Airtran

So I needed to fly to Atlanta this weekend, and since I have a hatred of all things Delta Airlines, I decided to give Airtran a try. I had always avoided Airtran, as the airline was born as a re-branding of ValueJet after the numerous and severe ValueJet safety problems came to light shortly after one of their planes blew up in the air over the Florida Everglades. But hey, money is tight all over, and it was convenient, so I rolled the air safety dice (plus w the Continental crash the day before, I figured the odds were good in my favor that we weren't due for another).

The goood: Airtran's fleet is all relatively new - they fly Boeing 717's and 737-700's, so no more of this, new paint job on a 40-year old airplane bit. The tickets were tied with being the cheapest on this route, and they still offered free in-flight beverage service and pretzels (a service many of the legacy carriers have abandoned). The main plus for me was that they provide direct service from DCA to a nice terminal in ATL. They also have an all-day standby policy for your ticket. Don't want to make that 6am flight? You can fly standby for the rest of the same day as your original flight, even after the booked flight has departed.

The bad: both of my flights were late - one due only partially to their fault and one due entirely to their fault. You can not turn around a fully loaded 737 in 25 minutes, it just can't be done. The airline doesn't seem to allow enough of a gap between flights, and thereby I saw many flights that were running 15-20 minutes behind, which isn't world ending unless you have a tight connection. Also, keep in mind if you sit on the 717's, the window seats carry-on storage under the seat in front of you is severely restricted by the seat post in front of you. The last negative is this route specific, but terminal A at Reagan needs to be torn down, and this is where Airtran flies out of. Plus with only one gate and destination, if you have a problem with your flight, you're kind of screwed. They fly into terminal C in ATL, which is far from the ground transportation but they have a train that is quick.

Would I fly on them again? Sure, if they saved me money. But the problem low-cost carriers have now is, legacy airlines match their fares. So, I can fly for the same price on Delta, but be in better connecting terminals with more options if there are delays.