An update to my ordeal with AirTran.  After a couple of emails to their customer service, we were given a courtesy refund of our $98 fees.  Also, when I checked us in for the return, I was credited with $18 back on the reserved seats because I changed our seats.  So, pack light or take more bags and don’t reserve your seats in advance, unless you absolutely must.  If you do reserve seats in advance, check seating at check-in and change them if you can.  I still think it is absurd that an airline charges you for seats to ensure you can sit together, period.  NO other airline I have flown has such a ridiculous fee.  As such, we won’t be flying AirTran again.  The flights and the crews were good. However, the fees outweigh any good part of the trip.

Never again will I fly with AirTran. First, the fee horror story begins with booking the flight on priceline.com. I selected my seats to ensure my wife, son, and I would be sitting together, especially since our daughter is riding on our lap. I get my confirmation from AirTran, only to see that my seat assignments have been removed. I then had to pay AirTran $36 for my seat assignments. Again, just to ensure we all sat together.

The next fee horror was at check-in. We decided to pack one suitcase for the four of us for the week. Keep in mind, we were each allowed one bag of 50 pounds for $15 each. That’s a grand total of 150 pounds for $45. Well, our bag weighed 56 pounds and was a few inches too big. So, we were slapped with $98 in excess baggage fees. In my eyes, we still had an additional 94 pounds! So, this trip is our first and last with AirTran. You may have milked us for all the fees you could, but we can go elsewhere next time. Like they say, the first impression is the most important.