Hi:

We are shopping around (probably too late I know) for tix for 7 of use from Boston to Orlando for February school vaca week. Thus far, most are out of the range that we wish to pay. (Jet Blue being $299 + tax each way). I did check out Air Tran the other nite on line. They had a $114 fare (which they are no longer offering - naturally) for the way down but it was $304 back. Again too high. However, the $114 fare was very inticing to say the least. What stumps me though is that for this $114 fare you can't reserve your seats, rather you do so upon check-in at the airport. We don't travel much but I'm sure many of you do. Has this ever become a problem?? I would really like us to get at least 2 or three seats together as we have 1 elderly in our party and one age 5. My fear of grabbing such an attractive price is that upon check-in we'd all get separated on the plane. Is that likely the case? Thanks

If you need seats together, I wouldn't risk it.

No one on that plane will want to sit next to your 5 year old without a parent there. At the very least, someone will move to allow one of you to sit next to him. No guarantees beyond that, but people are usually pretty nice. Ask at check-in for however many seats you can get together. If it's not possible, ask people on board if they wouldn't mind switching (and tell them why), or ask a flight attendant on board to help you find 3 seats together if that's what you need.

If you must be guaranteed those seats together this may not work, but as I said, I really can't see how you could fail to at least get 2 seats together for the child and one of his parents.

If I'm not mistaken anyway, even signing up for seat assignments up front isn't a guarantee. They sometimes change these anyway.

Your dates are President's Week one of the busiest weeks of the year for Orlando and a huge travel week out of the northeast.

The higher the rate structure, the more freedom you have.

Valuable lesson, if you find a good rate for a peak season travel time, jump all over that rate.

There are tons of postings here about people who reserved seats on the big airline well in advance. they carefully selected their seats, only to find the aircraft changed and they had no assignment on the day of their trip. (some even had their flights cancelled or rescheduled, but thats a whole other trauma...)

I would book your flight based on the airfare and schedule, then go early to the airport and trust that the seating will work out. The odds are that you will get some pairs of seats.

GoTravel makes a good point. How many times have you seen those pictures on Boston television of passengers spending school vacation week sleeping at Logan when their Florida plane was cancelled by snow? The higher your fare, the faster the airline will get you on your way.