By LMAO

Jul 31, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

By Jess

Jul 30, 2008 10:23 AM | Link to this

AirTran s-cks anyway. I hear they are firing left and right and since the economy is so bad, they are finding any small thing to fire about.


This is true Jess. It is the most senior employees they are targeting as well, the ones that have given them 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 and more years of their lives, and have worked their way up to a somewhat liveable salary. They are targeting them because they are earning more money than some one they can hire in at half of the pay out. Then when these loyal employees try and collect unemployment to make ends meet while the look for another job they are denied that too. The ones they are hiring in at bottom level pay are inexperienced which effects youby way of the level of service you get tops side and ground level. What a wonderful airline!

By LMAO

Jul 31, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

By airtran consumer

Jul 30, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

What I want to know is when they are talking about scaling back here in Atlanta, What type of scalin back are we talking about????? Are they cutting the number of flights out of here or are they completely coming out of Atlanta? I am a frequent flyer with Airtran and I have NEVER had any issues with their quality like I have with other airlines. I just need to know where I will need to go now to stay with Airtran.




If you only knew how much you were supporting the parasitic lifestyle of the CEOs of AirTran and other air carriers like them. They are cheap because they pay their laborers cheap. The ones that get your bags to your connecting flights, the ones that by the sweat of their brow, and the muscle pains in their backs, lift your 90# plus bag in the bellie of that aircraft because you are too cheap to pay a fee for a second checked bag and pack your whole household into one bag for a weekend trip, and the ones that are living from pay check to pay check or after putting in 8 hours + for back breaking labor and very little pay, go straight to another back breaking job just to keep food on their families tables. You sit in the comfort (sic) of a cramped seat with 2 huge jumbos on either side of you while the CEOs and the like live, ride, and dine in luxury on your dollar. You think about that "AirTran Consumer" next time you board one of those 717s or 737s. AirTran is the worste. You get what you pay for..
AirTran needs to go down!

By Tom

Jul 31, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this

My fault. The delay time in the posts getting displayed threw me off. You are welcome. I try and help people understand the system (as much as possible...because it is complicated) when I can. But, you're comments about customer service, on the whole, are correct. It has SEVERELY deteriorated in the industry. Take it easy and I hope to see you in ATL soon:)

By InterestedReader

Jul 30, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this

Yea. I don't know if you read my last response or not but I was saying thanks for explaining it...not trying to argue with you anymore. You made your case and it was good one sans customer service which we decided was irrelevant.

By Tom

Jul 30, 2008 8:22 PM | Link to this

Ok, I'm done. You can throw any airport out there you want and my answer stays the same. Airlines do not set delays into place. Airlines cannot control weather. The FAA puts delay programs into place to help meter the traffic into an airport when weather is around because they simply cannot handle a full load when weather is around. Thats the answer...plain and simple. It may not be an answer you want to hear, but its the truth. Its not perfect, but its what we have.

By InterestedReader

Jul 30, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this

Interesting...well this has been enlightening. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to explain it to me!

By Tom

Jul 30, 2008 7:57 PM | Link to this

Memphis is the busiest cargo airport in the world just like Atlanta is for passengers and you don't see Fedex and Northwest having meltdowns.

The vast majority of FEDEX's operations occur at night when passenger traffic is low to nill.

Denver's airport has the same layout as Atlanta with not two but THREE hubs(3rd being 115 flights a day by SWA focus city) and they rarely have a meltdown. How do you explain that?

Again, these hubs your refer to are not the issue...its the total traffic. Airport layout is not the issue...its traffic. In May of this year, ATL had 82,398 total flights. Compared to the airport you picked, Denver, which had a total of 53,939 flights. Both of those numbers came from each individual airports websites.

USAir is actively working to improve PHL as is everyone with LGA. What are you doing in Atlanta to improve?

I, myself, am not doing anything to improve ATL. I don't have much control over that. I can tell you before the 5th runway was added it was an absolute mess. It was almost like Newark. Everyday at 1pm...delays....rain or shine. The 5th runway has really improved the flow into ATL...but it is still not perfect....obviously.

Why does ASA almost always cancel its evening flights to close in cities and delay them until 11pm before doing so? Why do Delta customer service people openly treat you like a pain in the butt that they'd rather not deal with

The customer service topic is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about delays at airports, not customer service. As for ASA's flight ops, I know it has been a big problem for them. Almost 2 years ago they had a big house cleaning over there and Delta really took an active role in trying to improve things. I haven't flown them in a while so I'm not sure what things are like now, or if they've even improved. But, I can tell you one thing, ASA is not causing delay's at ATL. They may cancel flights...but that is effecting them and only them...not the rest of the airport.

By InterestedReader

Jul 30, 2008 7:51 PM | Link to this

Let me add Dallas and Miami to list of airports that are more like Atlanta and somehow manage to do better in the South.

By InterestedReader

Jul 30, 2008 7:33 PM | Link to this

Memphis is the busiest cargo airport in the world just like Atlanta is for passengers and you don't see Fedex and Northwest having meltdowns. Denver's airport has the same layout as Atlanta with not two but THREE hubs(3rd being 115 flights a day by SWA focus city) and they rarely have a meltdown. How do you explain that? USAir is actively working to improve PHL as is everyone with LGA. What are you doing in Atlanta to improve? Why does ASA almost always cancel its evening flights to close in cities and delay them until 11pm before doing so? Why do Delta customer service people openly treat you like a pain in the butt that they'd rather not deal with?

By Tom

Jul 30, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this

Interested Reader...I'm not trying to gang up on you here, but you wrote:

Same to you prick. I assure you it's not all the FAA. If it were all them there wouldn't be a noticably different experience with airlines other than Delta such as Southwest, US Airways, and American, and and at airports other than Atlanta such as Charlotte, Memphis, Orlando and Nashville when it was an American hub and today with Southwest

First of all, weather delays are set in motion by the FAA...that is a fact. Now, sometimes if weather is forecasted for later in the day, airlines will cancel flights early, so the airplanes don't get stuck in the other cities...this way the airplanes will be were they are supposed to be by night...and the schedule will operate normally the next day (All airlines practice this). But, weather delays are set by the FAA and you proved the point in your previous post. You said airports other than Atlanta...well...the airlines don't control the Atlanta airport...the FAA does. And when comparing ATL to CLT, MEM or MCO...you are really comparing apples to oranges. Atlanta is THE busiest airport in the world. The amount of traffic in and out of those other airports doesn't even compare to Atlanta. And when weather hits, the strains that are put on ATL are much great. As far as other airlines, well I promise you that USAir has the same problems with Philly and LaGuardia and American has problems with Chicago. One thing Southwest has done well is they typically try to fly into third tier airports. For instance, they don't fly to LaGuardia they fly to Islip. They don't fly to Boston, they fly to Providence. It helps them get around the delays a bit. But when the airspace problems really get bad, it hits them as well. I'm not trying to blame the FAA with any of this. The controllers do an amazing job with all of this. Its not perfect...but its what we got. Again, I'm not trying to gang up on you, just trying to help you understand the system.