Please help-Does anyone have info on AirTran airways?

[Cole'sMom]

Hi Everyone! Our trip is quickly approaching and we have not gotten airline tickets. We usually fly Northwest, but with all of the mess going on, we are considering a new airline. I found AirTran has good deals and a flight time we like. I was wondering if anyone has pros/cons of the airline? We are considering driving from Michigan if we can't get a good rate, but with a 14 month old in a car for 21 hours...it may be less than desirable for him. Any help would be so much appreciated. I don't want to risk it with Northwest. Thank you so much! Have a great day and great vacations, everyone!

 

[Nut4Disney]

I just booked flights for us on Airtran today for our trip in Sept. We've flown Airtran many times and it is a good alternative to Delta. We live in the Cincinnati area and they have the highest airfares in the country, and there is no competition with Delta there either. We take Airtran out of Dayton or Indy, into either Tampa or Orlando. In Feb., we actually took Southwest out of Columbus into Tampa, rented a car and drove to Orlando. Saved almost $800. This trip I booked us on Airtran out of Indy for $49 each way to MCO. $400 for the wife and kids is not bad, compared to the $1200 I would have paid out of Cincinnati, and I live 2 miles from the airport. I would also try Skybus.com, it is a new airline and they fly into St. Augustine and you can get $10-30 flights sometimes.

 

[Chezman1399]

Flew once on them out of Allentown. However at the time they only flew into Sanford directly from Allentown anyway, it was not a bad flight they just left me so far away from WDW.

 

[Sherrybaby]

Air Tran bought out the airline company that crashed into the Everglades more than a few years ago. For some reason I cannot remember the name of the airline that is no more. Does anyone remember the name of the airline that Air Tran bought?

In any case, I went through an online "Fear of Flying" course with a pilot. It was an excellent course with a very supportive group of people on a messageboard and chat room. The pilot can also be called (at an additional fee) if you need help or are at the airport and feel like you can't get on the plane.

I mentioned to the pilot that I was flying Air Tran and he said that from what he knows in his position that he would never allow his family or himself on that airline. He said he has no problems with other US airlines at all--but to stay away from Air Tran due to safety issues.

So there I was 2 weeks from my flight making a change to Continental because the guy had me scared to death. I lost all the money from the Air Tran tickets because they are non-refundable.

This is what I know and I did want to throw this in as a factor since the more information you have the better. We drive an hour to the bigger city airport to avoid Air Tran now. Too bad though since they fly out of a smaller airport that is just 15 mins from my house.

Sherry

 

[VT GAL]

I have never had any problems with Air Tran, and I have flown with them many, many times.

If you get there early enough and there is space, it only usually costs about $40 to upgrade your coach tickets. It was well worth it on the flight back after the long days in the parks!

Happy flying! :wave:

 

[Tinkerbella16]

We flew AirTran for our last trip to disney last november. No complaints here. We were on time, the prices were the cheapest for the times that we wanted to arrive & come home. Very smooth ride. I'd def go with airtran again. :wave:

 

[coasterphil]

What you've mentioned is Airtran's biggest problem, the fact that people consider them Valujet with a new paint job and the same problems that resulted in the Everglades crash. I don't think there is any reason to believe that garbage and I'd question the pilot's motives.

 

[normdisney]

No paper tickets all on line you can print out tickets at any time. Boarding passes 24 hours in advance can be printed, I have flown them about 7 times from Akron Canton never had an issue. Also lines are long everywhere at MCO airport.:ROFLOL:

 

[cabihler]

have used them recently too

in order to get the cheapest fares in the past we have flown out of nashville, little rock & birmingham to get to orlando. we live just outside of memphis. we have used air tran in the past with no real problems with them that other carriers might have too. it has been a pain to always have to fly into atlanta to change planes but to save a bunch of money without losing time at WDW was also essential. now with that said i used northwest in june and we used air tran last month and had exceptional service from both. in late october i am flying air tran using their NEW non-stop service from mephis to orlando and my airfare was $114.00 round trip... how could you beat it. i love to drive there too and i usually do it in under 12 hours but it would cost me more to drive than to fly. by all means i would say USE THEM... find the best deal of dollars without losing time in the parks. let me say this... we used them last month because we got to arrive at orlando before northwest flight and was able to get a late (well later) flight out of orlando than the other airlines which in a real sense gave us nearly another whole day to enjoy the parks without the expense of another nights hotel (caribbean beach) bill. so the airtran flight cost $7 dollars more than the northwest flight and we had to stop over in atlanta but we got MORE TIME in the parks for that $7... to us a real bargain:sohappy:

 

[Sherrybaby]

What you've mentioned is Airtran's biggest problem, the fact that people consider them Valujet with a new paint job and the same problems that resulted in the Everglades crash. I don't think there is any reason to believe that garbage and I'd question the pilot's motives.

No, I don't question his motives. He never suggested any specific airline over another he just said that from what he knows about AirTran that he'd never fly them. He works for a large US carrier (he does not disclose who he works for) and he does make it clear that he does not "advertise" for any carrier.

I think he was just looking out for my safety.

Sherry

 

[frankd1962]

I flew AirTran in June for the first time and was majorly surprised that when I was flying down to MCO from Boston I had gotten to the airport three hours ealry and they asked me if I wanted to take an earlier flight in like 20 minutes.. Hmmm, wait three hours or be at the happiest place three hours sooner.

I'll take the sooner flight Alex.

Never had an airline do that for me ever.

 

[barbara]

I booked my boyfriend on AirTran a few times, and he never had a problem. With NW tho, I work at the airport, and they tell me most of there problems seen to be at the end of the month. I'm flying NW, out of DTW,the first week of Sept. so I guess I'll see if that true then. Besides I got a great price when I booked it $145 RT. NW has some great prices right now tho, my same trip is now $118 RT. I figure is nothing else, I'll just get there a few hours later.

 

[MGMBoy]

I've flown AirTran. Only concern I had was I sat where I could see the luggage loading ramp and the employees seemed hell bent on tossing the luggage around as much as possible. Not a gague of the airline by any means though. :lookaroun

I personally prefer Southwest if I'm on a budget.

 

[coasterphil]

No, I don't question his motives. He never suggested any specific airline over another he just said that from what he knows about AirTran that he'd never fly them. He works for a large US carrier (he does not disclose who he works for) and he does make it clear that he does not "advertise" for any carrier.

I think he was just looking out for my safety.

Sherry

You're more familiar with this guy than I am, so I'll take your word for it. It just sounds like it could possibly be a disgruntled AirTran pilot. He'd know that the easiest way to keep people afraid of flying off that airline would be to question its safety.

 

[FaerieLuna]

Air Tran bought out the airline company that crashed into the Everglades more than a few years ago. For some reason I cannot remember the name of the airline that is no more. Does anyone remember the name of the airline that Air Tran bought?

In any case, I went through an online "Fear of Flying" course with a pilot. It was an excellent course with a very supportive group of people on a messageboard and chat room. The pilot can also be called (at an additional fee) if you need help or are at the airport and feel like you can't get on the plane.

I mentioned to the pilot that I was flying Air Tran and he said that from what he knows in his position that he would never allow his family or himself on that airline. He said he has no problems with other US airlines at all--but to stay away from Air Tran due to safety issues.

Sherry

The airline you are thinking of is Value Jet. The Value Jet plane that crashed in the everglades (1996 was the year) was a retired plane purchased from Delta. I had a similar concerns the first time I flew Air Tran, but found out it was unfounded. They bought brand new planes after purchasing Value Jet. Here's a link which talks about it from USA Today in 2003 : http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/features/2003/2003-08-18-airtran.htm It would seem that if their equipment was so unsafe, I would think there would have been an incident by now. But honestly there can be equipment problems on any aircraft from any carrier. We have been flying Air Tran for years now and have never had any problems whatsoever. The choice is yours, but I personally have never felt unsafe on Air Tran.