AirTran Airways
 

Anyone have a good/bad experience with this airline? I plan on taking them to FL for Memorial Day weekend. Any info would be great. Thanks!

They are the reincarnation of ValuJet - infamous for crashing in the Everglades some years ago because oxygen cannisters blew up in cargo hold.

Now that I have scared you - we have flown them several times and found no difference from most other airlines. On short East Coast trips they take, as long as you get a seat, take off and land, there seems to be little difference in my experience.

Everyone I know uses them here in Akron, Ohio. Air Tran even had their yearly national meeting here. It is a very popular airline that flies out of our small Akron/ Canton Airport--so nice.

I've flown them IAH to LGA and was pleased. Good value for the money (no frills) and their check-in process was quicker than I have with most airlines.

My daughter and I have used them many times between Boston and Washington and have no complaints at all.

I've flown them and had problems on both departure and arrival flights. We flew from NY to MCO, and going out the delay was 5 hours (mechanical failure), and returning the delay was 3 hours. It was pretty awful since we were flying with 4 kids. Their hub (which I believe is Ohio), is a very small airport, so if you get stuck their like we did, goog luck getting an alternate flight.

They gave us vouchers for $50 each off a future flight, and I'm still not sure whether I want to risk it.

since their reincarnation, they've bought all new planes and have one of the newest fleets out there. they rank in the top 3 in all airline rankings like profitability and customer satisfaction. and while a discount airline similar to southwest, they don't have the cattle car atmosphere a lot of people complain about southwest.

my husband travels every week for work and flies them whenever he can. he gets automatic upgrades to business class but he still enjoyed them when sitting back in coach. and you can pay to upgrade at the gate to business class if there is room. it is $35 or $50 depending on length of flight.

I use them often flying from BWI to sarasota and have experienced no problems. They're pretty much on time and the prices are good.

Just returned from a brief trip to FL via Air Tran. Fly with them frequently because of their low rates. Flights were great-all early or on time, even the one that left 20 minutes late because they waited for a late connecting flight for some passengers. Staff was really nice also. I prefer their seating to Southwest's cattle-call seating.

We have flown AirTran several times. Last year our flight out of Sarasota was delayed due to bad weather on the east coast. The pilot actually came out into the terminal, asked us all to huddle around, and explained the situation. It was refreshing to have the captain communicate directly with us.

Our friends always fly AirTran to Jacksonville, Fl from Minneapolis/St Paul airport. They have never had any problems ever.

I have flown them for personal trips in the past with no major issues. However, we were not allowed to fly them on company business. This was because they did not have agreements with other airlines to have their passengers accomodated in case of cancellation. So if your flight was cancelled, you were stuck. Keep in mind this was a few years ago and it may have changed but I just thought I'd toss it out there.

Where are you flying to in Florida?

Didn't I just see on our evening news a couple of days ago that AirTran has just pulled service out of Ft. Myers? Seemed they were in trouble, or at least that's the way they made it sound.

Well if they pulled service to and from Ft Myers, they better quit posting online their fares etc. I just for the fun went in and checked and they have great fares in and out of Ft Myers. Said nothing about not having service there.

After my last trip on Airtran, I felt obliged to write a letter. The flight was wonderful, the FAs professional, charming, and helpful! Hope you luck out, too.

Learn something new every day. My apologies. The airline closing out of Ft. Myers is ATA, I assumed that was AirTran Airways, seemed logical to me, but I guess it isn't.

"The airline closing out of Ft. Myers is ATA, I assumed that was AirTran Airways, seemed logical to me"

That assumption is made rather frequently. Here in MSP, the ticket counters for ATA and AirTran are right next to each other. I can only imagine how many people go to the wrong counter. I booked flights for me and my partner once on AirTran - told him we were on AirTran, and when we got to the airport, he headed straight to ATA's counter while I went to AirTran. He hasn't made that mistake again. :)

And back on topic, I've never had a problem with AirTran. Most flights from MSP route through ATL (their hub) which adds a bit of time if we're going to Florida, but otherwise no issues.

I like Air Tran. A few years ago we had booked a morning flight to Kansas City from Atlanta. We got to the check-in counter just fine, but that was when my wife discovered that she had absolutely no identification -- none, zero, zilch.

Air Tran of course could not let her board the aircraft. We had no choice but to go home and get the missing documents, and her credit cards.

Air Tran very graciously put us on the next flight at NO EXTRA charge for changing the tickets. Legally, the supervisor who handled our problem could have applied the standard rules and socked the extra charge to us, but she did not.

I thought that was quite decent of the airline.

Air Tran is now the second largest carrier in and out of Atlanta.

WOW! Thanks for all the responses. I will be going to West Palm Beach from Westchester Co. Airport in NY. Flights are cheaper than from LaGuardia or JFK and it's closer to my house.

By the way Gail - you really did scare me. And then I laughed when you said it.

I wasn't able to book yesterday as I had to change a doctors appt. and figure out a kennel for the dog and the prices actually went up! I am so annoyed I wasn't able to book yesterday.

Thanks again to all who responded.

AirTran has become my carrier of choice (I just wish they went to Canada!! :-( ) The customer Service is outstanding!

On a round trip flight last year, I departed on one of their brand new planes. It was so nice it even had satellite radio! Going home I upgraded to 1st class ($35) and was looking forward to the new plane again. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I was really disappointed. (This was my only "not so great" experience and I have flown with them many times.)

I wrote an email to customer service ... and long story short, I am getting COMPLEMENTARY upgrades (on both ways) to my trip to Boston next month.

WOOHOO!!

I've also had to cancel flights due to illness and they are very great about waving the $50 fee.

It is just a great airline.