Southwest flights on AirTran

[2disneyfans]

We love Southwest and last we flew used the early bird option and had no problem with getting seats together.

We are looking to fly on Southwest and see many of the nonstop flights are actually AirTran for the time of day we are looking at. It says we would be assigned a seat when we check in. Has anyone done this and have you been assigned seats together? We are a little apprehensive since our DSs are 4 and 2! Thanks for sharing your experience.:mickey:

[vamaggie]

last time we fly AirTran (before they merged w SW) we were able to pick our seats ahead of time. I would think that as long as your kids' ages are listed, you should have a good chance of getting seats together (or at least 2 and 2)

[BrerGnat]

We opted to fly Jet Blue to Orlando in August because of this.

My understanding is, if you book through the Airtran site, you can choose your seats, BUT, there are fees associated with doing so. You would also be liable for baggage fees. If you book the Airtran leg through Southwest Site, you can avoid the fees, but you have NO say in your seat assignment. Because almost all flights to MCO have a ton of kids onboard, I was not comfortable with the way seats would be assigned so late, and the potential for not being able to sit with our kids.

Until the merger is complete, I would not feel comfortable booking a leg that Airtran is operating. My understanding is that after the merger is finished, all operations will be on the Southwest side of things, using their existing policies for everything.

The flight times being offered by SW just didn't work for us, so we are not using them this time.

[Fangorn]

My understanding is, if you book through the Airtran site, you can choose your seats, BUT, there are fees associated with doing so. You would also be liable for baggage fees. If you book the Airtran leg through Southwest Site, you can avoid the fees, but you have NO say in your seat assignment.
...My understanding is that after the merger is finished, all operations will be on the Southwest side of things, using their existing policies for everything.


Natalie is basically correct here with one minor correction - if you book through Airtran and any segment of your flight is on a Southwest plane, the baggage fees will be waived.

At this point in the game, Southwest and Airtran are still two separate airlines with a "code share" arrangement. That means you can buy seats on either airline from either airline. But, the policies of each flight segment are detirmined by the company operating that flight segment. Hence the current weirdness. The plan is that two airlines will be fully integrated and Airtran will officially cease to exist by the end of 2014. My bet is that Southwest will make every effort to have it completed by October 18, 2014. The day the idiotic Wright Amendment finally dies.

Just anothe one of the oddities in this merger: I saw a Ding fare the other day for an incredibly low price from Orlando to Portland. After clicking through to actually look at the flights, I noticed that the routing and timing was really odd. Finally, when I pretended to actually book the flight, the heading said Portland, ME instead of Portland, OR. Drat! They haven't quite figured out that they now have two cities on different sides of the country with the same name.

Steve

[BrerGnat]

That means you can buy seats on either airline from either airline. But, the policies of each flight segment are detirmined by the company operating that flight segment. Hence the current weirdness.

Steve

Actually, Steve, Southwest's site says that the payment of fees is governed by which site you BOOK the flight through, not who is operating the segment. So, if you book an Airtran operated flight through Southwest's site, NO FEES. If you book the SAME FLIGHT through Airtran's site, you have to pay the fees.

[Fangorn]

Natalie, I stand corrected in part. I did get it backwards as to who's rules apply. But in their FAQs, Southwest states that if any segment of the flight is on Southwest, even if you book through Airtran, the baggage fees will be waived. So we're both right. :mickey:

Steve

[BrerGnat]

Ah, clear as mud now. :crazy:

I'm just gonna hold off on booking on SW until next year. Will keep racking up the points and use them when this merger is all said and done!

[Fangorn]

I hear ya. Fortunately for me, there aren't very many Airtran flights on the West Coast and I don't actually have to deal with it. Other than there being two Portlands now. :mickey:

Steve

[wildernesslady]

I just booked on SW this morning. Our flights are on AirTran. I called ahead to confirm we were still eligible for all SW policies and we are. The seat assignment willbe given at the 24 hr mark and the seats should be together since they are on the same confirmation.

[2disneyfans]

We went ahead and booked on SW, but they are both Air Tran flights to and from Orlando. The fare had dropped to a great deal and we decided to give it a try. We are so glad we did go ahead and book, today the flights were $20 more per person!:thumbsup:

[2disneyfans]

We booked AT through SW because we preferred the time of day of the flights. We flew PHL to MCO. We checked in online at exactly 24 hours in advance. On our flight to MCO, we had 4 seats right in a row, we were delighted. Our 2 boys were 2 and 4 so we were concerned about sitting together.

We had a great time in Disney World. On our last day, we checked in online for our flights the next day at 2:45 in the afternoon, again exactly 24 hours in advance. We had 4 seats spread out all over the plane!!!

Even though we knew it was pretty hopeless until the next day (day of actual flight), we tried calling AT and SW to see if we could do anything. They both reassured us that it could be taken care of at the airport.

Day of flight-got to the airport early-AT person said there was NOTHING she could do until about 1 hour before our flight. She said the flight wasn't open in the computer and that there were not open seats that she could start making changes. We were stressed!

Finally, about an hour before our flight, they did manage to switch us and we had 4 seats in a row. However there was family after family with the same concerns. They got some of the, switched but eventually, they told other families they would have to wait until we were on the plane to see if someone would switch.

Once we were on the plane, the flight attendants were trying to switch people, but just couldn't get a single mom with 5 year old twins and another family with several children close enough. There were a few empty seats on the plane. My husband and I volunteered to sit 2 and 2 so that the Mom with the twins could be together. Our plane was 2 seats on one side of the aisle and 3 seats on the other side. There had been an extra seat next to my one son and me on the 3 side. We moved over to the 2 seat side in front of my husband and other son.

We finally flew home after that.

To be honest, I don't know if I could go through that stress again-it's not worth it!! I had a hard time enjoying my last evening in the Magic Kingdom because I kept worrying about our seats on the plane. We will just stick to regular SW flights next time until AT and SW resolve the computer glitches or until SW takes over AT completely!!!