“Crowded like a can of sardines”
by cjstoebuck on October 7, 2010
Flight from Seattle to Milwaukee
- Airline:
-
AirTran
- RT/OW
- Round Trip
- Number of Stops:
- No stops
- Date of Flight:
- August 2010
- Seat Class:
- economy
I checked in online with carry on luggage but when I got to the gate both times the flight was "sold out" so they were asking people to check their luggage for FREE; this seemed to be the norm as everyone seem to come with luggage in hand ready to walk up to the desk and check it in for FREE AT THE GATE routine.
Seat-wise: Take the window seats as they have the most wiggle room and under-the-seat storage. The aisle seats under-the-seat storage area might fit a small handbag or pack but not a full-size anything as about 1/2 the area is taken up with the emergency aisle strip lights on the otherside of the seat frame bolted to the floor. If you put the tray down you could not really move especially if the person in front of you was reclining and if the seat in front of you reclined further than allowed due to being broken (a few were) you could not even put the tray fully down.
The in-flight "service" consided of a bag of pretzels or cheese chip and plastic cup of "beverage"; water in my case as I don't drink pop or fruity drinks.
All the airline staff seemed pleasant and very nice. They seemed well-trained and knew what they were doing.
I took the red-eye from SEA to MKE but got very little sleep even with my jacket over my head as I was so cramped and it was cold in the plane (it felt like the AC was on full blast). Coming back (MKE to SEA) I took the evening flight and read, which was doable and the plane's AC was more normal.
For the price ($269) of the round trip (3.5 & 4.25 hrs, respectively) it wasn't bad. I would fly AirTran again but it looks like Southwest is buying them out, so I would check my luggage for free to have nothing under the seat. And may even pay for earlier boarding to snag a better seat (exit window).