AirTran Airlines
34 reviews for AirTran Airlines
34 reviews in English
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Review from Glenn M.
Walnut Creek, CA
2/20/2012
So much hate from my fellow Yelpers... so much anger...
I fly AirTran now and then, when Southwest isn't going where I'm going when I want to go there. I rarely have more than my backpack as luggage, so being charged to check bags is a non-issue. One of my favorite things about AirTran is their Business Class -- the tix cost about 4x Coach class if you buy them outright, but if you check in on-line 24 hours before your flight and there are Business Class seats available, you can upgrade for ~$100. This is important to a tall fellow such as myself. They were recently bought by Southwest, and signs of the merger are growing more obvious. AirTran used to have free Sirius XM at each seat, but no longer, and Business Class will likely disappear with the AirTran name. From the tone of most of the reviews, their final demise can't happen soon enough! -
Review from Andrew M.
Lafayette, CA
5/23/2012
Got to agree with all the yelpers: Avoid this airline. To add more seats, Air Tran reduced the cushions in the seats. Now all you get is a thin foam pad over metal. Some of your seats reclined a little, about two inches. Again, to make more space for seats. One of our seats did not recline at all. We brought this to the attention of the flight attendant but he didn't care. The attendants were more concerned with picking up trash. The aircraft was old, the toilet smelled, armrests were worn.
The only positive, the flight was on time for two of our legs. -
Review from Wendy P.
San Francisco, CA
5/21/2012
Truly a nightmarish experience in Atlanta airport. The flight was really late. Finally they told us to board the plane and they pulled away from the terminal. But they had no intention of taking off. They had loaded us up just to clear the gate so another of their flights could use the gate!!!!! And they stuck us on the tarmac for 3 hours 55 minutes, just short of the penalty period of 4 hours. Finally someone had a medical emergency and they brought the plane back in. I was furious. It was hot, there was hardly any water, no food, restrooms not cleaned, in the evening and we all had to go and find a place to sleep. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
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Review from Liz W.
Charlotte, NC
5/17/2012
DO NOT FLY WITH THIS AIRLINE EVER. I had a terrible first experience trying to fly with AirTran, due to an error on their part that cost me hundreds of dollars extra cost and ruined my vacation. We arrived at the airport to find that our morning flight reservation was canceled despite us receiving NO notification (we checked our email and spam history thoroughly), and we were told the flight was oversold and rudely turned away from the check-in counter at the airport. We showed the 2 employees at the counter our ticketing confirmation email, the ticket numbers, the travel agency's ticketing confirmation page, and even the charges made by AirTran to my bank account. Still, they said there was nothing they could do and forced us to leave the counter without any options. We then called AirTran Customer Services, and were told to call the travel agency (Travelation). Due to the travel agency being located in a different time zone, 7 hours passed before we were able to contact them. The agent at Travelation was able to immediately identify this was a computer error and AirTran employees should have known this and boarded us on a plane. She mediated with AirTran (who admitted fault) to get us on a flight; however, AirTran was only able to put us back on the original return flight and had to offer us a refund for the outgoing flight because they couldn't get us on a flight until over 48 hours later. We ended up having to buy a ticket from a competitor's airline (EXTREMELY expensive since we bought it the day of the flight) in order to get to our destination, and as of today (over a month later), we STILL have not received a refund for the flight we were turned away from. We have called and emailed them multiple times to no effect, and I doubt we will get ever get that refund without going through the bank and forcing AirTran to give back the money. Their only non-automated response has been to offer us a $50 coupon on a future flight: after all we went through, this could only be insulting, and since this offer is being made while they still owe us nearly $400 for the tickets they canceled, it is infuriating as well as insulting.
If all of this inconvenience is not enough to persuade you not to use this airline, I have also found out since flying with them that they are a very unsafe airline with an extremely poor safety record, unsurprising considering the sloppy way they obviously run their business. AirTran used to be called ValuJet, until an incident in 1996 when, due to the fault of their employees, an airplane exploded into flames and crashed, killing 110 people. (Link to Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.or...) Although the airline later merged with AirTran, the article states that "ValuJet was the nominal survivor, [but] the ValuJet name was so tarnished by this time that it was scrapped in favor of the AirTran name."
I have since read reviews of this airline from other recent passengers, and like many of them, I also felt like I was taking my life in my hands flying with AirTran. I have flown a fair number of times before, and this plane seemed to be shaking and jolting at all the wrong times. They also had many passengers (including us) whose connecting flights were far too close together; we were barely able to make our connection, and I heard many other passengers worrying about the same thing. Bottom line, this airline is unsafe, poorly run, and could cost you hundreds of extra dollars at best, and your life at worst. Do not fly with them EVER. -
Review from Michelle S.
Oakland, CA
9/4/2011
Flying with AirTran is kinda like that one-night stand that nobody wants to admit they've had. On a drunken Friday or Saturday night, when the beer goggles are at their thickest and blurriest, you eventually ask the nearest available suitor with your best slurred speech to take you home.
It seems like such a good idea at the time. Sloppy though it may be, you're convinced that this conquest is the best thing that could happen to you. Wait, what's his name again?
Then your pathetic hungover self wakes up next to Sloth from "The Goonies."
And AirTran is kinda the same--only marginally tolerable when extremely under the influence.
See, I admittedly don't fly well. Part of it is my trouble with suspending control. Part of it is my inability to stay in my seat for a long time. I have to be really excited about a trip to the other side of the country because one of my least favorite places to be is on a damn airplane.
So that's where booze comes in. See, I managed to be "well-lubricated" before and during my trip to San Francisco last month. However, I was unable to EVER have a drop on my flight back to Boston because of utter incompetency in multiple areas.
I got to SFO with 90 minutes to spare. This is normally enough time. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the long line at the check-in/kiosks stretch all the way past the Southwest lines. Now, I'm sure that re-routes from Irene had something to do with the insanity. Then I realized that it was because the kiosks were all broken and the staff had to let you in by hand. Now, I know I could've checked in if I already printed my boarding pass off the internet. But, gee, I kinda forgot to bring my printer on vacation with me.
Oh yeah, pretending that they were working and useful, the kiosks which usually aid with check in are at the front of the AirTran counters. So.....you have to wait in a long ass line before you get to the thing that should make the lines shorter. Have you noticed how convenient it is that JetBlue and Virgin have kiosks near the back of their terminal and how this is efficient? Ugh.
So, I'm standing in the line and about to miss my flight when about two of the kiosks start working. At this point, staff members started hustling people to the front of the line if their flight was leaving in 30-40 minutes (like mine).
Then we were sort of hustled through security because we were one of three flights leaving in 30 minutes. (Who planned that? Isn't better to stagger them a bit so people don't all show up at the same time and then the runways aren't crowded? Am I crazy? Or is this a snafu to assuage the hurricane cancellations? More in a minute.) At this point, I don't even bother to put my laptop back into my backpack. I RAN to the end of the terminal with my laptop in one hand and my backpack flinging from side to side and a bunch of us just barely make our flight.
Except........
Someone failed to check the weather in Atlanta (where we connected) until just before take-off (which was already mildly delayed since nobody could check in on time). So, after we had our seat belts fastened, our electronics off, and heard our safety lecture, we waited on the tarmac for, dunno, another 45 minutes to get more fuel. REALLY?! You couldn't prep for that earlier?! I mean, I always try to make sure I have enough fuel when I drive...I've been doing so for about 15 years.
So all of us are getting impatient on the runway because nearly everyone on the plane has a connecting flight out of Atlanta to God-Knows-Where that all leave within an hour of our scheduled landing. (Again, which rocket scientist planned that one? STAGGER!) As this is happening, one of my neighbors barfs on himself because AirTran doesn't supply barf bags in the seat pocket (really, WTF?). Then, once we finally took off, a bunch of us spent our time on the WiFi (which actually works rather well when it's actually working, it wasn't on my flight to SF) trying to predict which flights we'd have to take instead.
Then we did make it to Atlanta...with maybe 15 minutes to spare. We all board on time, fasten seat belts, turn off electronics, listen to the lecture....and then sit on the tarmac again (less time this time though) because of runway traffic and because luggage needed to be transferred.
Oh, and they have snacks but not meals. They all have soybean oil in them though. At least I had the forethought to bring my own.
Oh, and don't get me started about paying extra for a seat after I bought my ticket. And since this was four flights round trip, I had four additional charges.
Oh yeah, and my seat from Atlanta to Boston didn't have an arm rest!
And I never had a chance to have a drink throughout this entire experience. Maybe I would've tolerated it more?
At least the flight attendants are nice and the baggage check fees are a little less expensive than other airlines. Other than that, though often the cheapest, not the best.Listed in: She's got a ticket to ride..., Soy Vay. :/
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Review from Olivia S.
San Jose, CA
10/21/2011
My girlfriends and I had decided to take a trip to Miami, and found tickets on the AirTran website for a good $150 less than the rest. So naturally, we took the cheap tickets, right? Well first and foremost, the staff was beyond rude! I had an upset stomach on the plane and pushed the button to ask the flight attendant for a ginger-ale. After the male flight attendant came over, I asked him "Excuse me, I'm sorry but do you think I I could please have a ginger ale? My stomach is really upset." He looks at me with this terrible attitude and says "yeah, I guess." Then when he returned, he handed it to me and started to walk away, so I raised my voice and said "Thank you!!" as he was walking away from me.
Next, we had a lay over flight in Texas and had to check our bags last minute so the flight attendant announces that for those of us that checked our bags last minute would have to pick them up at the Layover airport and check them again. It seemed a little off, so I double checked before getting off the plane in Milwaukee and the other flight attendant confirmed that we had to pick up our belongings from baggage claim. My friend and I went down to baggage claim (out of the secure area) to grab our bags, only to find they were being sent directly to Miami. Now, thanks to them we had to go back through another half hour of security!
Lastly, we got onto our last flight to Miami and my sister went to sit in her assigned seat and noticed that there was a gap between the seat cushion and the back rest. My sister called the flight attendant over and she told us "Oh, hmm.... OK, I'll take a report when we get to Miami." Mind you, this was a two and a half hour flight there, so we both looked at each other and looked at her and asked her, "What do we do until then?!" She said "Ummmm I don't know, the flight is full so there aren't any other seats to sit in." I'm sorry, but isn't that a safety precaution they should be taking? Aren't those seats made to be used as flotation devices in emergency situations?! Luckily, I had a little throw blanket that I folded and let my sister sit on, but that still was not a safe alternative!
It's hard to believe that AirTran will be merging with Southwest! I mean, Southwest is a great airline with amazing customer service. Maybe they should reevaluate the merge!
All in all, I WILL NOT be flying AirTran ever again! -
Review from wren c.
San Francisco, CA
8/25/2011
I'm sorry, but why did I just buy a ticket and then get charged an extra $6 for my seat in each direction. WACK!!!
If they weren't the only airline that flew into Atlantic City, NJ I would have told them to go fuck themselves. Hopefully they will go out of business. -
Review from Sherilyn T.
Oakland, CA
12/5/2010
WORSE. AIRLINE. EVER. I'm writing this review as I'm waiting at Reagan Airport for them to locate my lost luggage! WTF?! Hey stupid lady at SFO, if you're going to check my luggage at the gate bc you let douchey ppl stick their coats in the overhead compartment to take up all the space, then at least find out what my connecting flight is to tag my luggage correctly instead of picking any random flight. Heffer! So if there are more than one connecting flight from Atlanta to DCA, then ASK ME WHICH FLIGHT I'M ON. Don't pick a random flight to put my luggage on and cause all sorts of inconveniences for me.
Stupid airline does not deserve to have my last name attached to it. BOOOOO.
NEGATIVE STARS! -
Review from Meghan P.
3/2/2010
PRO's of Airtran:
- the rules of being at the airport really early for your flight don't really apply- they are happy with you if you are on the plane 10 minutes before it takes off... and you can arrive at the airport just a few minutes before that if you want to!
- they actually still serve little snacks; while they are small, little biscuits and baby pretzels are better than nothing!
- Wifi on every flight
CON's of Airtran:
- can be COLD on-board especially near a window; bring WARM clothing!
- not the newest, fanciest planes... -
Review from Sherezada K.
Albany, CA
10/13/2009
If I could give Airtran negative stars, I would. This was by far the worst airline experience of my life, and I've had some pretty hairy experiences on other airlines before.
My brother and I were flying from SFO to Milwaukee on a Friday to meet a friend. The flight was to go from SFO to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Milwaukee. We checked weather and flight info ahead a time, and though heard there was a chance of thunderstorms in the Milwaukee/Chicago area, it seemed everything was on schedule...until we got to the AirTran gate at SFO.
There, the attendant (whose name tag read "Mel") told us that all flights to Milwaukee and Chicago had been canceled for the day due to a weather advisory. The best I could do was fly on to their hub in Atlanta as scheduled and hope I could find a flight to Milwaukee the next day if the weather cleared up.
Not only did this sound really iffy, but I had a one-time-only event going on in Chicago on Saturday, so flying that day was not possible. I asked her if I could get a refund. She called her manager over the phone, and was told she could give us credit, but no refund. I asked to her hold off, as I was going to ask around the airport to see what my options were.
To my surprise, it seemed that every other airline at SFO had no idea about this weather advisory, and had flights going into Milwaukee and Chicago. I finally booked a flight to Chicago (close enough) for considerably more money. I wanted to stop and talk to AirTran again, but the line was too long and my new flight was departing in 30 mins, so off through security I went.
Once at the terminal, I called AirTran's customer service on the white courtesy phone in hopes of securing that voucher, and was informed -- get this -- that the FLIGHT HAD NEVER BEEN CANCELED. They had no idea why Mel would tell me it was, because their system showed it confirmed on time. There was nothing they could do for me at all.
I called AirTran back a couple days later when I wasn't in the middle of a busy airport, and they confirmed that there had been no cancellation. They couldn't do anything for me though, the best they could do was give me a new number to lodge a formal complaint so, seriously, "this wouldn't happen to someone else."
Because of their attendant's "little mistake," I spent nearly $1,000 extra, had to scramble at the airport, then had to take a 3-hour bus from Chicago to Milwaukee to get to where I had already paid in advance to get to. Whenever I called anyone to try to get help with my situation, I was treated with suspicion and rudeness. Oh yeah, like I'm really trying to scam you for free tickets on your AWESOME airline. Completely unacceptable.
Would not recommend ever. I'm not even going to get into the horrible, sardine-like conditions we were subject to on the return flight (which went off without hitch, at least). Even if they gave me a free voucher for all this nonsense, I would never use it, after being treated like I have been. -
Review from Clawdia G.
Fairfax, CA
8/17/2011
So I book this flight on AirTran. Never heard of the airline before, and read some of the reviews, but I thought, you know people generally write bad reviews and not good ones. Well, l have here to say LISTEN TO THE BAD REVIEWS!!! I booked with AT in the first place because they had a red-eye flight that would allow me to finish my work day and get to the airport in plenty of time, and to my destination in time for a pre-scheduled brunch.
Two months to go and I get an email saying that AT has made significant changes to my flight that I must confirm. I call the customer service number on the email, and wait AN HOUR to confirm the change to my flight, which amounted to about 5 minutes. No big deal.
A month passes and I get another email saying the same thing, I call customer service number again. They have changed the flight back to the original times. Again, no big deal.
Today I get an email saying that AT has been trying to reach me for months about a significant change to my flights, but that they haven't heard from me, so they confirmed the changes for me. Needless to say I called them anyway, and they had changed my flight time from 10:30pm to 7:00am.
Really? I had to call to OK a five minute change, but didn't need to call to OK a ten hour change? I said thank you, but no thank you and had them cancel all of my flights. Which they did, now let's see if they actually refund my money. -
Review from Jeannie S.
Philadelphia, PA
11/20/2009
What a disaster!
I was scheduled for a 6:20am flight from Boston to SFO with a layover in Milwaukee on November 16, 2009. I arrived 1hour and 30 minutes in advance after checking in online but still had to check a bag.
When I arrived I see a line that curves around the inside of the airport and so of course I am concerned. Get this- THE COMPUTERS ARE DOWN! Therefore, they are handwriting every single person's ticket. I get in line and wait patiently.....
When it becomes an hour before my flight I go up to the staff person directing traffic and ask her about the flight since it an hour away. She states "I don't work for Air Tran, so get in line". Ok then.
45 minutes until my plan I go and ask another staff member and they tell me "oh don'y worry there is plenty of time". Times this by two as I ask again at 30 minutes.
FINALLY, at 13 minutes before scheduled take off they call for everyone going to Milwaukee. We run through the airport, and security only to arrive and be told THE PLANE TOOK OFF!!
AirTran staff members told us "We had 70 other people on the plane so we told them to leave all of you off". There were 30 of us they left off!!!! The kicked is the plane then sat there for 20 minutes at the gate and didn't even move!
Therefore, they had to reschedule all of us. It is now 6:30am and I was told the only flight I could get on would be at 8:45pm! I decided to just leave the next day and unfortunately miss a day of work.
Our compensation= 2 roundtrip tickets. Ok that is a pretty decent compensation. I a make sure to ask before i levae about blackout dates, specific dates I want to travel, when I am booking, etc. I am told I can DEFINITELY get those dates and times I need.
So, what happens- I call last night and of course they will not give me the dates I need! After they confirmed with me I could.
Lousy people skills and professionalism not to mention backing out on their word. Not a great reputation to have. -
Review from Mia L.
New York, NY
4/24/2009
How can you be so idiotic as to count on a flight out of SFO to arrive from ATL the same night? Thanks to weather conditions, my 10:40 red-eye flight has been delayed until 3:20.
Their staff has been lax in their helpfulness, to say the least. I asked one attendant if they were re-booking our connecting flights and if so, what was necessary to complete the transaction. She replied that it was being done automatically and nothing was required on my part. About 2 minutes later I realized, wait, I don't have a new boarding pass, and if I don't speak up I will most certainly not have a seat on the later flight.
Thanks for hanging us out to dry.
PS -- When I finally got on the flight, no pillows or blankets in sight. That is BEYOND cheap. -
Review from Melissa L.
Brooklyn, NY
2/20/2009
It gets a high rating because they have given me the least problems out of ANY airline I've ever flown in terms of putting my guitar in the overhead bin.
No one at the gate stood there armed with "cargo tags" ready to check my delicate instrument in the freezing underbelly of the plane. No one said anything when I used an entire overhead compartment just for my guitar. A couple of flight attendants even told other passengers to put their bags elsewhere because there was an instrument in the bin above.
For that alone - as well as no other hassles and friendly service - it deserves 4 stars. -
Review from Katja S.
Palo Alto, CA
6/2/2009
The worst airline experience in my life. In summer 2007 we have traveled to Pittsburgh, PA from San Francisco connecting in Atlanta. Every one of four flights was delayed for at least an hour. My 16 years old son was on crutches (broken legs); they refused to let us get off the plane first, or provide a wheel chair for that matter. We had to run to catch a connecting flight. Have you ever seen a person running on crutches?!!
I am not even complaining about pillows and blankets.
The flights were cheap - I guess you get what you pay for. -
Review from Praveen S.
San Jose, CA
12/3/2009
I flew AirTran from Atlanta to San Francisco last year and I should say I was impressed. The flight was pretty neat and the cabin crew were very helpful.
Unfortunately they don't have any food on board. So, one star less. But they served us a lot of coke. I didn't forget to take a to-go Mexican meal with me from the airport but in the rush, I forgot to take spoons/forks. How do you eat rice/beans with your hands on a flight? Well, the flight attendant came to my help and she made a spoon with a plastic glass she had and gave it to me. This makeshift spoon was excellent and I had a good meal. When we arrived in New York, they gave us moist towels in sachets which was nice of them. -
Review from Lea R.
San Francisco, CA
2/3/2011
They suck. They cancelled my flight during a festival for scheduling problems, issued me a one way refund, only to NOT be available for when I want to fly (you can get tickets online, but not with your refund). God, never again
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Review from Mishelle N.
Tracy, CA
11/16/2010
THE CREW FROM NC TO ATLANTA ON 11/15 ON 415PM WAS WONDERFUL. They help me with my grandson and let him run on the plane to run him down ")
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Review from Eve K.
8/26/2008
Not the best but not the worst and one of the few options if you need to fly to the Wisconsin.
Cost to worth it ratio: 4 stars (all airlines seem to be of the same relative suckiness, so you might as well pay less)
Highlights:
- Direct from SFO to MKE--I never see this so was excited to be able to get to my sister's without having to make a stop. 3.5 hour travel time without a 3 hour layover in the wee hours of the morning works for me!
- Vitamin water and Coke Zero: I love both of these and never seen them on planes, so I liked that.
- XM radio: good for variety. They even splurge and give you plastic ear buds.
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
- Charge for a seat assignment--apparently the latest in the airlines nickel and diming us. We thought things were bad already with charging for check in bags. Here it's $6 to get a seat assignment after the reservation is made. Soon it's going to really be like that commercial where we have to put in a quarter to store items overhead or recline our seats!
- Online boarding passes: when you print them online, there's no version of you to keep. This is bad for people like me with no short term memory and also not good in a case of double booked seat assignment discrepancy which happens ever once in a while.
- Bathroom: icky. Door barely closed and was overall felt super small and dirty. On the way back the bathroom was more normal and ok.
- No food for purchase: even on a 5 hour flight. If you have a short layover without time to buy food, you're screwed. One bag of baby pretzels only goes so far.
- Routes: our way back we had to go through Atlanta. So yeah, we went from the middle of the state to the east coast to get back to the web coast. I understand their hub is there, but a complete waste of time.
- Pilot not too informative: we were on the tarmac for an hour and a half and didn't get the first update of what was up until over 30 minutes had passed and the next update over 30 minutes later. The reason wasn't communicate too clearly either.
Not a great experience, but I don't expect much from airlines lately and would fly them again for their direct flights to save myself time from dealing with these companies. -
Review from Ed F.
San Leandro, CA
8/26/2010
I made a reservation to fly Airtran from SFO to Milwaukee for a family reunion in Chicago (the airfare was much less to MKE than ORD). I was a little concerned when I tried to do seat selection and a chart popped up offering me the opportunity to do so for $15 (or more depending on where I wanted to sit). I decided to forget about it and take my chances with everyone else. I later realized Airtran was on yelp and was worried about all the low reviews it got.
The day before my flight I went on line to check in and got the seats I wanted (for free). The flight was problem free, left and arrived on time and had free XM radio. I think their rating is being skewed because only people who had problems (which seem to be legitimate concerns from what i read) are giving them reviews here at Yelp. All I can say is, things went fine for me and I would definitely fly them again. -
Review from Tommy P.
San Francisco, CA
12/3/2009
Man ATA is terrible. Flew them from Minneapolis back to SFO and they actually lost my DJ coffin containing my turntables and mixer. Had to wait days to fill out a claim and get the stuff back and when I finally did get it back one of the hinges was broken. I was told I could fill out a claim form and submit it along with an estimate from a shop to be reimbursed for repairs but at that point I was so disenchanted that I just wanted to be done with the whole situation. Screw you ATA I'll never be flying with you guys again.
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Review from judah m.
San Francisco, CA
11/30/2009
Horrible customer service, avoid this airline.
My wife is currently stuck in Baltimore because airtran delayed her flight enough that if she were to get on it she would miss her connecting flight in Atlanta and have to bench it there overnight (and still not get home earlier than 24 hours later than expected). Are they apologetic? No. Are they offering to try to find her another flight on a different airline? No. Have they offered her any compensation beside a $30 off hotel coupon? No. Do they care at all? All sources point to no. They won't even put her on an early flight tomorrow, the earliest they will get her home is a full 24 hours later than expected. airtran just doesn't care. -
Review from kami j.
Hayward, CA
6/29/2010
I traveled with my handicapped mother. We departed from San Francisco to Milwaukee. We then had a connecting flight to Orlando. Our luggage was not put on the connecting flight in Milwaukee. We continued on to Port Canaveral where we boarded our cruise without our luggage. Luckily we received our luggage later that evening.
On our return flight from Orlando to Atlanta. I placed my bag in the overhead compartment over our seats. Another passenger had a large bag. Flight attendant "Lisa" moved my bag and tried shoving it into another overhead compartment. My mother told her there was a porcelain doll in the bag. "Lisa" yelled at my mother in a loud tone of voice, "You need to calm down, it won't get broken." Other passengers turned around to see what was going on. Lisa walked up a couple of rows looking for a spot to put my bag. Lisa walked back towards our row and placed my bag across from us. My mother leaned over to me a whispered for me to check the doll when we land. Lisa yelled at my mother again, "You need to calm down. See its right here. Nothings touching it." When we landed in Atlanta I checked to make sure my doll was not damaged.
We then caught our connecting flight to San Francisco. When we landed we waited about 10 mins for my mother's personal wheelchair to be brought up from the ramp. I asked a costumer service agent if she could check on our personal wheelchair. She said she thinks an elderly couple took it. I gave her the gate claim tag. She then ran to look for the couple. About 15 mins later she came back with the wheelchair. She was breathing heavily and said she found them at baggage claim. As my mom was getting ready to sit down she noticed a wet stain on the seat. It was not due to the condensation from being on the bottom of the plane. I touched it and it was wet as if someone urinated in the wheelchair. An AirTran employee used disinfecting wipes to clean the wheelchair. The wheelchair was too wet for my mother to sit in so they called for another wheelchair to transport my mom to baggage claim.
This was my first and last time flying your airline. I have flown an average of 5 times per year for the past 25 years and have never experienced such poor customer service in my life. I would never recommend your airline to anyone. -
Review from Gessa C.
San Francisco, CA
12/1/2009
They are cheap I'll give you that. You get what you pay for. They send you in the wrong direction. Delay your flights. Flight attendants and check in clerks seem overworked and grumpy. But they are cheaper than all the other airlines I looked up. I saved over a $75 a ticket using them. They do charge for each check in luggage $15. Then again times are tough. At least they don't ask you to use the toilet before you get on the flight.
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Review from Holly E.
Portola Valley, CA
7/20/2011
Last summer I was on an Air Tran flight from Portland, ME to Washington, DC, which was delayed for several hours due to some maintenance problem. I have to say that the airline staff were wonderful about it, and gave me a voucher for another flight. Of course by the time I got around to using the voucher, it had expired by one week. The rep I spoke with in Georgia, William, listened to my appeal and was great and very understanding of my story, and allowed me to use the voucher since it had so recently expired. This would never have happened on United or American, where are they so rule-obsessed. i very much appreciate this, and will fly AirTran again soon!
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Review from Chris C.
New York, NY
3/23/2010
Ahh... AirTran,
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Review from Cardinal S.
Menlo Park, CA
2/8/2011
Atrocious customer service. I was scheduled for a flight from SFO to MKE. Passengers waited on board the plane for 3 hours after the scheduled departure time, and we received no information other than that there was a mechanical problem. The stewardesses rolled their eyes and said we were "free to check with the gate" when we asked them for information about the delay. After 3 hours of waiting, they told us the flight was cancelled. Over 100 passengers waited in line for 3 agents to make new arrangements for us. I was at the back of the line and waited for over 2 hours before I could speak with an agent. No one offered an apology. The managers, Christina Minises and Muey Encarnacion, are especially appalling. They talk back to customers and had their staff tell us that they were "too busy" to deal with complaints from customers -- customers who had just wasted 5 hours of their time due to Airtran's incompetence and were about to lose another day of work due to the flight cancellation.
If you were a customer on the cancelled flight 607 from SFO to MKE on 2/6/11: call customer relations supervisor Chelsea May at 1-800-965-2107, ext. 3805, and demand more compensation. If you press her, she will give you two round-trip tickets. This is still insulting, considering that Airtran offers the same to passengers who VOLUNTARILY give up their seat on an overbooked flight; passengers who are INVOLUNTARILY rescheduled should receive more. But at least two round-trip tickets are better than what they were offering at the ticketing desk at SFO. -
Review from Ida F.
Oakland, CA
4/25/2010
I just want to echo the previous one star comments. I won't go into details, because I just got home after 14 hours and need to calm my blood pressure. I had a lousy flight with them before and forgot about it. Not after this time. "Note to self: Fly any other airline"
I flew SF to Atlanta to Tampa, by the way. Why, oh why doesn't Jet Blue fly this route? Well, safe at home, and won't deal with those jerks again.
Just felt like cattle. Oh, and I was in the 4th. row ( the first one after "business class") and they would not let me use the front toilet. I had to walk to the extreme back of the plane where 150 people shared 2 toilets. The front had 12 people ( oh yes, and the flight attendants) sharing 1 toilet. Pu-leeze. -
Review from Tracy W.
Rochester, NY
5/18/2011
We had a weather delay - not AirTran's fault. We stood in the check in line for 3 hours!! UNACCEPTABLE!! The line was disorganized and people were not taken in the order we arrived. When we finally made it to the counter it took forever to rebook. We were told we could make the first leg of our trip, but arrive too late to catch the connecting flight. There were very few options. We chose to take the first leg, spend the night in Atlanta, and get flight the next day. Because we had been in line for 3 hours, we had very little time to get to our gate. We managed to get a sandwich to go as we hurried through the airport, but if we had not, there were no options (breakfast at 9AM and nothing until 8PM was not a pleasant thought). AirTran made no offers to help.
When we arrived in Atlanta at 10:30PM there were no eateries open, so it was good we had gotten sandwiches before we left.
There was also no help from AirTran in finding accommodations nor any vouchers to help offset the additional costs incurred.
The final straw came when we returned to the airport the next day to find that we only had standby seats for our flight!! We nearly lost it because the word standby had NEVER been mentioned.
Fortunately, Customer Service was able to find seats for us.
I fully understand that AirTran had no control over the delay, but they did absolutely nothing to help ease the stress and anxiety or to help minimize the, not inconsequential, added expenses incurred for lodging and food. I am VERY disappointed in my experience! I will fly AirTran again, but not if there is an alternative. -
Review from A. E.
Rome, GA
5/25/2011
When recently purchasing a trip on AirTran Vacations I ran into several problems, after I purchased. First you CANNOT purchase insurance for your trip through AirTran Vacations, not even for the airfare part of the trip, even though it is available if you purchase directly from AirTran. Secondly, when I called to cancel the hotel part of the trip, since they do bill you separately for the hotel (2 charges on your credit card) I was told that I had to cancel the entire trip in order to cancel the hotel. Which would add a $75 fee or each person (2) on our airline ticket for both ways, plus $75 to cancel the hotel. $375 to cancel????? AirTran Vacations Needs to change it's policies. AVOID AirTran Vacations!!!!!
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Review from MsM R.
Pacifica, CA
10/6/2009
Horrible. The Milwaukee gate agent refused to board us: they changed the flight time, moved it up, we were there on time for the original flight time and the agent refuses to board us. I tell her we're here, my partner is coming right behind me. She leaves me standing at the gate while she boards stand by passengers. She returns and tells us we can't board the flight.
Was there room on the plane for us ticketed, boarding-pass holding travelers? Yes. I heard her say there was room; I looked at the computer: there were about 12 seats. Was it the last direct flight from MKE to SFO for the day? Yes. Did she know this? Yes. Did she care? No. The staff at MKE was rude and arbitrary. They threatened to call security because we complained about the agent and asked for the supervisor.
I'm filing a formal complaint with them and the Dept. of Transportation. Horrible experience. Horrible.
Guess what? The plane scheduled to take off early that we couldn't get on, even though we were there on time, took off late.
We were rerouted to Atlanta then to SFO. Guess what? both of those flights were late and guess what else?
They boarded passengers on both flights after the cabin was prepared for take off, well after announced flight times. On the last leg, we waited over an HOUR for other passengers to arrive. Unbelievable.
Total travel time from MKE to SFO? About fourteen hours. -
Review from S K.
San Francisco, CA
5/17/2010
DISASTER.
Scheduled for a redeye flight, flight was delayed 2 hours. Then I missed my connection in the wee hours of the morning because of this delay, and ended up at Washington D.C. 8 hours past schedule. I missed my entire conference that day.
To add to this misery, when I tried to obtain a new flight, the administrator gave me a middle seat (I had originally reserved window seats) saying that there were only a few seats left on that flight. If I didn't take this flight, I would have to stay overnight, pay hotel fees, and be late to yet another day of my conference.
Stupidly, I trusted a colleague to book yet another flight with this worthless airline, but due to personal circumstances I had to cancel. Airtran charged me $70 to cancel this flight and did not refund taxes and fees. Thus I ended up with a $25 credit. Unbeknownst to me, I could not use this credit without additional fees unless I signed up to be an A Plus member. Why would I want to be a member of a company like this? The only other way to use the credit was over the phone, and they charge $15 for telephone bookings.
What kind of airline is this? A complete customer deterrent. Wasted my money on an unpredictable, unreliable, money hoarding company. -
Review from jen t.
Daly City, CA
8/26/2011
AirTran airways is one of the worst airlines I have ever booked with. On my flight to San Francisco from La Guardia, via Milwaukee, on August 19, 2011 , our plane taxied for 3 hrs (max allowed by law) before returning to the gate due to weather conditions in Milwaukee, which after deplaning for 30 min, was ultimately cancelled. In those 3 hours, they couldn't figure out how to reroute the plane that the storm eventually approached the NY metropolitan area. I proceeded to rebook my flight for the following Tuesday, according to the AirTran agent, the only flight available was from LGA to SFO via Atlanta with a 7-HOUR LAYOVER. In the days between my cancelled Friday flight and my new reservation on Tuesday, I called the airlines daily to find out if I can get an earlier flight Tuesday morning with a shorter connection. The agent I spoke to on Sunday, who was very helpful, said I can attempt to fly standby early Tuesday morning and advised me to be at the airport an hour before the departing flight (LGA to SFO via Milwaukee). I called AirTran again Monday to see if any flights had opened up, and if I could fly standby. This time the agent said NO, all the flights were sold out. He sounded irritated with me, and didn't even advise me to try to fly standby, nor did he even disclose to me any of the departing flights to SFO--just a flat out NO. He didn't care and wasn't interested in helping me in anyway. Well, I followed the advice of the first agent I spoke to on the phone and showed up early at the airport in hopes I could score a standby flight. When I inquired at the front ticketing desk at LGA, the AirTran agent said, "NO, I cannot put you on the standby flight to Milwaukee" (in contrast to what the first agent told me on the phone) because the reservation or connecting flight MUST BE identical; so instead, she puts me on later connecting standby flight to Atlanta. Well, I decided to see another agent, but this time at the gate. He was super helpful and put me on standby for the next flight to SFO, which happened to be the connecting flight to Milwaukee. By this time, I realize how inconsistent AirTran is with customer service and rules regarding flight reservations. And it's absolutely frustrating. I get on the Milwaukee flight and personally thank the agent that helped me, and when I finally get to Milwaukee, and I think that after this whole ordeal I can finally make it home to San Francisco, our plane again is taxing on the runaway, this time a failure of the weather radar. Of course, the captain says "it takes a few minutes to replace then we'll be on our way". 5 minutes later he states, the antenna failed and will take 2 hours to fix. AREN'T AIRLINES SUPPOSED TO DO MAINTENANCE CHECKS BEFORE DEPARTURE??? I finally make it so SFO with no problems afterward. With all said and done, the most pleasant aspect of AirTran is the stewardesses who were consistently friendly on each flight; however, it is not enough to choose AirTran again for my future travels.
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Review from David S.
San Francisco, CA
6/2/2008
NEVER FLY AIRTRAN! I took a trip in May to Indianapolis. I had anticipated a potential problem with the trip, because AirTran has few planes. The flight was delayed, and I arrived 1hr15min prior to the rescheduled departure which I had checked online hours before when I checked in. They refused to check my baggage, even though the actual plane was not on the ground, because I had not checked in 45min prior to the original departure time. This abominable customer service cost me an expensive bottle of wine, intended for my family, that I surrendered to the TSA. The ground staff did nothing, and AirTran Corporate replied with the barest of apologies to my letter of complaint. I count myself fortunate that I checked in early, as several other travelers, who came to the airport at the same time because of the delay, were bumped from the flight for the same flimsy excuse as my luggage.
