AirTran

This last business trip was the first I’ve taken on AirTran in a long while.

AirTran got me where I wanted to go on time (or close to it) and its people were friendly, too. The impression I got from the company, though, is its populated by a bunch of slackers.

First off, when I wanted to fly out early they bungled my ticket. I was offered a first-place position in the 5-standby line at Atlanta, but I turned it down in preference to taking my original flight. I changed my mind an hour later and returned to find I was somehow already booked on the earlier flight, though for some reason I could no longer be the first-place standby. I got to Atlanta and handed my standby ticket to the mystified gate agent, who told me I wasn’t even on the standby list anymore!

Nevertheless, she easily found me a seat. “Maybe that’s why this flight is oversold, ” she said, shaking her head. “People keep putting passengers on my plane.”

The flight attendent working the Raleigh-Atlanta flight mumbled quite a few words in the safety announcement, leading me to believe she was in a hurry. Later in the flight I watched her spill a drink right down her uniform. At this point I wondered if she hadn’t mumbled the words so much as slurred them.

I asked the customer service agent for the gate for my connecting flight. She sent me to the wrong terminal, though fortunately I had some time to spare.

Getting on the Pensacola flight, I stepped back to the lavatory as the flight loaded. No water was available. They could’ve been servicing the lavatories at the moment. I don’t know.

Flying back from Pensacola to Atlanta, the pilot taxied right up to the gate, killed the engines, and plunged the plane into darkness. The ramp workers forgot to plug the power cord into the plane!

Once we got to Raleigh it took a long, long time to get our baggage. In spite of our arriving before a Continental flight (and their longer walk through the terminal), the Continental flight got its baggage before we did. That seems to be pretty typical of AirTran.

Its the little things like this – the slacker-ish thinngs – that make me wonder where else these guys might be cutting corners. On the bright side, their people are friendly, unlike US Airways (and some other airlines). I also appreciated the XM satellite radio at every seat. Nothing makes it easier being 13th in line for takeoff than rocking out to “Tainted Love.”

Would I fly them again? Yeah, I might, depending on the schedule. AirTran offers the promise of surprise, at least.