Fuck off, Airtran A+ rewards

The BBQ Pit
1

Airtran, I have been flying you for years, even back before when you were feeding babies to alligators (under a diffierent name of course). Yeah, I stuck with you even when I had a choice in airlines that were frequently cheaper and quicker. I liked your rewards plans promises, and had hope of being able to use them someday.

Fast forward to today, when I have build up a small bundle of points that I now have enough to get 2 round trip tix on per your fucking plan. So I called your phone service, which appears to be the only way to book these things, and after getting dropped a few tims from your operator, come to find out that I CAN’T FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES USE THESE FUCKING THINGS!!!

After running the gauntlet of your operators for a 1/2 hour who obviously don’t feel like providing any customer service whatsover having likely interrupted their marathon session of minesweeper, you tell me that while flying out of my home airport isn’t too much of a problem (as long as I am flexible), there isn’t a FUCKING AIRPORT IN THE ENTIRE AMERICAN SOUTHEAST that I can get a flight home out of, OVER AN ENTIRE 30 day period, except for precisely two flights that leave at 5:30-6 AM on a Saturday and a Tuesday. YES, exacty two G-D flights have availbility due to your restrictions.

We’re talking about flying into and out of second tier airports, with 30 days of flexibility. In January. Not like I’m looking for a flight on Thanksgiving weekend.

And to top it all off, your service person will be happy to SELL me a FUCKING TICKET on any flight I want. I can BUY my way home, I just can’t use the fucking vouchers I earned from the program that you have plastered all over your terminals and that you have your worthless attendents spew forth company propoganda on each of your flights about “How easy” it is to earn flights. Yeah, I guess they wern’t lieing… it’s easy to earn them, just please don’t try to use them.

What bullshit. Glad I wasted all my time supporting you guys.

2

January is actually pretty close to, you know, now. I wouldn’t generally try to book a rewards ticket any less than 3 months in advance and still expect to have options.

It’s frankly stupid, and I honestly think airlines should have to honour rewards seats any time they actually have seats available on the plane, rather than reserving 2 seats on every plane for rewards and screw everyone else, but it is how it is, and I don’t think it’s much better elsewhere.

3

I had the “pleasure” of flying with AirTran once in 2000. I had a 7:45 AM flight from D/FW, connecting flight in Atlanta at 11:00 AM, arrive Miami at 1:00 PM. At least, that’s what my ticket led me to believe.

In actual fact, the flight from D/FW was delayed due to “mechanical difficulties” until 10:30 AM. We arrived in Atlanta about 1:00 PM and were told that we’d have a flight to Miami by 3:00 PM. Woops!, more “mechanical difficulties”, we’ll have you out at 5:00 PM but no later than 7:00 PM. We took off at 10:30 PM. Arrived in Miami at 12:30 AM. I made it to my hotel at 2:00 AM. Fortunately, the return flight was uneventful.

For my “difficulties”, AirTran gave me a one-way voucher to anywhere they flew. I threw the fucking thing in the trash and did all the rest of my business travel that year on United. With my United Skymiles and some American Express rewards points I was able to give my wife and daughter a free trip to North Carolina to visit her sister. Which they booked 3 weeks in advance without a hitch.

And the moral of the story? AirTran can go fuck itself.

4

I got rid of my United miles because I could never get a flight, similar to what the OP’s encountering, but for half a year out.

5

Both my wife and I have been able to use United miles to get tickets between the US and Australia. The only thing is that you have to book early, like about 6 months in advance, and be reasonably flexible. But it can be done. However, it is annoying the airlines don’t allocate more seats. There are flights going at times when they have to know thay will be lucky to fill half the seats, and where they could make more seats available for the frequent flier programs.

6

[QUOTE=Rhubarb]
For my “difficulties”, AirTran gave me a one-way voucher to anywhere they flew.
[/QUOTE]
Heh, this sounds almost like the worst flight I had with AirTran. Keep in mind this was just after St. Patrick’s Day and it was in the middle of Spring Break for most students. I was flying (one way ticket) from Savannah, GA. to Memphis, TN. Was supposed to leave Savannah at about 5:00 PM or so, get to Atlanta, then trundle into Memphis at about 9:00 PMish.

Supposed to.

Long story short: first plane had problems, second plane they pulled from another route had problems, the ‘sell by date’ for the flight crew expired (they reached their limit for how long they could be on-duty) so another crew had to be cobbled together, all flights out of Savannah for at least the next three days (and possibly week) were booked solid, and none of the few remaining flights out of Savannah that evening had any open seats. :eek: (‘Perfect storm’ situation: Savannah has a huge St. Patrick’s Day celebration then combine that with Spring Break and you’ve got a very popular place to be.)

Eventually made it in to Atlanta at about midnight, a hotel at about 12:45, then Memphis at about 10:30 AM.

All of us on that flight received a round-trip ticket, good for a year, on any of AirTran’s routes. Which I had no problems using: the gate agents gave everyone the direct toll-free number to the customer service/retention/we screwed up big time department and they were able to book me for my flight (which I did two months out). (Side note: I almost ended up getting another round-trip voucher on that flight as well! Too bad it didn’t work out, two round trips for the price of one one-way flight would have been sweet.)

I’ve got to give a tip of the hat to the gate agents that night: they were really doing their best to salvage the situation for everyone and they had no problems handing out meal vouchers like candy and made sure everyone who needed it had hotel vouchers for when we got into Atlanta. Unlike other airlines where it has been like pulling teeth to get a hotel voucher, and a meal voucher is like asking them for one of their kidneys or the like.

So far as I’m concerned, AirTran is good only if your schedule is flexible since the chances are pretty slim that you’ll get to where you are going on-time. If the plane doesn’t get you there on time, then you’ll be spending at least 30 to 45 minutes waiting for your luggage. (Or more, like the poor people in Las Vegas one day when four AirTran flights came in at the same time and only one luggage crew was available. Thankfully I came in on United for that trip…)

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