The ORIGINAL POST which first describes the situation that happened to me.
I left Rochester, NY (ROC) on Sunday at 2PM on AirTran to Baltimore (BWI) and then from BWI to Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW). I arrived at BWI almost on time. My flight from BWI to DFW was to arrive at 8:45 PM on Sunday.
About 5PM the flight was delayed due to weather in ATL to about 10PM. I sat. I watched the monitors. 10PM... 11PM... 12AM... and then finally at 1AM the plane which we were to board to DFW arrived. I watched the people de-plane and then the crew. The lady said we would be depart within 30 minutes. 30 minutes passed and the lady said then the lady called out, "Flight XXX to DFW has been CANCELED." There is a sigh of exhaustion for a while as the people quickly realize what is happening.
The lady (ONE employee to care for 104 passengers who had been working for 14hrs at that point)then gets on the intercom and says, "I am going call each person by their last name and get you booked on the soonest available flight." Again, a sigh of exhaustion as we quickly realize its going to take ONE employee several hours to deal with 104 passengers. After she calls the first name (an hour or so later) she then gets back on the intercom. "Don't give me lip, I am doing the best I can, I will get you out of here as soon as I can, but realistically its going to be a COUPLE of days." No more sighs of exhaustion, now there are angry people growing very impatient. People start demanding refunds. The lady at first says, "There will be no refunds since this is weather related." And the crowd goes WILD!!! Soon the counter is surrounded by impatient patrons. After a couple verbal battles with unhappy patrons, the lady gets on the intercom and says, "If you want a refund, go to the front counter and speak with someone there, I cannot give refunds, only they can."
I left the checkpoint area to go to the front desk. Bear in mind I had called 1-800-AIRTRAN in order to speak with someone at customer service. After two tries of waiting for 30 minutes each with no answer, I hung up. I got to the counter and listened to angry people and angry AirTran agents jaw back-and-forth. They kept saying there will be no Refunds... Sorry, no Refunds.. We cannot refund you... Finally, a lovely lady busted out and said, "THE LADY AT THE OTHER DESK TOLD US TO COME HERE FOR OUR REFUND!!!!" The other Airtran employee was like, "WHAT? REALLY? UGH!" So he walks in the back to talk to his "manager" who mind you did not show his face at all (if he was even there at all). So finally the guy asked us to give him our boarding passes and we will be refunded. That was sort of a relief. By the way, the hotel vouchers they were passing out were unusable because all of the hotels they were good for were booked.
Finally, it was my turn. Thankfully, I spoke with a very kind young woman (still incapable at her job, she was very new) helped me. She told me the soonest I could get out of BWI was Wednesday (it was Monday, 2:30 A.M.). I was supposed to get to DFW by Sunday evening. I said, "When is the soonest you can get me to ATL?" She said, "Tuesday out of BWI." I said, "What about other airports?" She said, "A flight leaves Dulles today at 10:30 A.M." I said, "OK, book me." I then proceeded to call my friend Ryan at 3 A.M. to see if he could help. Thankfully, after a couple of tries he answered. I had no Internet access so I couldn't get online myself to book a flight from ATL to DFW since AirTran couldn't get me DFW. Ryan looked into and at booked me a flight on American Airlines at 4 P.M. that day to DFW for $400. This trip just got really expensive!
Now all I needed was to get to Dulles about an hour away in D.C. So I rented a Budget Rental car ($89 total) to drive 1 hour southwest. I arrived finally at 5 A.M. in Dulles. Now that I had some sort of plan, I could rest (mind you in the airport). By this time I smelled bad. Hair was greasy, close were stained, BO! and no deodorant (thank you homeland security). Oh well, finally I boarded in Dulles to ATL. I got to my seat. 19D. Someone was sitting in it. I said, "Excuse me, I think there is a mix up." He said, "Nope, no mix up." He showed me his ticket. It was indeed 19D! I got really hot, really fast. I approached a flight attendant. She said, "Wait here, I will ensure you on this flight." A sigh of relief. She motioned to me and pointed to a seat. It was an Exit row on the aisle!! Wow, finally things were going my way a bit. I sat down and we left.
I arrived in ATL around noon and waited to 4:00 P.M. to board my flight to DFW on American. Our flight was supposed to leave at 4, but would not end up leaving til 5:15. Ugh... more Delays... As I stood there waiting for the boarding process I realized I was not the only poor soul. The AA lady called out on the intercom, "There are 93 people on the stand-by list for this flight. Please do not approach the desk. We are doing the best we can." I thought, "Poor souls... 93 people?? that's crazy." The flight was booked. I bet maybe 2 of them boarded.
Well, the point of this post is AirTran sucks! They could not help me, nor did they want to. They had inadequate customer service, inadequate everything. There was no explanation, just "ACTS OF GOD" a.ka., weather (but, in truth, it is due to overbooking and under-scheduling available flights).
I quote another victim of AirTrain:
Airtran has very little capacity to handle any problems. Flights are full and infrequent, customer service is laughable, refunds are rigged, and so if your flight is delayed (for Any Reason) then you will have to handle the situation with your own resources by using another airline.
Too bad, as the no-frills discount airline is very appealing, but not at the expense of your wallet and your sanity.