[Airtranisawful]

http://www.airtranisawful.info

When we arrived at the Airtran Airways podium 41 minutes before the departure of our flight we were informed they would not take our checked luggage. They did not tell us why, we had never even heard of this policy before in any airline, and since the price of a ticket includes the checking of one bag, I naturally asked to speak to a manager.

I was told this was not possible.

I told them it was not possible that they would not check our bags, as it was part of the contract between ourselves and the Airtran Airways instated when I purchased a ticket.

After 10 minutes of asking to speak to a manager, one finally came out and said--- and I QUOTE, "I will give you a refund because I would rather give you a refund than deal with B*!@#es like you."

I could go on, the ordeal lasted about 4 hours (during which time the manager who verbally abused us made a point of smiling smugly at us often- nothing is going to happen to her), but I think it is sufficient to say that my relationship with Airtran Airways was FOREVER concluded with my refund.

Because of this, my plans to see my brand new baby nephew will be considerably postponed, as I do not know when I will be able to take time off of work again.

They made no real apologies, made no attempt to even explain their policy, no attempt to make us aware of the policy before we arrived, no attempt to help us out or offer feasible solutions, no attempt to make restitution for their verbal abuse, no attempt to treat either of us like human beings- let alone paying customers. Instead, they made it very apparent that they thought we were worth no more than dirt.

I filed a complaint with the company, which I am fairly sure is as much of joke as the "manager" I spoke with. These are the other places I filed complaints. IF YOU HAVE COMPLAINTS, PLEASE USE THESE RESOURCES:

* The Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the US government: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/problems.htm

* The Better Business Bureau (will contact the company and ask for resolution): https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx

* ConsumerAffairs.com (compiles complaints for possible class-action lawsuits): https://www.consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php

No business has EVER made me feel so helpless and degraded.

I eagerly await the day Airtran Airways goes out of business- though I am sure no one will even notice.

http://www.airtranisawful.info

[pattis]

I am curious as to what airport you recieved this terrible service at?

[Airtranisawful]

Surprisingly enough, I was treated this way in good old San Francisco California.

[Jetliner]

First of all every airline has a baggage cutoff time. Secondly you stated in another post that this was the station manager - I personally know the station manager in San Francisco, and I can tell you that she would NEVER talk to a passenger like that. Even if you could push her buttons enough there is no way she used that word to you.

[Airtranisawful]

Whatever you say Jetblahblah.

I have no need to convince you of anything, and no reason to lie.

Good luck with that whole narrow-minded-know-it-all thing, I hope it makes you happy.

[abutterfinger25]

Airtranisawful:

Airtrans "contract of carriage" and its website both clearly state "passengers and their baggage will not be accepted at the ticket counter less than 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their flight".

You state that you arrived at the counter 41 minutes before departure so you did not meet the cutoff and Airtran had the right to not take your bags.

[pattis]

They made no real apologies, made no attempt to even explain their policy, no attempt to make us aware of the policy before we arrived



Whether or not you were spoken to in this fashion, I have no idea , but have some serious doubts....however, whats this about them making no attempt to make you aware of thier policy? All airlines have thier own policies as to check in and baggage acceptance, it is up to the consumer to research this info and actually it is very simple. Guess what? It is on their website...check it out

http://www.airtran.com/policies/chec...spx?nav_id=160

If you are driving 60 in a 35 mph zone and get pulled over and an officer gives you a ticket, is it the police departments or highway dept. fault because you did not read the speed limit sign? Perhaps the highway dept should have sent you a notarized letter advising you of this. People need to be responsible for thier own actions and stop blaming others. Bottom line....you arrived too late for flight per airtrans policy. They should have put you on the next flight available though, as far as any add/collect charges, I have no idea what their policy is.

Just a little FYI, if a person arrives too late for flight due to thier own accord, don't start sceaming at the agent. You will get much better service if you acknowledge you were in the wrong and they may not even charge you a additional fee.

[Jetliner]

Airtranisawful:

Nice website - I see you've added your own twist to things there too - one of the complaints you have listed that they abbandoned a 4 year old girl. In reality there was a screwup with the seat assignment.

In your original post here you said "it was part of the contract between ourselves and the Airtran Airways instated when I purchased a ticket." -- well if you were so damned familiar with the contract that you made when you purchased the ticket, then how did you not know that you were late for checkin?

On your website you said that she walked out and the first thing she said was the bi--h line. Now I know you are a damn liar - aside from the fact that I know she would never call a passenger a name like that, I know for a fact she would NEVER come out and talk anywhere near that way as the first words out of her mouth.

It's intersting on yor website that you claim there are oh so many complaits, yet you only listed 27 that date back as far as 6 years ago. Considering they average 1 million passengers a month, and considering that some of these complaints are rather baseless, that's not a bad record.

[Airtranisawful]

Hi Jetblahblah,

If someone had explained the policy of the baggage check in cut off time, I would have been satisfied. No one did. My bag being checked was part of the agreement, and I was entitled to an explanation.

When we asked other airlines, they said the STANDARD is thirty (30) minutes before departure- Airtran's is 45. A deadline we missed by 4 minutes. Which is again their policy and something I have to live with, I do not have to live with being verbally abused.

Insofar as your calling me a liar about being verbally abused, thats fine. You have no way of knowing me and that I hold honesty first in my life, I will chalk that up to your own ignorance, and inclination to think the worst of strangers.

This event happened several days ago, i am sorry that I have not had to post every complaint I can find on the internet for them (I even state that on the site), and I copied titles from other peoples complaints unless I couldn't find one.

Airtran airways is ranked as the 10th most complained about airline for 2008 according to the Department of Transportation. http://imairsick.com/2008/06/most-nu...aints-for.html

That is pretty ridiculous considering how small the airline is.

But listen, your ignorance and mean inclinations aside, I bear no ill-will towards you. However, I will not be responding to anything else you write because I believe you feel compelled to defend the person you think I talked to, and your old employer, which is understandable and fine, but you are being dogmatic, narrow minded and honestly, rude and indignant, when you have absolutely no right to be in this matter. I, and these other people, were victimized enough. You don't need to join the parade by picking apart and belittling our experience (or calling us liars), even if it makes you feel better about yourself.

Again, this will be the last message I respond to from you, but as always, feel free to fill this internet space with your baseless cries of concern for the poor little corporation Airtran Airways. I'm sure they would do the same for you.

[Airtranisawful]

Hi Pattis,

I appreciate your advice, and admit that my explanation of my situation was vague and could have led you to believe the situation went down like you seem to think it did. I was trying to be as concise as possible, as so few people out there are willing to read long messages/reviews.

I didn't start screaming from the beginning, I asked for an explanation as to why they would not take my bag. As the price of the ticket includes my bag being checked- I was entitled to this explanation which was never provided to me. I think some of the disconnect happened because I got the tickets through cheaptickets.com- who absolutely did not make me aware that Airtran's baggage cuttoff was a full 15 minutes earlier than all other airlines. Airtran themselves could have emailed me, but they didn't, and as they didn't, I assumed they were a normal airline with no unusual standards. Again, the onus for that assumption is on me, you are right.

I may have gotten a little more upset- though certainly nowhere near screaming or degrading the employees who were just trying to do their jobs, when they would not give me an explanation or the chance to speak with a manager. Of course speaking with the manager turned out to be even worse.

My father has worked at Continental Airlines since before I was born. I know the airlines pretty darn well as my parents also divorced when I was young, I think I spent a good majority of my childhood in the airport, and am very familiar with the standards.

But hey, let me thank you for not calling me a liar about being verbally abused. I understand having serious doubts- I couldn't believe it happened either. It just hurts when you are treated horribly and then people with no stake in the matter at all make their little judgments publicly about the character of a person they have never met.

Again though, thanks for the advice!

[Airtranisawful]

Originally Posted by abutterfinger25

Airtranisawful:

Airtrans "contract of carriage" and its website both clearly state "passengers and their baggage will not be accepted at the ticket counter less than 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their flight".

You state that you arrived at the counter 41 minutes before departure so you did not meet the cutoff and Airtran had the right to not take your bags.

Absolutely. And I absolutely have the right to an explanation, and the right not to be verbally abused.

[abutterfinger25]

The complaint rankings is a little misleading because it fails to indicate what is taken into effect. Yes, in the Department of Transportation's June Consumer Report, Airtran ranked 10th among the 19 carriers reported. The complaint numbers are for April 2008, not the entire year to date and the carriers rank is based on the number of complaints per 100,000 enplanements.

During April, the DOT recieve 19 complaints against Airtran with a total enplanement figure of 1,986,989 for a raio of .96 complaints per 100,000 passengers. (United was worst with 2.55 and Southwest the best at .35) See page 36

In July's report, Airtran fell to 17th (out of 19) with a ratio of 1.32.

Those numbers are not good (and indicate an drastic increase from the same time periods last year). As far as calling them small, they are one of the largest carriers in the US (based on total number of passengers)

[Airtranisawful]

The numbers are also misleading because most people do not even know they should complain / are too exhausted to complain/ don't know their rights/ do not know where to complain.

Really? they are one of the largest carriers? lol, that is just my own ignorance. I just assumed because I had never heard of them before this happened. May be they just don't advertise much. Hm.

Thanks for the helpful info abutter...

[Jetliner]

Originally Posted by Airtranisawful

I may have gotten a little more upset

To the point the police might have had to come out?

Also at any point were you given an option to separate from your bags since you were late and pick them up at your destination?

If you don't want to respond that's up to you.

And who says that Air Tran is my former employer? I have friends as several different airlines in several different cities. I am defending her because I don't appreciate someone slandering her (or anyone else) like that.

[Airtranisawful]

Originally Posted by Jetliner

I am defending her because I don't appreciate someone slandering her (or anyone else) like that.

I know I said I wouldn't respond, and I promise after I press "submit reply" I will never think even about you again, but i can't help point out that calling someone a "damn liar" is slander. and your high horse, is actually a mule.

[Jetliner]

No, it's not slander unless it's not true. Also, I see you dodged my two questions about if they offered to let you separate from your bags and if the police were called out because you were getting out of hand.

[bah humbug]

Hey Airtranisawful,

I can assure you that the STANDARD cut of time for MOST airlines is 45 minutes. There are some airlines that take bags up to 30 minutes prior. Airtran has bag cut of times of 30, 40, and 45 minutes depending on the station. That is why the RECOMEND you check in at least 60 min prior to departure so you will meet the cut off at any station.

The fact that you know so much about Continental, you would know that it depends on the station you fly out of. This is right off of their website. some stations are 30, some are 45.
It is on Airtran's website too.
Look and stop blaming others.


Flights within the 50 U.S. except the following destinations: Atlanta, GA, Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA and Tampa, FL.Customers must complete baggage check-in at least 30 minutes prior to scheduled departureFlights at the following U.S. destinations: Atlanta, GA, Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA and Tampa, FL.Customers must complete baggage check-in at least 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure

[Airmonkey]

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