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AirTran Airways - AirTran WILL leave you behind, and WILL kick you off a flight when they screw up
Complaint
Review by dustin491 on 2012-10-05
Rating: 
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- AirTran WILL leave you behind, and WILL kick you off a flight due to the incompetence of the people they hire. Let me explain: I took a flight out from Boston, ended up in the TSA security line for 45 minutes before I got completely through, and that included having to cut 3/4ths of the line when I realized I was cutting it pretty close to departure time. Showed up at the gate 3 minutes late; they left without me. They NEVER paged me, they NEVER sent someone to see if I was stuck in security. They also departed BEFORE their departure time (I screenshot the flight information at the end of the night from my phone as proof). Their staff had no interest in helping me upon realizing my flight left without me, and were genuinely uninterested in my situation. They offered no help, and basically told me, "too bad". They wouldn't even look at me when they talked to me - they were typing fast away at their computers. I left a BBB complaint about the incident and they are one of only two companies I've had to leave a complaint about that had no interest in making things right. They dismissed all my grievances to the matter and blamed me, under a guise of "we shut the doors 10 minutes before departure, as it's important that we get our passengers in the air as soon as we can and prevent delays." Let me now explain to you how this is a complete farce. On the day of my rescheduled flights, on my connecting flight a flight attendant managed to get her seat wet from rain (I've flown plenty where it's rained and never heard of this happening). After we pulled out from the gate, we sit for a couple minutes and we hear the captain announce the aforementioned issue, and that they'd have to pull back in so they got "replace the seat". I think to myself, "Replace the seat? Why don't they just put plastic trash bags over it, or towels or something?" What they ended up meaning by that is that they were going to get an AirTran representative to board the plane and tell, not ask - but tell, a coach passenger they had to deboard the plane and be put on stand by. Then they told, not ask - told, a first class passenger they had to move back to the now empty coach seat. And the now vacant first class seat is where the flight attendant ended up sitting for the flight. If you make a complaint against them, they WILL lie about the details, and do what they can to not own up to their own mistakes. They claimed in their response to my BBB complaint that they confirmed that they did page me - lies - I listened intently out of worry that I was starting to cut it close and it never happened. Heard plenty of other airlines paging other passengers to other flights. I rejected their response, made a rebuttal, they then reiterated what they said the first time for the most part, and closed the case out with no consequence. Don't make the same mistake I did by flying with these guys. They gave me a bad experience the first time I flew with them 4 years ago, gave them another chance because the flight was that much cheaper, and I regret it. I lost more money in the day of work I lost in comparison to what I saved choosing them to fly with. Also keep in mind Southwest Airlines owns AirTran, so you may want to consider skipping them as well. You're a number to them. Well, this number is taking his business elsewhere. In fact I just booked a flight for next week and skipped over them despite seeing they had a cheaper flight in to where I was going. Not worth the risk.
Comments:
Posted by trmn8r on 2012-10-05:
How far ahead of flight time did you arrive at the airport? Was this a domestic or international flight? These are critical details.
A long wait at the TSA checkpoint in and of itself is not the airline's problem, and should not result in the airline looking to see where you are. On the other hand, if there was a 1 hour delay checking in at the counter with the airline, they should delay the flight to allow passengers to make their way to the gate.
The minimum time to get through security alone for domestic flights is 30 minutes, and the maximum is an hour, depending on airport.
A long wait at the TSA checkpoint in and of itself is not the airline's problem, and should not result in the airline looking to see where you are. On the other hand, if there was a 1 hour delay checking in at the counter with the airline, they should delay the flight to allow passengers to make their way to the gate.
The minimum time to get through security alone for domestic flights is 30 minutes, and the maximum is an hour, depending on airport.
Posted by CowboyFan on 2012-10-05:
Planes must have their door closed prior to departure so weight, fuel, and other issues can be calculated. That is one reason that one must arrived at the gate 15 to 30 minutes prior to departure time. No one is going to come get you, if you fail to show. The departure time is ideally leaving the ground, not shutting the door. If you arrive after the door shut, any airline will leave you.
The wet seat was a safety issue, which is why the plane reopened the door. Someone had to get off. The flight attendant may have had to be at that destination in order to have a full crew to fly her plane, so the airlines made a passenger get off.
The wet seat was a safety issue, which is why the plane reopened the door. Someone had to get off. The flight attendant may have had to be at that destination in order to have a full crew to fly her plane, so the airlines made a passenger get off.
Posted by Buddy01 on 2012-10-05:
Departure time does not mean you have until that time to board.
Posted by CUontheFlipSide on 2012-10-05:
It is pretty clearly posted at Logan Int'l that you should arrive two hours before flight time for domestic flights, and 3 hours for international. Most times you breeze through the security and have time to read a newspaper at the gate, then again there are times like this when you need that time to get to your flight. There are many variables that can cause security lines to back up, and none of them have anything to do with the airline.
Posted by Susan on 2012-10-05:
You missed your flight because you didn't arrive at the airport allowing enough time for security screening.
Posted by Josh on 2012-10-07:
Having to arrive several hours before your flight is the norm now. Having someone paged over the
Intercom is a nice customer feature, but the airlines through default probably assume that the passengers are full grown functional adults who have a basic understanding of time management and airline constraints (specially, since you mention that you have flown x times before). As far as being a a number, yes you were one of thousands of customers for that day and one of the hundred thousands for the year. Sorry to say, you are not 'that' special to most outside your personal
acquaintances circle.
Intercom is a nice customer feature, but the airlines through default probably assume that the passengers are full grown functional adults who have a basic understanding of time management and airline constraints (specially, since you mention that you have flown x times before). As far as being a a number, yes you were one of thousands of customers for that day and one of the hundred thousands for the year. Sorry to say, you are not 'that' special to most outside your personal
acquaintances circle.
Posted by Mike in FL on 2012-10-09:
As others have stated, this falls squarely on your head and nobody else's. YOU THE PASSENGER are supposed to take into account the time needed to get through security to get to YOUR flight on time. The airline is also beholden to those other passengers to get them to their destinations on time as well. Is it fair for YOU to cause another passenger to miss THEIR connecting flight at another airport? No, it's not.
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