per flight. If you don't wish to accept the additional charge for this, your family could end up seperated on your flight.

The charging of the seat selection is one of the few things that does bug me about AirTran. It is usually still cheaper to fly them even with this fee though. This seems to be a trend with many things today. I know companies try to accomadate the masses with variable options but enough with the fee's already. (Sorry lost direction there. I just hate seeing a price for something only find out that if you want more than the shell you have to pay little for this and a little bit more for that)

 

[stevediesel]

Flown with them on my trip about a month ago they were great.
Wait 24 hours exactly before your flight leaves then go online to
select your seats to save money.

 

[DisneyLindz]

My family typically flies either Air Tran or Southwest, depending on flight times and fares. We've never had a problem with either airline. We're flying Air Tran in a few weeks down there! They do not charge for the first checked bag, which is a bonus nowadays.

We've only had delays ONCE with Air Tran, out of probably 15 times we've used the airlines. We had about a 5 hour delay (it rained all day and we were the last flight scheduled that night) and all 4 of us ended up getting free vouchers for round trip tickets. We didn't even complain about the delay (chicago weather can be unpredictable, what can they do?!?) they offered them to us anyway. We were happy, it paid for the tickets for our next trip to Disney!

Have fun!!!

 

[kangaand2roos]

We've flown with them several times and had few problems. We will be flying with them in Dec again but I keep checking the flights times b/c they have changed the times on us and haven't notified us. My sister and MIL also have booked with them (different flights) and their flights have been changed as well, but they also weren't notified. No airline is perfect these days, but overall I've been satisfied.

 

[mroman]

I booked a flight for our trip (11/29 -12/5) everything booked fine, had to pay extra to select seats and had non-stop flights there and back. A couple of weeks later I find out my return flight was now switched to a stop over in Atlanta without notice. I called Airtran to complain and they offered a full refund for the tickets. I ended up finding flights though American Airlines for $200 cheaper and both flights are non-stop. It ended up being a blessing in disguise I guess. I haven't flown Airtran before and since this happened, I probably never will.

 

[Kellylynn322]

We fly them from Philly to MCO several times a year. I have never had an issue with them. The changed my Labor Day flight to be earlier in the day but I got an email from the stating that and I had the option to accept the new time or call the 800 number and change to a different flight on the same day w/o charge. If you say you aren't notified make sure to check your SPAM folder as i have caught the notification in there previously. It does appear that they are cutting the non-stops back a way as most of the other airlines. Hopefully they will change that back after people have the $$ to travel again.

I am not sure if it is true or not (and someone please help me out if you know) but the rep at Airtran call reservations told me that if you have a connection in Atlanta the gates are all in the same area and you need only a 25 minute layover to walk to the next gate which may be 1 or 2 down. I haven't been to ATL since I was a kid so I really don't know if that is the case or not. I would love if someone who did could post since it appears that if we want a cheap flight we may be connecting in ATL with Airtran or another airline.

 

[thrupaytonseyes]

:lol: Yes that is the flight and I thought it was a giagantic screw up. They did not give everyone a free future flight. We had our travel agent call and they gave us a small credit which we used when we changed our flight home to a day later because we lost our first day to that delay. We did notice that some people did call and get free flights but we were already disappointed with the delay and did not want to start our vacation with a fight with the airline (it seemed like people were having to do a lot of arguing).

I was actually happy that we got the 1pm flight. I heard other people saying that they could only get them onto the 4pm flight.

Anyway between that and the run around to find a gate on the way back we were not inspired with confidence in Air Tran. I suppose you take a chance with most airlines these days. Look at what happened with Jet Blue two years ago. I still really like Jet Blue despite of that one huge problem. I think that is why I have not totally written off Air Tran.

So random that we were on the same flight! My mother called Airtran and got the future flight vouchers for her, my dad, my son, and I with no problem. She actually got the vouchers for a good number of people around us too! We used it for an April trip to Disney. We used credits from our credit card so hubby flew free too! We got the 1pm flight out too, thank god. I don't know how I would have entertained my older son for any more time than I already had to:lol:!

We really like Jetblue too. We are flying them in December. And they are now flying direct from White Plains to Tampa too, so more options! We usually see which is cheaper out of Jetblue and Airtran since we love using Westchester. it is so small that it makes it so easy with little ones!

 

[disney4life2008]

Great airline!! However, make sure that you CHECK THE FLIGHT NUMBER AND TIME OF DEPARTURE before leaving for the airport. They make changes up until the day of departure. Also, make sure you are at the airport and checked in 2hours before (NO LIE!) - AirTran boards about 45 minutes before closing the gate. In Chicago, AirTran is on the runway 10 minutes before its scheduale departure time.

 

[maelstrom]

Please! :zipit: They say international, but we all know better. :lol:

You don't consider Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia international locations from New York?! :lookaroun

 

[scottnj1966]

Has anyone flown Air Tran. Looking at booking for our December trip for a great price but have never heard of them before.

I have just flown with them last weekend.
Flight up was crowded and uncomfortable.
You have an option to upgrade to busniess class for 69 when your checking in if there is any room.

Flying back was perfect. it was a 737 and it was not packed.

both flights the crew were great.
bring your own headphones, they have free XM radio....they just dont sell headphones.