we took them before, they were pretty nice, seats were fine and so was the service
#1
What was your experienceI've never even heard of this company until the lowest fair on Cheaptickes & Mobissimo Travel popped up this company.
#2
we took them before, they were pretty nice, seats were fine and so was the service
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#3
*note: sorry for the long post.I took ATA once, about 5 years ago.
I flew from Florida to Chicago, but there was snow storm in Chicago, so the place took us to Greenbay airport, Wisconsin.
So i thought, Ok, maybe I could find a flight from Greenbay to Los Angeles (which was my final destination), but no..
turns out ATA didn't have contract with Greenbay airport so they didn't let ATA use the terminals. So we were stuck on the plane on the runway unti the snow cleared out in Chicago.
Everybody was pissed but knew there was nothing we could do. Babies were crying from stress, flight attendants started telling jokes on the mic, NOT funny at all, then someone else started singing. All this time, I was trying my best to fall asleep, hoping that when I wake up I'm in Chicago.
There was no food on the plane because the flight was supposed be 3 hr long. And peanut bags were long gone. Then one of the flight attendants yelled out
"we found a box of cookies!"
Thank you GOD!! I mean everyone on the place hadn't eaten for at least 6-7 hours already. So one cookie could make a big difference.
Then someone else shouted " women and children first!"
#$%&'()!!!!!
I never got to see the box passed down to my row.
So I started counting trees outside the window.Anyways, we ended up stuck on the runway for total of 6 hours.
took me 15 hours or so, from Florida to Los Angeles ( my final destination) that day..
I can't thank ATA enough for givng me a chance to be patient. Since then, NOTHING pisses me off in the airports or on the planes.
So I can say you should fly ATA.
BTW, they are cheap and the service wasn't bad at all.
#4
To give you an idea of my level of hatred for ATA, here's a copy of the letter I sent to them last week:We have almost lost all confidence in ATA's ability to function reliably and professionally.
My fiance, Charisse Goodwill, and I, Timothy Jones, booked a flight for us and her two children back in October or November of 2004. We were to fly out of Seattle (SEATAC) on Saturday, 22 January 2005, and into Chicago (Midway), and then come back to SEATAC on Saturday, 5 February 2005. I believe that it was around Christmas that we recieved a notice stating that we were going to have to rearrange our flights to accomadate some schedule shifts that ATA was having. When we finally were able to get through to ATA, we were given the option of changing our departing flight to Friday, 21 January. This would mean that she would have to take an unpaid vacation day from work, I would have to take another day of military leave (and that's no small task to arrange), we'd be paying for an additional day for our rental car, and we'd have to rearrange the accomadations at our destination. Our return flight was also changed to a different time on 5 February. This was not only a huge inconvenience, but it was taking serious money out of our pockets.
After we called, we did some research and found that ATA was having some financial problems, and was considering bankruptcy. At this point we were afraid that we were going to lose our flight altogether, so we called again. At this point we just wanted our money back, so that we could see if we could reschedule with another airline. The ATA representitive assured us that our flights would go as scheduled. Charisse asked what kind of compensation we were going to recieve for the mix up, and she was informed that we would recieve vouchers good for discounts on ATA flights. When we recieved the vouchers (four $100 vouchers), we were ready to put the bad experience behind us.
Our flight to Midway was uneventful, but upon arriving at Midway on 5 February for our return flight, we had some bad news at the check-in desk: ATA no longer flies into SEATAC!! The ATA representitive stated, "I think we've got some kind of a contract with Southwest to take care of those flights, so you might be able to fly out with them." So now we've got to drag eight suitcases, four carry-ons, and two children from one end of the airport to the other to see if we might be able to fly out on another airline!! Try to imagine that for just one second: Your flight hasn't had a "schedule shift", or been delayed until further notice; it's gone because the airline that you paid good money to fly on suddenly decided not to fly to your city anymore!!
When we got to the Southwest counter, they seemed to be better informed on what was going on than the people at the ATA counter. But it took them over an hour to clear through the confusion that ATA had created. While the Southwest rep was on hold with ATA (about 45 minutes altogther) a Southwest manager stated that while most of the ATA-to-Southwest transitions had been smooth, a handful had been like ours: on hold indefinately trying to get some sort of authorization from ATA. On top of that, she was surprised that we had not been told about ATA dropping SEATAC when we recieved our tickets to fly out on the 21st of January. They finally had us on our way with just enough time to get through security and rush to our plane.
This is quite possibly the worst treatment I've ever experienced as a customer from any service industry. For all of this trouble, stress, inconvenience, and loss of money, I am the proud owner of four ATA vouchers that are absolutely useless to me. Even if ATA started to fly out of SEATAC again, any confidence we have in them has been shattered by your gross mishandling of us and our children. I'm going to be very blunt; I'm seeking some serious compensation, and I want it in the form of a REFUND, not any more of your ridiculous vouchers!! If you're going to give us a voucher, make it from Southwest, they seem to have thier act together. We will be waiting one week to recieve a response from you. If by then this has not been resolved to our satisfaction, we will be referring this matter to the Better Business Bureau. In addition, we will be consulting with the staff at the Base Legal Center here at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island to determine what further action should be taken. We look forward to your reponse. Below, you will find all pertinent information on us and the vouchers we recieved.
#5
so, what resulted from the letter?
#6
Still waiting... To be quite honest, the threat at the end was a bit of a bluff. I could do all those things, but if the company really is going bankrupt, what am I really going to get out of this? And they can argue that I did (eventually) get the service I paid for. I just had to go through a sh!tstorm of misery to get it...
#7
oh sh*t. i already booked a flight with them in ~3 weeks. from sf -> chicago -> washington d.c. & returning in the same manner.
#8
hopefully your plane won't fall out of th sky becuase they thought southwest was covering their asses
#9
I think you'll be alright......ATA flies to hawaii and I've asked many people how it was and most said it was fine......the sort of stuff posted above could happen on any airlines.....but perhaps more with the smaller ones that don't have much pull in the industry.....don't worry just go and take it one day at a time.....
it;s funny I just noticed the add for ATA at the top of the column features a very outdated 707......when did they go out of service ? in th early 70's?
they now fly 757's, same plane just updated with the engines and so on...
Modified by mauslick at 8:22 PM 3-24-2005
#10
When you first found out about the ATA schedule change (from saturday to friday on the outbound flight), couldn't you have gotten a refund from ATA, then bought tickets on some other airline?
#11
Quote » i already booked a flight with them in ~3 weeks. from sf -> chicago -> washington d.c. & returning in the same manner. Aren't there lots of airlines that fly that route, including some who do non-stops? Also, don't overlook flying from OAK or SJC at the bay area end; the DC end has DCA, IAD, and BWI to choose from.
#12
Quote, originally posted by mauslick » I it;s funny I just noticed the add for ATA at the top of the column features a very outdated 707......when did they go out of service ? in th early 70's?
they now fly 757's, same plane just updated with the engines and so on...
Modified by mauslick at 8:22 PM 3-24-2005They are not even close to being the same plane.
#13
yeah you're right....only the 3 - 3 seating configuration is the same
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