AirTran Airways is giving away pink carnations on May 7 and May 11 at airports in Atlanta, Orlando, Baltimore/Washington and MIlwaukee to honor Mother's Day, in a partnership with Teleflora. In a news release, the discount carrier said the flowers would let "mothers know how appreciated they are."
Awwwwww. I bet they love babies, too. And puppies.
Stuck in North Texas and trying to get to Atlanta? AirTran Airways might be able to help.
The Atlanta-based discount airline is temporarily adding an additional flight from D/FW to Atlanta to help stranded passengers who are trying to get home. The flight will be offered today only, leaving Atlanta at 5:20 p.m. and arriving at D/FW at 6:35 p.m. It will fly back at 7:05 p.m., arriving in Atlanta at 10:08 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at www.airtran.com, or by calling 800-AIR-TRAN.
AirTran Airways is cutting its growth plans over the next two years, thanks to high fuel prices and the slowing economy. American and Southwest recently cut their own growth projections for pretty much the same reason.
Here's what Bloomberg News had to say about AirTran:
Growth in available seating will be about 5 percent in 2009 and 2010, compared with its previous targets of 8 percent for next year and 10 percent for the following year, Chief Financial Officer Stan Gadek said at Feb. 27 Credit Suisse conference. His remarks were disclosed in a Feb. 29 regulatory filing.
The reductions “are dramatic adjustments,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Fornaro said today on a Webcast of a conference organized by Raymond James Financial Inc.
AirTran, based in Orlando, Florida, two weeks ago had further lowered its growth target for this year, to 9 percent from 10 percent, after agreeing to sell two airplanes. The company's initial 2008 goal was 13 percent.
- Trebor
United Airlines airfare increase last week -- the industry's first attempt of the year to hike prices -- "remains in place" as of Sunday evening, despite "some minor rollback activity" over the weekend, Rick Seaney of the farecompare.com tracking system says. A summary of how airlines responded to United's $10 roundtrip increase on trips of 1,500 miles or less, and $20 roundtrip on longer trips:
"Airlines continue to have off-peak sales (mostly for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday) -- while increasing airfares for business travelers and those who travel at the most convenient times," Seaney said in an email.
"A strategy of lower closely yielded off-peak pricing and legacy airline capacity reductions, coupled with increases on the bulk of travelers who travel at more convenient times looks to be leaving some headroom for continued increases in the first quarter. I would not be surprised to see a few more increases in the coming weeks if fuel prices stay at their current level."
-- Scott Nishimura
Busy travel seasons inspire advice from all quarters, it seems. Here's the latest in holiday travel tips from AirTran Airways:
Wrap Up the Packing Before Wrapping Presents - Wrapped gifts might have
to be unwrapped during security screenings. Consider shipping gifts
ahead of time. Do not carry wrapped gifts you have received from
others.
Leave Your Sleigh at Home if Airport Parking is an Issue - This time of
year many airport parking lots are maxed out on capacity. If you think
parking will be an issue allow ample time or have someone drop you off
and pick you up or take public transportation to the airport.
Don't Let Your Valuables Become Someone Else's Stocking Stuffers - Place
your medicine, jewelry, cameras, and other valuables in your carry-on
baggage.
Santa Can Find You, but the Airport Needs Your Help - A baggage tag with
your name, home address and telephone number must be placed on the
outside of your bag. It is also a good idea to put your home address,
telephone number, destination address and telephone number inside your
bag.
Nothing Should be Roasting by an Open Fire - All lighters and matches
are prohibited in carry-on items. However, lighters without fuel are
allowed in checked baggage and lighters with fuel are only allowed in
checked baggage if they meet guidelines set forth by the Department of
Transportation. As a rule of thumb, AirTran Airways recommends leaving
the lighters at home.
Unlock the Holiday Cheer - The TSA recommends that you leave your
baggage unlocked as it may be inspected during the security screening
process.
The airline is offering more tips on its site.
- Trebor
It looks like last week's fare hike - a $10 each-way increase initiated by United - is going to stick. American and US Airways matched the price hike over the weekend, according to FareCompare.com. On the discount front, Frontier and AirTran also matched.
- Trebor
AirTran is now allowing customers to pay for their fares with online payment service PayPal. That's the Internet site that allows consumers to pay via credit cards or bank accounts, but through a secure, private transaction.
"We're pleased to give AirTran Airways passengers enhanced convenience, security and privacy when they book travel on www.airtran.com," spokesman Tad Hutcheson said in a news release. "PayPal offers a proven and popular method for handling our rapidly growing online transactions."
- Trebor
Airfare activity on Monday was "very volatile" as carriers continued to react to last Thursday's airfare hike by Continental, the farecompare.com tracking service said just before midnight Monday.
"After three airfare distributions today (10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT), the $10 roundtrip increase initiated by Continental late last Thursday continues to remain “sticky",” farecompare's Rick Seaney said in a release. The domestic airfare change activity today was very volatile, as both JetBlue and AirTran fired out substantial airfare sales in the midst of the legacy airlines jockeying for market position related to the sixth airfare increase since Labor Day."
"It will be interesting to see how the legacy airlines react to these two domestic airfare sales," Seaney said. "Delta has the most exposure to the AirTran sale, while JetBlue city pairs are spread more evenly across several competing airlines."
Seaney posted more detailed info about the fare sales in his blog, http://rickseaney.com.
"The increase looks to be firmly entrenched, and most likely these new airfare sales from JetBlue and AirTran will be strategically matched in highly competitive overlap markets without posing much of a threat to the broader increase," Seaney said.
-- Scott
Despite all the recent fare hikes, airlines still trot out those fare sales when they want to quickly sell off seats. AirTran announced this morning a 72-hour sale to every destination it offers, with fares as low as $39 each way.
From D/FW, most of the cities come via connections through Atlanta. Still, if you're looking for a cheap fare for travel through Jan. 30, you might want to check it out. The sale runs through Thursday.
- Trebor
Airlines have started to match United Airlines' $6 roundtrip fare increase Friday, Farecompare.com says.
"This most recent increase continues to be broad based, encompassing both business and leisure airfares," Farecompare.com said in an email.
As of late Friday, here's how other airlines were matching United's fare increase, measured by percentage of total airfares matched:
Farecompare.com said it expected more activity Saturday and Sunday, "where more matching or rollback activity might occur."
"In the span of just three short weeks, a significant number of passengers are now paying up to $24 more for roundtrip ticket," Farecompare's Rick Seaney said. "Three relatively “sticky” increases in as many weeks (initiated by Southwest, Delta and United respectively) is a telling sign that the major legacy airlines are feeling pretty confident about passenger demand in the coming months."
-- Scott
