I personally have not flown Airtrans/Valujet (although I DO enjoy the fact that UAL has to match their fare on their routes out of IAD!!!) but my assistant has flown them quite a bit. Her boyfriend is pursuing an MBA in the Boston area, so she flies up on Airtrans 2 or 3 times a month. She has raved about the prices, but never the service.

Her main complaints: 1) Too few CS agents leads to long lines. 2) VERY poor cancellation/delay management. 3) Inflexability with tix exchange/flight change rules. 4)"Unprofessional feel" of the airline.

Of course, these are all subjective opinions based on one person's experience on one route.

Of course, I would LOVE to see Airtrans succed and even grow their routes. When Valujet was temporarily grounded, prices from IAD to Atlanta (midweek) went from $180 to $950 on UAL. With Airtrans down the concourse, they are back to $180...