AirTran's On-Board Upgrades
More from the Department of In-Flight Sales:
We all know that feeling: You board a plane, juggling your carry-ons, and feel twinges of jealousy walking past the business class seats to your tiny seat in coach. If you've ever thought, "If only I could sit there," AirTran is now selling upgrades -- from $49 to $99 per segment -- to passengers in the cheap seats, whether at check-in, at the gate or on the plane itself. Once everyone has boarded, flight attendants will announce the sale of any empty seats in business class, and it's first come, first served for the extra legroom and complimentary drinks.
Most airlines offer passengers the chance to upgrade at check-in (or push pricey extras, depending on your viewpoint), but according to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, most legacy carriers sell their business class seats to actual business travelers and other frequent fliers; discount carrier AirTran tends to have more travelers lured by the low prices than by reliable premium-class services.
By Christina Talcott |
October 21, 2008; 12:30 PM ET
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Air Travel
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Airplanes
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Christina Talcott
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Posted by: Firstclasser | October 21, 2008 7:31 PM
Hard for me to answer "yes" or "no" because for me it would depend on the length of the flight. Since it's AirTran, about the longest leg I can picture flying would be Washington to Atlanta, and that's not far enough for me to care about the extra space in business class. When I flew from Charlotte to Cozumel on US Air I did go ahead and pay at the gate to upgrade to "first class" (put in quotation marks because domestic first class is not worthy of that name) in part because it allowed us to beat the queue through passport control and customs when we arrived in Mexico.
So it all depends on the length of the flight, the amount of time I have to connect (if applicable), whether I have to clear passport control, etc.
Posted by: Rich | October 22, 2008 10:51 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Yawn. These are the most useless items.