A heated dispute is brewing between AirTran and an entire high school, after the airline booted 101 students and their eight chaperones off a flight heading to Atlanta for their senior trip. The airline claims a group of “non-compliant passengers” wouldn’t stay seated, and some were using mobile devices despite being asked not to. Meanwhile, the students and their chaperones say things were blown way out of proportion. [More]
AirTran Kicks 101 High School Seniors Off Flight For Acting Like Teenagers
By June 4, 2013
Southwest And AirTran Now Holding Hands: Flights Can Finally Be Booked Together
By March 20, 2013
Even though Southwest and AirTran got hitched back during their 2011 merger, the two have barely seemed like they were going steady, much less married. But now it appears they’re ready to let the whole world know they’re moving on to holding hands: all flights on either airline can now be booked together as one itinerary. [More]
Southwest Raising Bag Fees, Will Start Charging For No-Shows
By December 14, 2012
Hours after announcing a $29 million settlement over its drink voucher program, Southwest Airlines revealed plans to add $300 million in new and increased fees, along with a policy change that will certainly irk some frequent Southwest travelers. [More]
Do You Get More Satisfaction From Cheap Airlines Than Legacy Carriers Because You Expect Less?
By June 13, 2012
When it comes to being satisfied with our flying experiences, it turns out we’d rather opt for low-cost carriers like JetBlue, over old legacy airlines like US Airways, according to a new study that rated customer satisfaction. [More]
Survey Finds Best & Worst Airlines For Redeeming Rewards Miles
By May 17, 2012
It’s incredibly easy to pile up airline miles. I think I just earned 400 miles for merely mentioning this fact. But as you may have already discovered, it’s not always so simple to actually redeem those miles. A new survey looked at dozens of domestic and international carriers to find which ones were more likely to have seats available for rewards travel. [More]
Couples Sues Airtran For $100,000, Alleging Cockroaches Infested Their Flight
By November 14, 2011
A couple is suing Airtran for $100,000 after they saw cockroaches on their flight, and they say they have to pictures to prove it. [More]
AirTran To Require Some Overweight Passengers To Buy Second Seat
By October 12, 2011
Now that AirTran is a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, it looks like the carrier will be adopting Southwest’s controversial policy of requiring that “customers of size” purchase a second seat. [More]
DOJ Gives Thumbs Up To Southwest's Purchase Of AirTran
By April 27, 2011
Seems like it was just seven months ago that we first wrote about the proposed sale of AirTran to Southwest Airlines for $1.4 billion. Now that deal is all but done after it passed the Justice Department’s antitrust review yesterday. [More]
Sale Of AirTran To Southwest One Step Closer To Being A Done Deal
By March 25, 2011
Overshadowed by last year’s relatively rapid merger of United and Continental was the sale of AirTran to Southwest. That sale is now one big step away from completion after AirTran shareholders approved the deal earlier this week. [More]
AirTran Forgets To Tell Your Disabled Mom That Her Tickets Are Standby
By October 27, 2010
Kym’s disabled mother was going to move in with her a few weeks ago. She purchased tickets for her mother and four nieces to fly to Kym’s city from a major hub airport about two hours away from their town. Instead of getting on their flight, the family ended up stuck in the airport for six hours, then had to hire a car service to drive them back home. What happened? Garden-variety airline delay? No, Kym writes: AAA sold her sister standby tickets without letting her know. The stress of the experience has affected Kym’s mother so much that she still hasn’t been able to make the flight. [More]
Some Airlines Jettisoning First Class Seats
By October 20, 2010
Global austerity has lead some airlines to chuck first class seats out the air lock. [More]
AirTran Fined $500,000 For Lousy Wheelchair Service
By August 31, 2010
The Transportation Department has served AirTran a $500,000 civil penalty for repeated failures to accommodate disabled travelers, reports Associated Press. The airline was also cited for not providing adequate responses to customers who complained, and for not properly filing complaints with the government. The biggest issue, however, was that it doesn’t always provide wheelchairs to disabled passengers in a timely manner. AirTran says it’s working on implementing a wheelchair tracking system at its hubs. [More]
Tiny Turtle Makes AirTran Return To Gate, Girls Forced To Get Rid Of Pet Before Reboarding
By June 25, 2010
Maybe it was Michelangelo and they were afraid he would eat up all the in-flight pizza. A 10-year old girl’s teensy turtle posed enough of a risk to an AirTran flight that the plane was forced to turn around and return to the gate. The girl and her sisters were told they could not get back on the plane with the turtle. [More]
AirTran Makes Fun Of Southwest Seating In Commercial
By March 31, 2010
If you’ve ever been part of the mad dash for seats on a Southwest Airlines flight, you might find this video from AirTran funny. In it, mooing passengers race down the jetway while a Southwest employee makes ridiculous jokes. Meanwhile, AirTran serves its assigned-seat passengers Kool-Aid. Wait, now I’m confused about who’s being mocked here. [More]
You Accidentally Forget You Don't Live In Baltimore, And AirTran Fixes It
By October 26, 2009
Here’s a heartwarming email from reader Joy. She accidentally booked tickets from Baltimore instead of Philly and AirTran not only fixed this mistake — they didn’t charge her extra.
People Love Airplane Wi-Fi, But They Don't Love Paying For It
By August 28, 2009
The WSJ’s latest “Middle Seat” column is about that holy grail for all internet-lovers — airplane Wi-Fi. It turns out that people love, love, love it… but pay for it? Nah.
Breaking Down Airline Safety Records
By August 28, 2009
The Daily Beast says it has determined which airlines in the U.S. are the safest by comparing the global statistics for the 25 airlines with the best safety records and those with the worst. Which is the safest? The answer may come as a surprise, since this methodology showed that AirTran is the safest national carrier.
One Man's Publicity Stunt Is Another's Vision Of Hell
By June 5, 2009
I mentioned comedian and filmmaker Mark Malkoff in passing in a post about Starbucks last week, not knowing that he would embark on a new project this week. He’s making a career out of bizarre feats of consumer endurance, such as visiting all 171 Manhattan Starbucks outlets in one day, and living in the Paramus, NJ IKEA for a week. Now, as part of a campaign to publicize AirTrain’s new in-flight wi-fi, he’s living on an AirTran plane for 30 days and posting his adventures on the Internet. Yes. That’s an entire month. Most of which will probably be spent on the tarmac in Atlanta.
