Southwest vs. Airtran

[GabbyJacobsmom]

My family is looking at going to WDW in Dec for another trip this year, because I got a pin#. Have been looking online at flights and airtran has their flights posted and we could fly non-stop for around $656 for 4 of us.

I really want to see if Southwest has anything better timewise or $ wise, but they only have posted until Oct 30. Does anyone know when Southwest will open up for booking in December? I would hate to wait and pay sky high ticket prices.

Also, this is our first ever time flying as we typically drive - anyone have any good experiences with either airline they would care to share? My DH & kiddos are alittle nervous. :confused:

Thank you!

[keacc]

$656 for 4 people sounds like a decent price. Rumor has it that SW flights thru January 9th are being released on June 26th. I hope the rumor is true because I need flights home from a cruise on January 3rd. We have always had great flights on SW. We are flying AirTran for the first time in November.

[sillyolbear]

All things considered you've found a pretty good airfare at $164 per person round trip.

[BigRedDad]

$656 for 4 people RT is extremely good right now. All AirTran flights for me are lay-overs in Atlanta. But for that price, I would book it and not worry. With the gas prices surging and airlines trying to cope, ticket prices are going to get higher.

[Checkers]

:mickey:We fly both airlines out of BWI and have been pleased with both. We prefer AirTran because for an addl. sum (I think it is $6 per seat) you can select your seats ahead of time. With SW if you don't get checked in 24 hrs. ahead of time, it is the luck of the draw as far as seats are concerned.

The price you quoted for AirTran is a very good price. We are going down in Oct. and are flying AT and for my DH & me I think we paid in the neighborhood of $470 (this included the extra because we selected our seats). We are also flying nonstop and that is a big plus for us.

Good luck making your decision. Either airline would be fine, you will have to decide which fits in timewise and budget-wise. I am also assuming the price you quoted for AT is round-trip?

[Suz36]

We've only flown SW and had no problems with the flights. My only complaint was that they did not have resort check-in, and it was a huge hassle lugging our bags through MCO. For that reason alone we will most likely be flying AirTran in Feb.

[Checkers]

We've only flown SW and had no problems with the flights. My only complaint was that they did not have resort check-in, and it was a huge hassle lugging our bags through MCO. For that reason alone we will most likely be flying AirTran in Feb.

Yes, this is another great thing about flying AT, the resort check-in!:thumbsup:We used it on our return home at the beginning of May and it was great!

[GabbyJacobsmom]

Thanks to everyone who responded!

I ended up using your advice Checkers on the $6 extra - and picked our seats. Because of the kids we do not want to get seperated and we were able to get window & aisle behind the exit rows. YEAH! Come on December :sleigh:

:thumbsup:

[coffeeyumm]

AirTran has $79 one way... plus tax, fees, charges... I figure $1,200 roundtrip for our family of SIX. Southwest doesn't even have fares posted beyond October 2008 (and we're traveling in February, most likely). Does $1,200 seem reasonable for six people roundtrip?

Sure is hard to decide, isn't it?

[r4kids]

We have flown both AT and SW. We like AT much better. We don't have to fight anyone for seats. I didn't like the idea of being seperated from my kids. We are a family of 6 so it's a little difficult. Upon boarding our SW flight our DD was still under 5 so we got to preboard. The was some nasty comments made toward those in the front lines from those in the back. I prefer the peace of having a seat.