Beware of AIRTRAN

[disney4life2008]

I had to post a reply about AirTran (though it is not Disney related). My boyfriend is currently enroute to Chicago from Boston (however, he had a change flight in Atlanta). The plane landed in ATL 10 minutes ahead of scheduale. However, the plane did not taxi to the gate until 40 minutes after landing. Further, ATL airport is so big he had to take a train from one side of the airport to the other to get to the next gate. As a result, he has missed his connecting flight to Chicago which left 10 minutes early from the ATL gate. Now he is being told that he has to wait until 5pm for the next flight from ATL to Chicago. He is now waiting on standby.

Now - we are flying AirTran for our upcoming Disney vacation from the 1st until the 15th of January. I AM WORRIED NOW just like the original poster. Because we have a connecting flight and AirTran seems natorious for changing their scheduales at the last minute as well as leaving 10 minutes or more before the scheduale departure time.

I AM WORRIED!!!!

 

[DISMOM]

Chill.
It's always darkest before the light.

 

[Hrudey3032]

Flew Airtran a few times and never had a problem.Last year due to weather our flight was delayed but I would not expect any different from other airlines. I am sorry that it was a rough day today for you and your boyfriend.

 

[Loretta]

We used AirTran two weeks ago for our trip to WDW and had no trouble at all. We were an hour late getting to Atlanta, but that's because we had to be de-iced here in Milwaukee before take off. Had a direct flight coming home and arrived 15 minutes early.

 

[DisneyJoe]

We've flown Airtran many times with no issues.

The issues you are talking about can and do happen on ALL airlines, everyday.

 

[jmmiles]

THE DRAMA CONTINUES...

HE HAS ARRIVED IN ORLANDO (re-route from Atlanta to Orlando to Chicago). BUT...

1) THE AirTran VOUCHER WHICH WAS GIVEN TO HIM IS FOR A DISCOUNTED HOTEL ROOM OF $100. Money that he does not have.

2) HIS LUGGAGE IS LOST!!!! It must be in Atlanta somewhere and they told him that his bag would be on the flight with him. If his luggage is still in ATL it will not arrive in Chicago until 2pm Wednesday. His Orlando flight to Chicago will get here at 10am. Or his luggage is completely lost.

3) HE NO LONGER WANTS TO GO TO DISNEYWORLD. HE IS LIVID AND UPSET AT EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED TODAY!

4) THIS HAS TURNED OUT TO BE THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF OUR LIFE.

Lets start with the last comment. if this is the worst experience of his life, he has led a pretty charmed life.

Second, a bad experience with an airline...any airline, should not be cause for "no longer wanting to go to disney". If he had driven from BOS to CHI, and got a lfat tire on the way, would you have a rant about how goodyear or firestone has ruined your dinsey vacation.

Now, other points. Airtrans standby system is not random. Perhaps in your boyfriends anger, he has only told you half the story. Assuming he was first in standby line, did you ask him about the frequent flier status of the people on standy-by behind him who did make the flight? I assume you boyfriend, being that he didnt buy a direct flight from BOS to CHI, most likley purchased the lowest class fo ticket, which would also put him lower it he standby priority queue.

Airtran in only on two concorses in the ATL airport, so the most your boyfrind would have had to ride the train is one stop. I have been in other aiports where it would take much longer to get from gate to gate than it does in ATL.

I am sorry airtran made it snow in chicago.

 

[bgraham34]

Its not just Airtran is all airlines. Once they have your money they don't care. I spent the night in Atlanta once because our connection flight was late.

 

[Tinkerbelle_325]

I would say that the issue is more the Atlanta Airport than AirTran. We too have flown AirTran multiple times and have found that flights that connect through Atlanta are nightmarish, whereas flights that are direct are fantastic.

This past August we landed in Atlanta (from Buffalo) and had 2 hours to wait until our next flight. We were in terminal C, gate 45 I believe. We looked at the Departures board to see our next flight located at C1...all the way at the other end of the terminal. We got to gate C1 and saw a flight to Chicago listed. Needless to say we were confused, so back to the Departures board and now we were listed at C40...all the way back at the end we had just come from. When we got there, it was a flight to Vegas....ok now we are getting ed. Back to the Departures board...C9....the other end AGAIN! And guess what? We get to C9 and its a flight to Tampa...LMAO at least its the right STATE! One final trip to the Departures board and we see our flight at D1! We then had to take the train over to the next terminal and walk once again all the way to the end. Our flight was scheduled at 11:15....it took us from 9:30 till 10:30 to get to our CORRECT gate and then we proceeded to sit there until 12:15...ugh!

Fly direct with AirTran...its easy and great. Flying with connections (with any airline) adds more issues to your journey.

 

[mcjaco]

I had to post a reply about AirTran (though it is not Disney related). My boyfriend is currently enroute to Chicago from Boston (however, he had a change flight in Atlanta). The plane landed in ATL 10 minutes ahead of scheduale. However, the plane did not taxi to the gate until 40 minutes after landing.

This is Atlanta Ground Control's problem not AirTran.

The worst is where they oversold the return flight by 25 and we got stuck in Atlanta for 5 hours! I don't expect we will be using them again.

It's well known that EVERY airline overbooks flights. It's common to have many no shows, so they make sure they have overflow to fill all the seats. So guess what, fly whomever you like, this is bound to happen again, no matter what airline.

ALL FLIGHTS TO CHICAGO HAVE BEEN CANCELLED!!!!! DUE TO A WEATHER.

NOW HE IS STRANDED IN ATLANTA AND I AM STRANDED IN CHICAGO - WE BOTH NEED TO GET TO CHAMPAIGN ILLINOIS BY TONIGHT.

THANK YOU AIRTRAN FOR RUINING OUR DAY!!!!

This was my biggest pet peeve about fliers when I worked in the aerospace industry. Yep, weather is all the airlines fault. Nevermind that we (Chicago) got 3-6" of show yesterday....all day. It must be AirTran's fault. My guess is that you weren't getting to Champaign either with the weather.

I got stuck in Portland for four days once, without any luggage, and the entire city shut down due to snow. I ended up finally getting hold a rental car, and driving to Seattle to get back home. Did it suck? YES. But, it's a great story to tell!

 

[wdwCC]

It's well known that EVERY airline overbooks flights. It's common to have many no shows, so they make sure they have overflow to fill all the seats. So guess what, fly whomever you like, this is bound to happen again, no matter what airline.

True, but overselling by 25 is a little too much.

 

[Phonedave]

I got stuck in Portland for four days once, without any luggage, and the entire city shut down due to snow. I ended up finally getting hold a rental car, and driving to Seattle to get back home. Did it suck? YES. But, it's a great story to tell!

I had the last filght out of Regan to Newark cancelled, and ended up taking a train home. I got in at 2:00 AM (because I had to get from Regan to the train station, and then once I got to the Newark train station I had to get to the airport because my car was there )

It does make a good story

I was in Tampa once, again fliying back into Newark. Newark had a snowstorm going on and flights were delayed. There were a load of people at Tampa who had connecting flights that they were going to miss. The gate attendents kept telling them that they had missed their connection, that chances were all the hotels in Newark were booked (because of the storm) and then if they went to Newark that night, chances were they would end up sleeping at the airport. They suggested getting a hotel in Tampa (or going home) and comming back early in the AM to reschedule the flights. It would give people who were heading into Newark as a last destination a chance of getting out that night. More than half the people with connections opted to go on to Newark because "they were that much closer". Sometimes the thought process of some people just makes me wonder.

-dave

 

[Tinkrbell]

It's not AirTran's fault that it snowed in Chicago & flights got cancelled. I managed to get 2 days in a row off next week (the 23rd & 24th) I was gonna book a flight home, surprise my family & try to be back on a plane less than 24 hours later, but with flying from Orlando to Milwaukee the middle of December is too risky for me right now cuz if it snowed & my flight back to Orlando got cancelled, I would get termed for not being at work on Christmas Day. Gotta love working for Disney!

I flew AirTran last January Milwaukee to Orlando & had no problems. We got lucky & it was good weather in both places the entire trip. We had a layover in Atlanta that was less than an hour & we had to take the train to switch terminals on the way to Orlando. Milwaukee to Atlanta was the quietest flight I had ever been on, everyone seemed to be enjoying the satellite radio. Atlanta to Orlando wasnt even half full. The flight crew didnt care that my mom & I spread out (one of us moved accross the aisle from where we were supposed to be sitting.) No problems with the flight back to Milwaukee, it was a direct flight. We did have to wait about an hour after landing for our luggage.

Living where it snows, winter travel is always considered to be taking a risk.

 

[lbrad]

My DH and I just flew Airtran this Nov.28th. Direct flight from BWI to MCO.
No problems However we booked through Travelocity now there is a problem...will NEVER use Travelocity again!

Retun flight home slight delay due to weather (to be expected/safety first)...again direct flight from MCO to BWI Dec. 1.

I would recommend Airtran to a friend.

Sorry to hear you had such problems...

 

[mathew-westfall]

I have flown AirTran 37 times in the last 6 years and had no incidents involving the airline. Yes, we have had weather challenges on occasion and AirTran has done everything in their power to resolve the issues. I will continue to fly AirTran as long as they continue to fly. Sorry your experience has been less than perfect.

 

[markc]

While AirTran is definitely not responsible for bad winter weather, it should be noted that they have one of the weakest network designs for all major air-carriers, and as a result, react very poorly to weather or any other issues making weather delays about 10 times worse than they could be. AirTran should really be avoided at all costs if there are other air-carriers offering similar flights at similar rates. Unlike AirTran, Delta/Northwest, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, and most of the other legacy carriers (while problematic at times as well), can react and resolve weather related issues far better as they've designed their network with dynamic hubs that can offer multiple flight combos to shuffle people where they need to be far more quickly than AirTran can.

While a lot of people here have stated they have had no problems with AirTran, its important not to judge the airline when all things are going well. A true test of how good an airline is really should be done based on their reaction to these events, and AirTran has consistently failed miserably.

 

[DisneyEverest]

I flew with AirTran a couple of times never had a problem like yours. It could be the airport, but ATL is AirTrans hub which makes it even wierder.

 

[lukacseven]

It's not fair to pin this solely on the airline. I've flown Airtran a half dozen times from Philadelphia to Orlando. Any problems I've encountered, granted minor ones, have been a result of the airport in Philly, not the airline. Because the flight is direct, I have no experience with connections. I have heard from friends to avoid the Atlanta airport.

 

[Disneyfan1981]

My wife and I flew AirTran on our last trip and the only real gripe that we had is that the agent refused to seat us next to each other even though we checked in rather early. We had to sit a six hour flight separated. The response we received was to simply ask someone else if they'd switch. Other than that everything went the same as any other airline.

 

[Ashitaka]

It's well known that EVERY airline overbooks flights. It's common to have many no shows, so they make sure they have overflow to fill all the seats. So guess what, fly whomever you like, this is bound to happen again, no matter what airline.

JetBlue doesn't. Everyone else, yep, but not JetBlue. That's one of the reasons I like them - I know when I head to the airport that my butt is going to be sitting in the seat I picked out while purchasing the ticket.

(Then I just have to cross my fingers that we don't sit on a runway for ten hours in bad weather.:zipit :drevil:

 

[Montyboy]

Read Montymon's web page

THE DRAMA CONTINUES...

HE HAS ARRIVED IN ORLANDO (re-route from Atlanta to Orlando to Chicago). BUT...

1) THE AirTran VOUCHER WHICH WAS GIVEN TO HIM IS FOR A DISCOUNTED HOTEL ROOM OF $100. Money that he does not have.

2) HIS LUGGAGE IS LOST!!!! It must be in Atlanta somewhere and they told him that his bag would be on the flight with him. If his luggage is still in ATL it will not arrive in Chicago until 2pm Wednesday. His Orlando flight to Chicago will get here at 10am. Or his luggage is completely lost.

3) HE NO LONGER WANTS TO GO TO DISNEYWORLD. HE IS LIVID AND UPSET AT EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED TODAY!

4) THIS HAS TURNED OUT TO BE THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF OUR LIFE.

My prayers are with your boyfriend during this ordeal.
Now take some time to read Montymon’s story about a plane ride.

 

[WDWmazprty]

I like Southwest myself. Never had a problem. So far.:animwink: