AirTran Airways A+ Rewards - AirTran DoubleSpeak

Please think twice about flying AirTran. In spite of an agreement (in fine print) to offer a choice of refund or credit if there was an involuntary inoperation of the aircraft, I got shafted. More importantly, I was misinformed by their gate agent and received no acknowledgment:

TO: Danielle, San Francisco Station Manager for AirTran Airways 1-800-965-2107 x1862
Shirlene, San Francisco Customer Service Manager for AirTran Airways 1-866-247-2428
FROM: Melinda, San Francisco Resident

Dear Danielle,

I have been on hold for 30 minutes after calling the extension your customer service agent gave me. I am writing you a letter to follow up.

I attempted to travel to Boston July 23rd, with a stopover in Milwaukee. The weather in San Francisco and Milwaukee was fine but due to a failure to operate the aircraft, a different aircraft was sent and my departure time was changed beyond the hope of making my connection to Boston. I was offered a choice of rescheduling the connection on Airtran and arriving 9 hours later than planned in Boston or getting a refund on any legs of the flight not used.

Your customer service agent, Adelaide, offered me these choices. Based on the information she gave me, I purchased another flight and requested my refund. After making this plan, Adelaide informed me that she was unable to refund my money. When she called her supervisor, Muey, that supervisor refused to make the necessary changes.

I hope that you have received this information from Adelaide, who told me she would write you an email verifying that she had make a mistake in what she told me. It is imperative that your agents provide accurate information to travelers in the event of cancellations and missed connections so that we can make plans accordingly.

I would like a refund of my fare as offered.

Sincerely,
Melinda
San Francisco Resident

AirTran's response:

Thank you for contacting AirTran Airways. On behalf of AirTran Airways, please accept my apology for any inconvenience you encountered during your travel. Our objective is to operate our flights in a safe, reliable and timely manner, which will allow our customers to reach their destinations as scheduled. We recognize your time is valuable and we understand the frustration flight irregularities can cause.

While late arriving inbound flights are carefully monitored in an effort to accommodate all customers on their originally scheduled flights, there are occasions when a flight must depart without all scheduled passengers. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to hold our flights for delayed connecting customers.

I do understand that you were trying to make accommodations for your self due to the delayed flight, however, in the event of irregular operations that cause delays or cancellations that prevent customers from making their original flights, we rebook them onto the next available AirTran flight. This is not always guaranteed to be the next scheduled flight, as we can only put customers on a flight where seats remain available. Customers booked in coach would be placed in the first available coach seat to their destination.

It is not in normal procedure to re-accommodate a passenger for another airline when we do have other options available. Even if the options are not suitable for the passengers, they are still options we have and this is the reason in which we would not place passengers on other airlines.

Regarding your refund request, I do have to respectfully decline such, as it is not warranted. You had purchased a non-refundable ticket, and chose to cancel your reservation therefore, we have offered you a full credit in the amount of $469.40.

We thank you for including AirTran Airways in your travels and your continued support is important to us. We hope to have an opportunity in the future to regain your confidence in our airline.

Sincerely,

Melanie Lockette
Customer Relations Department
AirTran Airways

The magic words here are "Trip in Vain". I think you need to communicate that you had a "Trip in Vain", and that is why the refund is warranted.

DrMelinda, welcome to FlyerTalk. As this issue is AirTran-specific, I'll move the thread to our AirTran forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Dr. M, welcome to FT! First of all, if you used a credit card to purchase the ticket then you have the usual consumer protections, whatever the airline might say, deny or otherwise. If your argument is good, you win.

But am not sure I understand the issues:

Are you saying you never left SFO on AirTran; never flew AirTran at all?

Did you buy a different ticket on another airline and flew that itinerary instead to BOS and back?

Why does the AirTran letter then talk about missed connections, as if you had gotten stuck in MKE?

Why does the AirTran letter suggest they aren't accommodating you "for" another airline? Were you connecting off of another airline onto AirTran or is this their bad choice of words?

Are they giving you back the $400+ or holding it as a credit for a future ticket on them? Was this eveything you paid them? Was that a one way cost or the total fare for a round trip?

"Trip in vain" is useful, but that means a trip you start to travel on and the purpose of it is lost/wasted. Am not sure your story is saying that?

Although not convenient for your precious time, Airtran still would have been able to get you to your destination either by rescheduling or equipment swap. This happens with all airlines and weather is just one reason out of a million that your flight may be delayed. I don't think Airtran is being unreasonable on their offerings for your compensation. Flaming them as well as telling others not to fly them because one of your legs was delayed doesn't really add any strength to the oh-woe-is-me story you are trying to portray. Non-refundable tickets exist for a reason and I suggest you read Airtran's (or any airline's) contract of carriage prior to booking a non-refundable ticket in the future.

First, welcome to FlyerTalk.

I fly a lot. I've had my tough share of situations with every airline. Delta had my bag get there two days after a Business Elite directly flight and not give me a penny. AirTran has flights scheduled less frequently so I have lost time because of IROPS.

Here's what you should have done with ANY airline. Have the gate agent give you options, get on your cell phone, and reserve a ticket on another airline. It's right before flight time so they DO hold a ticket for airport pickup. Once that is done, see if you can get your ticket refunded.

With IROPS, there is no requirement for any airline to refund any money. It is done when situations get really, really late and when you have created another solution For example, SPIRIT has a policy if there is IROPS then they will charge you the change fee even if it's their fault.

If the gate agent said that she would refund your ticket, then that gate agent should have refunded your ticket immediately -- not after you purchased another ticket. Airlines always end up in a he said / she said situation: what the passenger claims was said versus what the agent documented in the passenger record. Someone probably documented record that you were told at the airport that they would not give you a refund and to contact customer service. It could have been the agent doing a CYA, it could have been the supervisor, but once that's in there there is no flexibility.

Use the credit on AirTran on a future flight. If you don't want to use it on principle, then sell in on eBay and get 85% of your money back. AirTran is one of the only airlines on the planet that allows change of name for use of credit. All of the major airlines require a death certificate for that to be allowed.

I say this because it's true: this is the airline reality across all airlines. These airlines will lose billions of dollars this year. They're all making it up by sticking to the rules. AirTran was good to give you 100% credit. Next time -- with any airline -- get the money back before you buy another ticket.

Best regards,
JoeFlyer

First, welcome to FlyerTalk.

Airlines always end up in a he said / she said situation: what the passenger claims was said versus what the agent documented in the passenger record. Someone probably documented record that you were told at the airport that they would not give you a refund and to contact customer service.

Many passengers also do not understand the difference between a credit and a refund. They hear the agent say "we will give you a credit" and the passenger will say "How long will that take to show up on my CC".

It doesn't appear that the good Dr. is sticking around to answer questions...

Something told me she'd be a one post wonder...