AirTran seat assignment?
 

I am considering taking AirTran between White Plains and Atlanta
in mid-December. I will be travelling with two young children (6yo and 4yo), so would like to sit together as a family.

Now, I understand you can pay $6 and get an early seat assignment,
but would airlines generally seat families with young children together?

How flexible are other passengers, if we get split seating? When we fly
European low-cost like Easyjet or Ryan, we usually find other passengers
willing to switch seats. Is it too much to expect similar from American
passengers?

Hello, and welcome to the AirTran forum!

I have flown this route (HPN-ATL) numerous times. If you are flying southbound near the start of the holiday season (say December 18th or later, maybe even the evening of the 17th), I would expect the plane to be fully booked. Under those circumstances I think it would be smart to pre-reserve your seating assignments, but it depends on whether your peace of mind is worth $18. Weekends may be busy with some folks traveling between their NY/CT & FL homes (but they tend to fill the nonstops to Florida rather than the flights to Atlanta). Mid-week prior to the 18th (and probably weekends as well), the flights should be empty enough that you can expect to get seats together if you check in online...

If you don't pre-reserve your seats, you will be assigned seats (for no extra charge) when you check in, either at the airport or online up to 24 hours before your departure - but you can change the assignments until you confirm that you want to check in. (If you will be checking more than one bag per person, you definitely want to check in online, as they give a discount on the 2nd bag charge if you pay for it online.) Even on a full flight you will most likely be able to find an empty row if you go online and check in right at the 24 hour mark, but if you don't want to pay $18, you could take a reasonable gamble for $12 and reserve seats D and F in the same row, towards the rear of the aircraft, for your kids - if you then go to Airtran.com 24 hours before your flight you will be able to check in and select your seat at that time. In the first few minutes of online check in, it is extremely unlikely that anyone would choose the middle seat between your kids, especially if they are toward the back. (Most people checking in online very early are trying to sit near the front of the plane so they deplane sooner, but the passengers seated in back board early in the process - right after business class. I recommend the back for you because most experts and most parents I know think it helps kids to have more time to settle in. However, your younger child might qualify you for pre-boarding.)

As far as convincing other passengers to shift seats for you - it does happen (I did it once), but it's much harder to get an entire row for three passengers traveling together than the cases I have seen, where a parent was traveling with one child, and only one other passenger needed to be convinced to move.

If you do choose to fly AirTran, bring some headphones - they have over 100 channels of live XM satelite radio and they used to have plenty of free headphones to give out, but I haven't seen the free headphones since oil prices went out of sight.

Good luck, and safe travels! I hope this has helped a bit.

Great advice HPN-HRL, but keep in mind that this month the 2nd bag fee goes up to $25.00 no matter where you check in.

HPN-HRL and airtan 1,
Thanks very much for your valuable advice. I think we'll use the tactics of reserving D&F in the back row and hope noone sits between the kids. Luggage-wise, we should be ok--just one piece check-in for each of us.

A) As long as you check in 24hrs prior, you shouldn't have a prob getting seats together.

B) If for some reason you can't, yes passengers are usually pretty good about moving around. Especially when your standing in front of them with small children.