AirTran Airways
Poor customer service

On Aug. 1st my mom and I were flying from Seattle WA to Baltimore, MD to catch our connector to Portland, ME. Our flight # FL0243 Gate A13 was scheduled for 10:30 am departure so we got to the Seattle airport @ 7:30 am. Upon arriving @ the airport we discovered our flight had been delayed to 12:30 pm. We had breakfast @ 9 and hung around. We then discovered they had changed our flight to leave @ 1:00 arriving in Baltimore for 8:52 pm with our connector flight FL0493 to leave @ 9:20 to Portland, ME. They told us that if we leave on time we should make our flight because it’s in the same concourse but different gate. We told them we needed a wheelchair because MY MOM IS HANDICAPPED. She is going to be having back surgery in the next couple of months. They also told us they would call ahead and let them know that we are coming so they would wait for us.

The plane we were going to take came in and had to unload. There were 2 people on there that had to be taken off in a wheelchair therefore it took about 45 min. For them to unload. At this point we knew we were not going to make our connector to Portland, ME so we asked the supervisor (we think her name might have been Mandy) what they will do. She told us they would put us up in a hotel and we would get on the 11:51 am flight on Sunday the 2nd. She told us everything would be taken care of and not to worry. We boarded the plane and took off @ 2:00.

We arrived in Baltimore and were told to go to terminal B5 because that’s where customer service is. We inquired to the Manager on duty (is what he said he was) for a hotel room and we were told that there were no hotel rooms in Baltimore. He told us 2 other planes from Southwest had just canceled and that they took up all the hotel rooms. Again he told us there were no hotel rooms in the city of Baltimore. He didn’t attempt to call any. He then told us that Seattle shouldn’t have sent us there that they should have put us up there. We asked when we could get a flight out on Sunday and he said not until 4 pm. I told him several times my mom was handicapped and going to have back surgery and also had had 2 heart attacks and that we could not hang out in the airport until 4 pm the next day and that we had a medical condition and that I would get him Doctor’s records to prove it. He said there was nothing he could do. I asked him for someone higher than him to help us and he told us he was the manager and there wasn’t anyone higher than him around. I asked him to get us on another plane with another airline and he said he couldn’t do that. He could refund our money and we would have to figure out how we were going to get to Portland, ME. He said they didn’t have a contract with other airlines so he couldn’t get us on another plane with another airline.

There was a flight that was suppose to leave around 4 or 5 that day to Boston, MA but had been grounded for mechanical reasons and was scheduled to leave @ 12:00 am. The manager told us at first that there was one seat available. That meant one of us could have gotten on and the other stranded until 4:00 the next day. After about 20 or 30 min. They checked the flight and there were some openings because people had given up their seats. They booked us to leave @ 12:00.

We asked him if he could get us a hotel in Boston when we arrive @ 1:30 am on the 2nd. He made a phone call and was told there were no hotel rooms available in the city of Boston and that he could get us there but that was it. At that point we called my boyfriend who had been up since 5:30 am moving his parents all day and asked him to drive one way 1 ½ hours to come pick us up @ 1:00 am. He then used our gas which was a full tank in a GMC truck and had to pay a total of $9 in tolls from Rochester, NH to Boston, MA. It took us another 1 ½ hrs. To get home. We got home @ 3 am.

We asked the manager for compensation like free tickets and he said he couldn’t do that. He told us the only thing he could do was give us a voucher that was good for $10 towards food and a $25 credit towards another flight. We told him that was ridiculous and he said that’s all he could do. We walked away to get something to eat before we boarded the plane to learn that there were no food vendors open. There was a candy store that was closing but she let us get a drink and I had to pay $1.80 for it because she cannot collect food vouchers because she is a family owned store.

We were put in business class and we noticed there were 5 seats empty just in business class. Why were we told there were no seats available in the first place?

On Sunday afternoon the 2nd we had to drive in our truck and use our gas another 1 ½ hrs. One way to take my mom home to Maine and another 1 ½ hrs. Home.

Side notes:

We were told by the flight attendant on the flight from Baltimore to Boston that he thought maybe the airtran people in Seattle were contracted by Frontier.

We ate @ 9 am and didn’t get anything to eat for lunch and dinner. We were served a snack and drink on both flights.

There were 26 adults that were traveling with children that were trying to get to Burlington, VT and the manager couldn’t get them on a plane until 9 pm on Aug. 2nd and there were no hotel rooms for them. They ended up hiring a bus driver for $2,500 which cost them all $100 each to travel @ 10 pm to Burlington which takes approximate 10 hours. All of us had not had any dinner at this point.

Company: AirTran Airways
Country: USA

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