You guys in the US are lucky. The cost of plane tickets in Canada to go anywhere is triple what you are paying.
I don't think you can really make a blanket statement like that. I just tried a couple comparisons of Toronto to Florida cities and Nashville to those same cities. It wasn't a huge difference. Air prices are too fickle. They can change numerous times in one day, even within one hour. There is no ryhme or reason to air prices. The airline, city pair, how far in advance purchasing, the dates traveling, how many seats are already sold on a plane, all affect the price. Even how many different airlines flying out of a particular city affects the price, and how much market share of the flights a particular airline has over the other airlines affects the price. For instance; in Nashville, Southwest airlines owns about 50% of the flights flying out of here. We also have Delta, United, US Airways, Frontier, and AA. Since Southwest owns more share than any of the other airlines they don't compete with as good of prices as in other markets where they aren't the dominator. Everyone always talks about how cheap Southwest prices are. Not so here. Maybe where they have to compete more where they aren't controlling the market, but it's not true here.
I think a person has to just get comfortable on what price they are willing to pay.
HSV (Huntsville) is just 15 minutes away but it is also usually in the top 5 most expensive U.S. airports to fly from. Flying to Miami round trip is usually close to $400 per person these days. Just a few years ago it was more like $150, but then all the mergers started happening, schedules were reduced, and RJs (regional jets) became the usual airplanes flying to and from HSV which means fewer seats to be had. It used to be that about half the flights were in DC-9 sized airplanes but now the 50 seat RJ is the norm. When NW and Delta merged it really hit us hard.
So - the price of convenience for us is to either suck it up and pay the HSV price or drive to BHM or BNA. The convenience is still winning out so we pay the premium and fly from HSV. I prefer a quick ride home to a 90 minute drive on an interstate.
We totally agree with all of you. The prices can go up and down every day. We always book around 1 year in advance, at the same time we book our cruise. We do have lots of seat sales in Canada, but our taxes are very high compare to the US.
We live in Central Illinois. AirTran has been our airline of choice for years. Great service, great prices, etc. They discontinued service to Bloomington, IL and Moline, IL. Driving to
Chicago or St. Louis is a long drive. Consequently, we are having to use major airlines which cost more, have higher percentages of lost luggage, and less frills. Bummer!!
Not easy flying from the Northeast either; many in Maine and NH will fly out of Manchester NH, although the bargains there are not what they used to be either. We just book our flights out early and hold on and hope for the best.
So I see some of you have used AirTran before, now can you tell me from your experiences, is this a good airline to use? I mean I read reviews ( as I often do) and for the most part people are saying it is the worst, due to really long delayed flights, poor customer service, rude and unfriendly flight attendents, and tiny seats, flights are always hot in the air craft, no air ventallation...etc.....
You all are like my chat family I have trusted you all's opinons for years now, so I am open to hear ( read) what you all know and have to tell me, be brutally honest if need be. Should we use AirTran as our choice of airline for our next cruise in May 2013?
Every airline is going to have problems sooner or later. If everyone said "I'll never fly that airline again", they are going to soon be out of airlines to fly. Air Tran has been around a long time. If their prices and schedules meet your need then give them a try.
Hi Spiritfilled. I don't understand the poor reviews because we have had nothing but
good luck with AirTran. My husband reads a lot of consumer information articles and AirTran has always rated among the best in on-time performance; delivery of luggage; etc.
Our experience has been that, on the average, we arrive at our destinations earlier than expected. We have used AirTran for years and have never had a piece of lost luggage. And, as a rule, the employees are super-nice and helpful. There are always going to be imperfect flights and people are going to be all-over-the place with complaints. But, we just haven't experienced that!
If they still served Bloomington or Moline, you can bet we would be flying AirTran! (Sound like a commercial, don't I?! But, I just wanted to give you the benefit of our experiences over the years.)
We have flown Airtran many times in the past. It is now owned by Southwest; however, they still retain their name, rates, and baggage fees that vary from Airport to Airport ($20 to $25 per bag). Their planes from MKE are usually smaller, and the seats are also smaller than anything I've ever seen on a Southwest aircraft. Southwest uses almost only 737's, seating is not assigned, but their is a small fee for early checkin which gets you on the plane quicker. Airtran started cutting back their number of flights, and times of flights, a few months ago, which made it harder to justify, for ME, using their airline. IF I can, I NOW leave a day early on Southwest out of MKE; if I can't leave early, then I go to Midway. I'm afraid Southwest has spolied me. FYI; ANY airline. When the flight attendant comes down the isle and asks if you'd like something to drink, If you want soda, ASK FOR A CAN of it. They HAVE to give you the whole can, at NO EXTRA COST. (Daughter used to be a flight attendant-inside knowledge)
Airtran
Linear Mode
