mikefree5252

I have an 11am flight with Airtran next week and see that there is a Southwest flight that leaves at 9am going to the same destination.

If there are seats available, will the SW attendants be willing/able to put me on the SW flight since the two are now merged?

Thanks!

obscure2k

Welcome to Flyertalk mikefree5252. I am moving your thread to the Air Tran Forum. Please follow there.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

cmn.jcs

Hi mikefree5252, welcome to FT! You've posted in the TravelBuzz forum, which is appropriate for questions for more general topics (i.e. not relating to a specific airline). I've alert the mods to move your post to the appropriate forum, where you're more likely to get the right answer quickly.

rsteinmetz70112

It depends on a few factors,

Where did you buy the ticket Airtran.com or Southwest.com?

What is the fare class? Some tickets are fully changeable and refundable.

Is the Southwest Flight listed on Airtran.com?

If you booked on Airtran.com Airtran generally allows same day standby and will allow same day changes for $50 (I think thats right but check they keep raising the fee).

However not all Southwest Flights are available on Airtran.com, generally the only flights listed on Airtran.com include an Airtran Segment. All Southwest and Airtran domestic flights are listed on Southwest.com.

Flights booked on Southwest.com at their WGA (Wanna Get Away) fares do not allow standby. You must first upgrade to a AT (Any Time) or BS (Business Select) ticket, then you can change your flight to any available flight. Exception are usually made if your flight is late by a significant but flexible amount.

All of that said there are enough anomalies in the Airtran Southwest relationship that you might get someone at the airport to allow it, especially if you have status on either airline.

mikefree5252

I thought I booked it through southwest.com but the confirmation email came from airtran.com so I'm not sure.

rsteinmetz70112

You can check the Confirmation Number on their websites. It will only work on the one you booked on.


Southwest

Airtran

mikefree5252

It is Airtran but the flight I have does show up as available on southwest.com as well.

mke9499

One of the benefits of booking on southwest.com is that you can make changes, without any change fee. However, the customer is charged the difference between the fare of the original flight and current fare for the new flight. If making a change on short notice, the lowest available fare will usually not be very low, especially if compared to Southwest's WGA fare (comparable to AirTran's "lowest coach" fare).

rsteinmetz70112

That is expected pretty much all Airtran domestic flights show up on Southwest. com.

Does the flight you want to take show up on Airtran.com? If so according to the Airtran website:

If the Flight is only on Southwest.com you can try, but I don't know what will happen. The GA may do it for you. Your flight may be full or nearly full and they may want to free up a seat. If you have a couple of extra hours go try and let us know what happens.

mikefree5252

Yes, the southwest flight does show up in searches on airtran.com so maybe I'll get lucky. $50 seems fair but I may try standby if it doesn't look too busy. Thanks!

rsteinmetz70112

Have a nice flight and please report back on your success.

Also you can call Airtran the night before or early in the morning and they will give you an indication of how many seats might be available. The will definitely tell you if it is sold out or oversold.

mikefree5252

Well, unfortunately I was unable to change my flight. The reason I was given is that I did not book the flight with through southwest.com - even though the SW flight I wanted was visible and bookable via Airtran's website. Didn't make much sense to me since they are both owned by the same parent company. But I asked 3 different gate attendants and all gave me the same answer. One even made a call to a supervisor and was told my only option would be to purchase the full-fare flight. No thanks. Pretty frustrating.

saneman

Booking on SW's website wouldn't have helped much more. You would have ended up [paying the difference between the walkup fare for the 9am flight and what you booked for trhe 11am flight, right?

mikefree5252

You may be right - I didn't ask about that and they didn't say. I was just told my only option would be to purchase a ticket on the plane I want at full fare.