AIRTRAN

Help, my AirTran tickets expired — is my money gone forever?

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Before Donna Adams was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Indianapolis on AirTran back in 2010, she hurt her back and had to cancel her trip. When she discovered her condition was a lot worse than she thought, she had to postpone the new flight she’d booked with her ticket credit.

“An MRI confirmed that I had herniated a disc in my back,” she says. “After several courses of physical therapy, chiropractic care, therapeutic massage, oral steroids and anti-inflammatory steroid injections I elected to have surgery.”
[continue]


26 comments

Buh-bye, bag fees? What the Southwest-AirTran merger really means for passengers


This morning’s big news — some observers have even called it “shocking” — is that discount carriers Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways are headed to the altar in a $1.4 billion merger.

I’ve already received numerous questions about what this will mean for passengers. The answer? It’s a good news/bad news situation, probably.

But let’s begin with a short video (above) from earlier this year, when Southwest took aim at AirTran for its baggage fees. This was part of a series of commercials in which Southwest tweaked its bride-to-be. Funny, how things change. They must have known back then that a merger was a possibility. And yet …
[continue]


36 comments

Two airline sites hit “reboot” — but is it for the better?

I usually leave the stories about site redesigns to my capable friends over at Tnooz, but during the last 24 hours I’ve caught wind of two airline site upgrades (at least that’s what they’re calling it) that could affect your next trip.

If you fly on Spirit Airlines or AirTran Airways, that is.

But before I get to that, I wanted to also mention that the airline fee site I wrote about a few weeks ago, TruPrice, is launching today.
[continue]


6 comments

The ticket refund that took forever and a day

Nine months isn’t the longest someone has had to wait for an airline ticket refund, but for Chris Dich, it was long enough, thanks very much. (I’ve had cases that took two years.)

His online travel agency promised it would take “two to three billing cycles” at best. Didn’t happen.

Dich’s story is a reminder that you can do everything right and still get stuck in a holding pattern. Getting un-stuck isn’t easy.
[continue]


14 comments

Here’s a receipt for your airline ticket (PS, you don’t have a ticket)

tranDoris Weller booked a set of roundtrip tickets from Wichita, Kan., to Houston on AirTran recently. Her husband, Lawrence, needed to be in Houston for an important medical treatment. The airline sent her a confirmation.

But it wasn’t the kind of confirmation she expected. On closer examination — which, unfortunately, didn’t happen until the couple arrived at the airport — it became clear that AirTran had sent her a notice that her credit card had been declined.

Result: the Wellers had to buy another set of tickets for $1,588.

Should AirTran refund the difference between the original tickets and the higher, walk-up fare?
[continue]


27 comments

AirTran Airways

http://www.airtran.com
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 318-5600
(800) 247-8726

How to get through to an operator
dial 0 and wait.

Overview

AirTran has a fairly decent reputation for customer service, even for a discount airline that charges for almost everything (including seat reservations). Complaints tend to get resolved quickly, and to the customer’s satisfaction. And when it doesn’t? Here are a few helpful resources.

If you have a customer complaint, please read this before contacting the company.

Customer service resources

Contract of carriage (PDF)
Customer service

Primary e-mail

info@mail.airtran.com

Primary contact

Deena Houghton
Manager, DOT and consumer affairs
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 318-5600
deena.houghton@airtran.com

Secondary contact (*):

Alfred J. Smith
Senior vice president – customer service
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 318-5600
alfred.smith@airtran.com

Chief executive (*):

Robert L. Fornaro
Chief executive officer
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 318-5600
robert.fornaro@airtran.com

What others have to say about AirTran

Aviation Consumer Protection Division Air Travel Consumer Report
Epinions.com

This information has been collected from publicly-available resources and is believed to be accurate at the time of the last update. If any of this information is inaccurate, please e-mail me.

* Executives should only be contacted when your letter or email has not been acknowledged within six to eight weeks.


5 comments