Airtran Made Me MAD

[bouncer]

:mad:Airtran has done it again! First of all, I have seen on here others warn that Airtran has made drastic schedule changes their return flights. I had flown Airtran before and only once was there a schedule change and it was minor. Well, after the email I received yesterday I can tell you I will not fly Airtran after this trip.

Since we are Disney veterans and only wanted DS7 to miss a couple of school days our trip was planned for Dec 3-7. We would arrive MCO on Friday around 11 and have to leave MCO on Tuesday around 5:30. The plan was to be able to still spend several hours at MK & lunch at Crystal Palace before having to head over to the airport. So- the lovely email that I received from Airtran was that they were changing our direct flight to one that had a plane change in Baltimore and got us back home at 11 pm. DS was supposed to be going back to school on Wed. Also, who knows what the weather would be in Baltimore in December?? I am taking enough of a risk flying back to Milwaukee in December! I booked a non-stop flight for a reason. That leaves me with a 7:30 am & 9:50 am or 7:30 pm non-stop flight for choices. Again, the 7:30 flight get us back home late so scratch that. We do not want to stay another night because of the cost of the hotel-also what we have booked wasn't showing as available. AND we can't choose a full refund and book on another airline because we have a partial credit that was applied to this booking from a previous cancellation. I checked Southwest and the prices would be a wash if I would have gotten our money back and the flight times would have been really close to what was previously booked. The phone agents at Airtran were not sympathetic AT ALL! Has anyone gotten anywhere with the complaints department at Airtran regarding this type of incident?

I now have us leaving MCO on the 9:50 flight so we'll be leaving our hotel around 7am. The whole day is LOST! Add in the events (MVMCP, Parade Taping, Pop Warner) onto the itinerary at WDW and this trip is going to be such a rush!!! I think I am going to have to go back to the drawing board for my trip and redo our ADRs. As an added bonus I had gotten a pin code for free dining which was originally blacked out for our dates-now we won't be there as long to use the free dining. Sorry for the rant-no one around my household really understands why I am so upset. :(

[disneymom15]

I got the same e-mail. I haven't called yet, trying to figure out what options we have. Our trip is Dec 5-12. Our return flight was suppose to be non-stop leaving MCO at 5:30pm arriving Milwaukee at 7:20. They also have us flying into Balt. You bring up a good point about the weather possibilities. Never thought about that. This is our first time flying Air Tran. Not to sure if we'll use them again.

[DizneyRox]

I fly Southwest, not once have they changed a flight that I booked, although there have been some weather delays, but that's to be expected.

I stopped using Delta when they started blanketing the calendar and then funneling people into the flights they want to keep. Sounds like AirTran is using the same software.

No thanks, I'm sticking with Southwest, I recommend them every chance I get...

[laprana]

I completely understand why you're upset! AirTran did the same thing to me a couple of years ago. We were booked on a non-stop flight that got us to MCO in the early afternoon. They changed it to a 1-stop flight with a 4-hour layover, making our arrival at MCO very late that evening. The worst part, though, was that they didn't send us an e-mail, or any kind of notification, notifying us of the change. I just happened to find it when I went to their web site to book a return flight, and that was about 2 weeks after they changed our first flight! :mad: I was livid. After a loooong and frustrating call to AirTran, I was able to get a full refund and then booked our flight on Southwest. I haven't looked back since and now use Southwest for every flight I can. :thumbsup:

[faline]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Most airlines, these days, change schedules on the fly so this kind of thing is not limited to this particularl airline. Hope you can work out something that will get you the trip you wanted!

[Tekneek]

The lack of any real sense of customer service / appreciation with the airlines is a big problem for me. That may be 'just the way that industry works', but I don't have to put up with it. We're fortunate to live in an area where driving is still cheaper than flying (when it comes to going to WDW) even when combining all costs together, and I do not have to fly as part of my job.

[MuchLovedMama]

As an added bonus I had gotten a pin code for free dining which was originally blacked out for our dates-now we won't be there as long to use the free dining. Sorry for the rant-no one around my household really understands why I am so upset. :(

The free dining is per night not per day so I hope you weren't couting your arrival day plus your departure day. Either way if you had plans for that last day you can throw it in at any other time during your stay. It doesn't have to be just 2 meals per day. You can actually do 3 or combine 2 for an upgrade or something. Just wanted to throw that out there.

[BigRedDad]

This is the known risk with using AirTran. You are at the whim of their scheduling. They can do this due to low ticket purchases and/or the need for a plane to be in a specific location. They do give you an option to change to a different flight at no cost. Unfortunately, that may not coincide with your plans. This is exactly why I choose to fly SWA. They do not change their schedules. the only thing you have to be concerned with is weather and mechanical delays.

[MMFreak]

This has nothing to do with a schedule change but is does deal with Air Tran.

The one and only time we flew Air Tran was about two years ago. Our schedules were fine but on the return trip as I sat down in my seat I realized it was soaking wet. I stood up neck bent in my allotted area for about 15 minutes before I could get a steward to give me something to put on my seat. Needless to say I had a soggy bottom the entire trip home and god only knows what was on the seat. About three days later I became VERY sick with a terrible cold/flu :ill:. Now this could be coincidence :confused: but as a person with a fairly good constitution as well as never having been sick in the warm months, I believe whomever sat before me was sick and as a result of the un-cleanliness I developed whatever they had. We will never fly that airline again.

[r4kids]

We LOVE Jetblue. I am not sure if they fly out of where you are but it's worth a try! They are fantasic :)

[DisneyBunch]

I fly Southwest, not once have they changed a flight that I booked, although there have been some weather delays, but that's to be expected.

This just in.....Airtran doesn't care. More and more airlines are disregarding customer service and changing flights at their whim. United is the absolute worst. Not only will they change your flight, they routinely cancel them with no advance notice.
If you want good service at a pretty good price, fly Southwest.:mickey:

[DVC2004]

I'm sorry and I know how you feel. We once flew another airline and we got the earliest flight. Come to find out the plane was delayed for hours. Instead of arriving around 10 am we didn't get to WDW until almost 5- missed our late lunch ADR and almost an entire day.

I agree though things are tough all over with these airlines. Many are cutting flights and adding long stops and layovers or less flights altogether.

[Checkers]

:mickey:I feel your pain. Our family flew out of Baltimore in May and it was just a fluke that I went on AirTran's website to check something and discovered our flight down had been changed by an hour putting us in the air over lunch time with 4 children ages 7 and under. We just dealt with it but on our return I received a survey from AirTran and I blasted them for the non-notification, etc. We are going down in a few weeks and again flying out of BWI but this time it is with Southwest. Love the fact that we don't have to pay for checked bags, too.

In Oct. we are flying out of Harrisburg and will be flying AirTran (direct flight) and they already have changed our flights (down & back) but this time it favors us so I'm not complaining. We will not be flying with children so it is not a big deal but when we fly down next March with our DD, SIL & 3 DGC we will be flying SW out of BWI.

[Dznygrl79]

I feel so sorry for you, I flew air tran once and had so many problems I stopped using them, they changed times on us twice for one direct flight and then it arrived late, we lost a whole day at Disney. I would seriously find someone who will listen to you, give them an earful, this is throwing your whole vacation into disaray, also I guess you could take the later direct flight and possibly keep your son home the next day, if he is able to catch up at school. Good Luck with whatever you chose don't let them get the better of you!

[SandmanGStefani24]

so sorry about your troubles...

unfortunately you are in good company. my sis in law and a few friends missed work because Airtran couldnt get a plane in airworthy condition to fly them home after a trip. (this is of course after the flight time was changed twice.) I advised her not to use Airtran but she went based on price and was not pleased. most people forget that Airtran is just VALUJET with a different name. (btw if anyone doesnt know why this is a bad thing, wiki it sometime.)

Hopefully you can still have fun even though plans have hit a snag.
:sam:

[Simba 1]

Just had to throw in my :twocents:

Replace "Airtran" with just about any airline name. They all change schedules, lose luggage, and have poor customer service. Anyone who flies has a horror story to share. Southwest seems to be the outlier, but they don't have a presence in all airports so some of us don't have the opportunity to give them our business.

I feel your pain, so please don't think I'm making light of your situation. But these days I really think we need to totally write off the arrival and departure days. Between weather issues, mechanical delays, flight crews with too many hours, overbooked flights....I'm surprised when we actually take off and land on schedule.

Don't let this spoil your trip...adjust your plans and have a great time!

[Jillirose]

We always fly Airtran Flint to Orlando and have never had any problems! I wonder if different routes fare better or worse?

[bouncer]

We always fly Airtran Flint to Orlando and have never had any problems! I wonder if different routes fare better or worse?

I used to think that too. I had flown Airtran before - several times- only had one time change that was minor. When I read other people's complaints on here I thought that maybe it was just the market/city they were flying out of. Found out the hard way that is not the case-simply how Airtran operates. Bottom line first, everything else in betweeen, customer service LAST.
I would compare this to false advertising. They advertised a 5:30 flight at $87. I booked according to price and time (Southwest's fares weren't even out yet at the time) only to have my preference removed. Call it what you want-false advertising, bait & switch, whatever. I call it unethical.

As for the dining plan...I wanted to spread out the ADRs into our last day so that we aren't wasting park time in restaurants. So I thought at least we could have a big lunch at Crystal Palace before heading to the airport.

As far as taking the late flight & keeping DS home the next day--my biggest concern is weather-flying into and driving an hour home in...

Thanks for your support!

[DizneyRox]

I call it bait and switch...

I doubt airlines physically have the planes necessary to handle all the routes initially offered. The plan seems to be to attract as many people as possilbe with convenient flights, then funnel them all into the one or two they can handle.

To me, that's bait and switch... I don't support it, I don't think I've flown anything but SWA in about 8 or 9 years...

[Magic Smiles]

Just had to throw in my :twocents:

Replace "Airtran" with just about any airline name. They all change schedules, lose luggage, and have poor customer service. Anyone who flies has a horror story to share. Don't let this spoil your trip...adjust your plans and have a great time!

I have to agree that all airlines do it.
Personally I don't really think your flight changes are that bad. We flew Air Canada last summer to Las Vegas and our return flight was changed by 12 hours, which actually changed the day. We weren't even in the same city on the day that our flight would have been leaving.
I would just take the later direct flight and the next morning if DS was too tired to get up for school, then just take him in a little later. I certainly wouldn't be rearranging my Disney plans. But then again that is just my :twocents:

[BelleKP]

I feel your pain, so please don't think I'm making light of your situation. But these days I really think we need to totally write off the arrival and departure days. Between weather issues, mechanical delays, flight crews with too many hours, overbooked flights....I'm surprised when we actually take off and land on schedule.

Don't let this spoil your trip...adjust your plans and have a great time!

I agree with Simba . . . we have been in the same situation and it's definitely a damper . . . but we've learned our lesson. We don't schedule anything for arrival or departure day. If we get there early, BONUS . . . let's check out DTD. Or if we get to leave later, BONUS . . . let's hit MK one more time. We just don't count on it, saves the disappointment.

I also agree with MagicSmiles . . . take the later, direct flight and let DS miss the morning of school (this is coming from a teacher btw ;) )
Hope whatever you decide works out in your favour.

[Figment52]

We LOVE Jetblue. I am not sure if they fly out of where you are but it's worth a try! They are fantasic :)

We didn't have any problems with them either until a few weeks ago when they moved up our return flight by 3 hours.:mad: Turns out they are going to stop offering their 8pm non-stop departure this fall, so we were pushed into the 5pm departure. We were really not amused by this as we picked the specific dates of our vacation based on this departure time since it wasn't offered all the time. Not sure why their getting rid of it now - we flew the same flight in Oct 2008 when the economy was just as bad.:confused:

Unfortunatly, I agree with the others who say this will be a new industry standard. Not really sure how to work around it either. If we just take it as it comes, we'll have more occasions lihe this, but If we stop using the airlines, they'll cut even more flights and raise costs.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Sounds like a lot of changes for you.
2) You should cancel the trip.

[DizneyRox]

Unfortunatly, I agree with the others who say this will be a new industry standard. Not really sure how to work around it either. If we just take it as it comes, we'll have more occasions lihe this, but If we stop using the airlines, they'll cut even more flights and raise costs.
If you're not flying, then less flights and higher costs are no impact to you. :D

[Figment52]

If you're not flying, then less flights and higher costs are no impact to you. :D

lol True, but they affect the rest that are still forced to fly.

[Goofster]

We've used AirTran a lot from Flint to Orlando and Detroit to Orlando. I've noticed the past few years the flights times will change, but only by a few minutes. One time, the flight I booked home was for the afternoon at $69, while the non-stop evening flight was $149. Well, they eventually eliminated the $69 flight and put us on a morning flight heading home. I called them up and they moved me to that late evening, non-stop flight that was priced higher but I wasn't charged the difference in fare. So for me, the change was a good thing.

I've flown Southwest once and only once. I thought the whole cattle call to get a seat was an absolute joke and our flight from Detroit to Orlando was delayed by more than an hour. I was not impressed. To top it off, the schedules they have now from Detroit are all 1-3 stops...flying all over the place before finally landing in Orlando. No thanks...we plan on sticking with AirTran or Delta...we've always head good luck flying to Orlando with them.:mickey:

[Pirate Granny]

I guess I was very firm...you changEd my flight I want a different flight out of a different city...we have Detroit or flint options...they made the change and a month later reactivated our original flight wiTh only a 20 minute time difference. So I made another call, and at first they said, no you have already made one change, I said let me speak with a supervisor, they said hold please...can back on line ten minutes later and reactivated my reservations to the original flight...so, unless the price is significant...I fly Delta...yea, I know...but no direct flights using southwest...don't get me started about spirit.