Airtran Airways

First I have traveled with Air Tran for going on 8 years and this is the ONLY bad experience I’ve had with them. I love Air Tran and I would pick them over any major airline today. Today I was flying from Atlanta to laguardia. I borded the plane with my carry on as usual place stow it and get ready for the trip. Around 15 minutes goes by and the captain announces that they are having technical difficulties with the plane but they have another plane. Ready for us. We deplane and are whisked to the other plane. So I get ready to get on the plane until the ticket clerk says I have to check my carry on and that she doesn’t know how I got away with not checking it on the other plane (In a nasty tone of voice). Well of course I’m upset so I told her I was able to fit it in the overhead compartment perfectly fine and I saw no reason to check it. She said it was too big to fit and I said that the dementions fit the the dimentions that I got online. She said you still have to check it. When I got to NYC I called customer service and told them they needed to update their website. Morons I had fragile stuff in that carry on.

I’ve had worse experiences but this one. It is NOT the worst airline ever. The worst? My worst trip was on American Airlines in the 90’s. They were horrible right up to 2011 whenl they were used to bomb our country. That trip still gives me shudders when I think about it. Other bad flights are on airlines that are, rightly, no longer around. The quality of flights is directly related to how much you pay and if you pay for cheap flights, you get poorly paid service people who feel that you rightly deserve to be treated like crap.
This trip was pretty bad and I am unlikely to fly them again. I only flew them because someone else paid for my ticket and booked me on the cheapest flight. I don’t begrudge it, but I wont do it again.
My flight to Florida last year was booked through Southwest. I didn’t realize that I was flying a different airline.
That leg of the trip was full of the bad. I had a connecting flight via Atlanta. The check-​in guy told me, after I had been in line for half an hour, that I was too late to make my flight. They check-​in people at Laguardia were so incredibly rude and downright MEAN, they had me in tears.
I wasn’t late. The flight was already delayed. They claimed that it was due to weather, but we watched other flights leave and eventually it became clear that there were mechanical problems. Finally, around midnight as the terminal shut off the air conditioning and the lights started being turned off. This was being done in spite of the large number of people still waiting for flights, Eventually we were boarded onto a flight and taken to Atlanta. I guess they did this because the Atlanta terminal does not close down. Of course, there were no flights to Florida until the next day. I was given a «voucher» for a hotel room that wasn’t worth anything and told that I would get a free round trip ticket but not given a voucher for that.
I was lucky to get a hotel room at one of the two that I booked at the online service I was directed to use. The hotel rooms can’t be booked through that service and all of the rooms were taken. Fellow passengers slept in the airport and were robbed.
The trip back went without a hitch. I never got that free flight.

The worst airline EVER!!! I know the chaos in AtL is bad but these people working here are the worst! Not nice, rude and obnoxious! If possible NEVER ever fly with them!

Had worst experience, on the Labor Day, the flight was delayed, and I stayed in the airport for 9 hours, finally the flight departure at 11:00 pm, and we arrive atlanta at 1:00 am. the assistant so mean no allow us to take earlier flight even I had baby!

This is easily the absolute worse airline I’ve ever flown with. I normally only go with JetBlue or United, but I found an excellent deal through
and unfortunately learned the hard way that you certainly do her what you pay for :(.
AirTran should be grateful that I can even bestow one star on them in this review because they certainly aren’t even deserving of that…

Economy Airline
Seats are tight, planes are full, and it is a Chinese fire drill to board — but for the price you can either suck it up and deal with it or spend more to get to the same destination on another air carrier.
They were recently acquired by Southwest so maybe the boarding process will tighten up a bit (although Southwest is just slightly more organized in that respect).
If you just want to get from here to there, wherever there is, then this airline might just work for you. If you are a whiny fuss pot, then you should go bother the nice folks over at Delta.
That is all.

Worst two flights in as long as I can remember. The cabin looked like a plane designed for 4 seats across had been re-​designed for 5 seats across. The light over my aisle seat did not come anywhere close to illuminating my seat so I was mostly stuck in the dark which made reading a book impossible. 2 and ½ hours without a magazine?
No leg room – if the person in front had chosen to recline I would have been struck in the knees. They charged $ 25 to check your first bag.
Check in at Laguardia was insane. There was one line for both Southwest and Airtran and it moved absurdly slowly.
The roundtrip between Laguardia and Atlanta was more than $ 300 so it wasn’t even a low fare. Overall I felt helpless and angry and determined to never ever fly this airline again.

Why is this airline even getting 1 star? My experience with airtran was the worst I’ve ever had with any airline (I’ve flown well over 50 times in the past 2 years). They claim to be the cheapest airline so I thought I’d try them out (worst decision of my life). I was charged 20 each way just for checking in one bag, another 49 each way because my bag was «too big» by an inch. And when I wanted a specific seat, they tried charging me another 49 dollars to seat in the aisle. WTF did I get myself into. I felt as if this airline was ran by a bunch of small time crooks. The airplanes we were in were from the late 90s, our flight attendants looked like cokeheads, and there were bugs in the plane. NEVER AGAIN!

Every checked-​in bag on my flight was misplaced/​delayed. Did I get your attention yet?
The trip was LGA to ATL. My original flight was canceled due to «maintenance issues,» which we were later told was a «hydraulics leak» more specifically. I knew we were already off to a bad start. That plane was left grounded, and some (but not all) passengers were transferred to the next ATL bound flight.
I had very important contents in my checked luggage that I needed immediately upon arrival, so I double checked with the desk agent if our luggage would make it into the new plane, and he assured me they would.
Now, here I am in ATL, waiting at the luggage pickup carousel… for two hours… aaand my flight’s info disappears off the screen. I head over to the luggage claims office and see a line that’s formed out the door. Great — not only am I going to be late to my obligations, but I’m totally screwed because my bag isn’t here.
«We’ve misplaced 31 bags from your flight, but we think they’re just delayed.» They kept me and many others waiting around for something they knew wasn’t coming. What they failed to do was apologize for sucking at being an airline.
Filled out/​filed a claims form, and my bag miraculously turned up at the airport close to midnight. They offered to deliver it to my location for free, but it would take an additional 4 – 6 hours. Since I was flying out again the next day, I decided to leave it there to retrieve it in the morning. I originally needed to arrive by 4:30 but arrived an hour late, and I needed my bag immediately, but it didn’t turn up until several hours later.
The most they were willing to accommodate me with was a $ 50 voucher that can be used toward my next flight, which there’ll never be another with Airtran.

Dear Airtran,
Thanks for putting me in the second to last row from the toilet. I feel sorry for the SOBs behind me that had to be back there with everyone waiting to take a dump… and to hear that damn toilet flush every 10 minutes! How annoying. Also, the seats in the back of the plane need to be upgraded. Why does every other Em Ef’er get to have armrests that go up. That’s crap. Thanks for the crappy seats and the crappy placement. My family thanks you for that.
Oh…and thanks for completely obliterating my carseat base. I checked that in and your belt system RUINED it! Thanks for offering no apologies at all and thanks for telling me that I signed something and then saying that it doesn’t really matter if I sign it anyways because you don’t cover child restraint systems.
Jerks.
Yours Truly,
Cobra K.

I fly very frequently; we’re talking about several different countries which average about 6 flights within those countries, and a good amount of domestic flying. Translation: I’ve flown with a ton of different airlines in a bunch of countries where the language was a barrier but have still never had as bad an experience as with AirTran.
To make a long story short, I was flying one-​way back to NY from New Orleans. The checked bag fee for domestic flights is $ 20. That sucks, but whatever. My bag was 10lbs overweight and they charged me $ 50 ON TOP OF THE MANDATORY $ 20. So, I paid $ 70. SEVENTY AMERICAN DOLLARS just to fly MY BAG back to the city with me. Seventy dollars is more than half the price I paid for my ticket. It’s absolutely disgusting that an airline would do this and I’m so relieved that I’ll never have to fly with them ever again. Definitely going with United, even if it costs me a little bit more money.

Don’t believe this cheapskate airline’s hype — they remind me of the old «Crazy Eddie» bait-​and-​switch. When airTran advertises $ 69 flights, they mean TWO SEATS per flight at this price, and it costs $ 6 — $ 20 extra when you get to the «Seat Selection» slide. Trying to get those seats is next to impossible. Calling the Customer Service line is useless — by the third try of getting shut out of flights from NYC to Atlanta, the best the supervisor could offer me was, «You’re not typing the info in fast enough.» Here’s the upshot: when the $ 69 flights are gone, the prices go up to $ 369 — $ 404 for COACH. Outrageous! One can only hope that when Southwest takes over, truth in pricing will return.

I know it’s been a little while now but have to say how disappointed I was with customer service via phone. I was stuck in Florida for extended Christmas holiday, due to snow storm in NY. Original flight out was Dec. 26 — canceled. Re-​booked for Dec. 27 — canceled. Next available flight out — Dec. 31!!! Spent HOURS on the phone trying to reach csr to confirm I was booked on Dec. 31 flight.
If I have a booked flight, why does it take a csr longer than 5 minutes to find your info in the computer after asking your name???
I really do love AirTran and it is my #1 for all my Florida visits but this last trip was truly unsettling!

thanks to Peter D. for jogging my memory to review AirTran! you da man.
I use AirTran when I visit my relatives in Ohio. it’s an inexpensive, no-​frills airline — certainly not the most comfortable seating, but I can put up with it for the 90 minute flight. now they have in-​flight wifi, which is sweet.
next time I may spring for the business class upgrade, which I think is $ 50 (for the flight to Ohio) and involves copious amounts of alcohol.

Whenever I fly AirTran, it’s because it’s the cheapest direct flight I could find. And the price is reflected in the experience:
It’s always a clusterfuck of a line to check in and/​or board.
My knees touch the seat in front of me (I’m only 5’9″).
And by the time we land, my ass hurts.
But the flights are almost always on time, and best of all, they now have GoGo In-​flight Wireless. Hooray for technology!
Without it, the woman seated next to me on this plane would not be able to blatantly stare at my computer screen as I write this review. She doesn’t even look away out of embarrassment when I actually stare at her, in disbelief, from a foot away.
Perhaps she will read what I am typing about her, as I type it, and have a little bit of shame.
No? OK.

Honestly, AirTran redeemed themselves with me. I booked a flight online recently and then realized after the 4 hour window they give you that I wanted to change the return trip time of the flight. Obviously I called and they said no, we cannot change your return trip without charging you a $ 150 change fee and the difference in the price of the new ticket. Bummer.
But then I called back and spoke to someone else (her name was Venus), they spoke to a supervisor and got it all sorted out. So I got a new flight back on my roundtrip ticket for the day after with NO CHARGE and actually a $ 10 credit to AirTran since the flight the next day was cheaper. Thanks, guys (and thank YOU, Venus!). Maybe all it takes it to call twice?

Looking for cheap flights? AirTran definitely has cheap flights and their website does offer the lowest price. Don’t even bother looking at

Expedia, Travelocity, and the like. For flights returning back to NYC priced at around $ 400-​$ 700, only a week prior to our return, we were able to snag two seats for $ 129 each. Prices fluctuated everyday, seats becoming available on some flights, while other seats were booked and sold. I noticed the going trend was that AirTran would usually bump the prices of their seats down at around 9am every morning. Seats in the Regular Coach would be bumped down to the prices of the discount tier, seats at the discount tier would be bumped down to the web special tier. But be forewarned that the Web Special and sometimes the Discount seats would sell pretty fast. If you miss out, wait until the next morning and hope to snag a seat that was just bumped down. We got lucky as we saw prices go down as low as $ 109 but we missed those. We got the last remaining seats at the $ 129 level, less than a week prior to our return back to NYC from Orlando. Also take notice that prices after taxes can vary. We found that connecting flights that stop in major cities like Atlanta, GA would have a high airfare tax than if we stopped in OH or VA. To that conclusion, airfare taxes are cheapest when flying direct, then to such low-​tax states such as OH or VA, and lastly higher-​taxed states like GA. We opted to not pay the extra couple dollars to choose and reserve our seats ahead of time. We decided to chance it. For those that don’t choose and reserve a seat, you can check in 24-​hours prior to your flight and choose your seat. We actually forgot to choose our seats. When we checked in, we got lucky and were seated together on a full flight, so I would definitely not pay the extra few bucks to choose your seats ahead of time. If you do remember to check-​in at the 24-​hour mark prior to your flight, you will most likely be able to group your seats together. Or you can be a slacker like me, and let chance decide for you.
There were no delays for our flight. The ride was comfortable. Pretzels and drinks (soda, coffee) were available on the plane for free. Alcoholic drinks could be obtained for a small price. The plane was pretty standard, so don’t expect any satellite TVs. I do believe they had XM radio on each site, but I listened to my own iPod instead.
For the several times that I have flown AirTran, flights generally seemed to be on time. I heard that they were one of the best airliners in having the shortest delay, excluding environmental and airport runway traffic (which affects all airliners). Prices are cheap and service is good as usual. Ever fly AirTran? If not, give it a shot.