ATA Airlines review by Richard Quintana

31 March 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

I returned from a vacation in Hilo, HI flying on ATA Airlines and had a very good experience. It was my first time flying ATA and found the plane to be clean, and the onboard staff were professional, friendly, and courteous. They did the job, 'point A' to 'point B' without a hitch and I will keep them on the short list of airlines to consider for my next trip.

ATA Airlines review by Silvia Prieto

12 March 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

I purchased tickets through the internet, with seats assigned, and 5 days before departure, rumors started that all flights from my departure city were cancelled. I tried calling customer service, only to be kept on hold for more than 20 minutes (international call) several times. When I talked to a local travel agent, she confirmed the rumors, and said that ATA only sent them a memo telling them that their routes were being reorganized. ATA never informed us of this, or of any refunds if any. Still, a refund wouldn´t be enough, since when I tried booking through other airlines, flights were full, the only available seats were for dates with a 3 day difference on departure and return and for about 5 times the price, and even if I wanted to pay that, I had a cruise booked and payed for that I could only use if I left on the dates originally booked with ATA. The travel agent told me that they had news of this since March 7th 2008, and I know of people that payed for tickets on those dates. Why would ATA still take their money if they knew flights would be cancelled? Up until now, no news from ATA, not of any cancellations, refunds, apologies, nothing. It is so unbelievable it feels like a cruel joke.

ATA Airlines review by W Vervaat

22 January 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

Las Vegas to Maui return. Pleasantly surprised by airline that I never heard of before (I'm from Europe). Excellent fare as well (about $400 return all-in). ATA has nice flight attendants who put some effort in their appearance as well (we were on US Airways for our flights Amsterdam - Las Vegas and were amused by the grannies and sad & bored looking flight attendants on those flights). Had some problems booking on their site, finally had to enter a US zipcode together with my Dutch address. It wouldn't accept my Dutch postcode, though it did accept the country etc. Plenty of pitch compared to European and Asian carriers, I suppose it's normal pitch for US carriers. Buy on board as is the standard in the US - offering was not appealing. Sugar rush, anyone? No healthy options. Got some excellent sandwiches from the airport.

ATA Airlines review by W Mackey

27 June 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

OAK to MID, red-eye. Coach seats are cramped, no leg room for six footers. Business class upgrades are $50 bucks, worth it for the extra space. No other amenities in Business Class (free snack pack). Service perfunctory. Note that all snacks/drinks/headsets that they charge for can only be paid for with a credit card - so they are not mucking around looking for change, which is smart and nice. Note that as of early June, both Oakland and Midway were commute disasters - intense traffic (Oakland is amazingly doing road construction in front of the terminal in the middle of the busiest travel summer in years - stunningly poor judgement). Both airports have strange ATA check in locations that are hard to find. Oakland's airport is also not air conditioned, making for a stuffy uncomfortable wait, and if you are taking a redeye, all restaurants and bars will have closed by the time you get there. But for OAK, definitely tack on an extra hour just to get to the terminal/parking.

ATA Airlines review by Howard Marks

5 June 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Roundtrip DCA-MDW on ATA. As usual, flights departed on time and arrived early. Arriving early at Midway was fortunate as I failed to allocate enough time to drive my car rental to a Skokie breakfast meeting because of morning rush hour gridlock. The all leather seats on ATA's brand new 737-800 jets are very comfortable. MDW is my favorite Chicago airport. It's compact, taxiing times are short, and it only takes 20-25 minutes to the Loop on the Chicago Transit Authority's Orange Line.

ATA Airlines review by Justin Flynn

5 February 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Boston-Chicago Midway-Boston: Check-in was smooth and hassle free. Flights on time. Brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft with excellent legroom. Inflight service perfectly acceptable.

ATA Airlines review by Carl Uniman

3 January 2007

OAK to ITO and hope I won't have to fly them again! We left OAK one hour late due to weather (not their fault) but there was NO pre-departure beverage service in business and we didn't receive beverage service in business until 45 mins after take-off and we had to ask for that. We were given "snack" boxes containing incredible amounts of junk food and then we were asked if we wanted to purchase anything additional, in business. We were also told in no uncertain terms that we were limited to TWO and only TWO alcoholic beverages, that may be a good thing since the wine they had was undrinkable. ATA'a business class is NOT business class, don't pay the extra $$ except for the seats and yes they even have leg rests (hard to find on domestic flights today). The FA's were adequate but not well trained, the lead had to do a 15-min mini-training session on the use of the credit card reader? In all, not a very positive experience.

ATA Airlines review by Lawrence J Pacheco

12 August 2005

I just flew in from a return trip to Honolulu and the cabin staff was excellent! The service onboard was incomparable to other flights I’ve taken from Los Angeles to the Islands, just outstanding for coach class. I felt as If I were a first class passenger, without the champagne that is. The leather seats with adjustable headrest were great very comfortable for the 5 hour flight. I had a clear view of the movie and the various other video programming. I fully recommend flying on ATA.

ATA Airlines review by Ron Kuhlmann

20 October 2004

SFO-MDW-MSP. Overall a pleasant experience. Kiosk check-in allowed selection of exit row seats and the onboard service was friendly and attentive. Flights were on time so little else to be desired. Would surely use them again.

ATA Airlines review by James O'Brien

12 October 2004

I just got back to Ireland from my holiday in the USA. I flew with ATA twice whilst in the US 1 Flght from San Francisco to Chicago Midway and from Midway to New York La Guardia. I found ATA to great. They are a low fares airline. But the European low lost airlines such as Ryanair, easyjet and Basiqair could learn allot from them. their service is far superior. All the flights had nice leather seats and free drinks. Very nice and happy flight crew. On my first flight I had the whole row to myself. Great airline will use them on my next business or holiday to the USA. I usually use United but from now I will use ATA where possible.

ATA Airlines review by Joe Emling

10 August 2004

IND to LAS round trip for the weekend. I generally don't fly low-fare airlines unless they offer a nonstop that the big boys don't or the fare is totally unbeatable. This was a case of the former; the only nonstops Indy to Vegas are ATA and Southwest. I absolutely will NOT fly Southwest when I can avoid it, because I can not stand the cattle-call fight-for-a-seat fiasco. And that's where ATA's advantage over Southwest begins. This time and the few other times I've flown ATA, the fares are generally competitive with Southwest's regular fares. ATA doesn't usually have the ridiculously low $29 one-ways, but usually matches other Southwest fares. For these low fares, you get a reserved seat, usually some inflight entertainment, snacks and soft drinks, and you don't have to take multiple flight segments to go longer distances. Don't think that ATA isn't a discount airline - it definitely is. The seats are narrow and the cabin is packed with vacationers and kids. But among the low-fare carriers, I would put ATA near the top of the list.

ATA Airlines review by  Paula Kenneth

9 August 2004

We paid for an extra seat round trip from Fort Myers to Minneapolis and back just so that we had some extra room on the way too small seats of ATA. An ATA representative by the name of Melissa in MSP airport rudely informed me that we would not be allowed to use the extra seat we had paid for because I "should have reserved it under my own name". I tried to explain to Melissa at ATA that the reservation system would not permit me to purchase two seats under the same name. The extra seat was reserved under my husband's name and my husband was there to verify identity. I asked Melissa with ATA what would happen to the extra seat I had paid for and she informed me that ATA was going to sell it to a stand by customer. Being a larger woman I explained why I had purchased the extra ticket and she stated that it was my problem. I asked if I was going to be refunded the extra seat to which she replied no. Melissa then added injury to insult by stating that she was "sending a report to the Fort Myers, Florida airport." Now, what in the world would the Fort Myers, FL airport want to know that I had paid for an extra seat and never got to use it??? AVOID ATA at all costs. Bad policies, bad employees, bad airplanes, bad all the way around. Thank you Melissa for your total lack of professionalism. I will stick with the big boy airlines from now on.

ATA Airlines review by  Bruce Stone

18 July 2004

Flying back from MSP to CLT via MDW on 7/14, the flight was 1 hour late leaving MSP making what would have been a 2-1/2 hour connection layover at MDW more bearable. However, MDW to CLT was delayed from 8:45 to 11:30pm. Later delayed until 12:30pm; finally arriving back in Charlotte at 3:00am versus the 11:30pm scheduled time. I hadn't flown ATA for about 8 months hoping things had improved from previous experiences with cancelled flights and even once a supposed maintenance problem on a one-stop from CLT thru MDW to DEN that was then boarded shortly after our deplaning at MDW for a destination in Florida. Amazing how the plane wasn't safe enough for us to fly to DEN, but could go to Florida. The flight we were rebooked on departed 3 hours later not only had space for all of us from the earlier flight but also for that flights' scheduled passengers. I would not recommend ATA for any business traveler. It appears they cancel flights when the passenger load is not enough and have little empathy for the business traveler.

ATA Airlines review by  W Chiu

28 April 2004

EWR to SFO on ATA. Prices are unbeatable for a direct flight between Newark and San Francisco. We've flown this route several times and we really can't complain about the service. It's one of the best. Some delays and cancelled flights, but it's to be expected for a discount carrier. However, in searching for my next flight out, I just found that they cancelled all direct flights between EWR and SFO. With the connection, ATA (no frills) is now more expensive than Jet Blue (satellite TV on every seat). Bottom line, it's a nice airline, but in some markets, they just can't compete.

ATA Airlines review by  K Chang

10 April 2004

I have flown ATA for a long time now, customer service is great. From the ticket counter employees at Honolulu International Airport, to the inflight staff, everything is great. The staff of ATA has done a good job in hiring friendly, attentive, professional people.

ATA Airlines review by  Paul Wright

30 March 2004

SFO-PHL. I picked ATA as they offered a fully refundable fare which was around half of what other airlines offered. My flight was due to leave at 6:30am, so I woke at 4am, drove to SFO, parked off-airport and got a shuttle bus to my terminal without incident. Even though the rail system BART now offers train service to SFO, the earliest train is not early enough. At check-in, I was informed that my flight was cancelled and I would be catching the 8:30am flight instead! 2 hours wasted in the airport, and I went to the posted gate... but it was the wrong one. The staff directed me to the "correct" gate, where I waited with everyone else for a while until they told us that the plane at that gate had mechanical problems, and sent us back to the original gate I had come from. Another interminable wait, and finally we took off, now (for me) around 3 hours late. Upon arrival at Chicago (my one stop) we were again delayed as there was no-one in the mobile ramp to steer it to dock with the plane. I finally debarked in Chicago, really, really late... my connection was not on the board. Waiting at customer service, I was ignored for 5 minutes (no-one was being served at the counter) and finally told my plane was just about leaving at the other end of the terminal. I sprinted down there and just made it. It was my original connection that I would have got if I had left at 6:30am!!! I guess delays are endemic in ATA's system. All in all, a very stressful journey. ATA - never again!

ATA Airlines review by  George Bosse

30 October  2003

I am surprised at all the positive feedback readers have submitted about ATA, as the two times I've used them left my jaw dropped at the miserable service. My first was from San Francisco to Maui on an old L1011. The flight there wasn't so bad except for the leaky air conditioning unit dripping water onto my head. But what do you expect with the L1011. The return flight was a living nightmare. A quick hop to Honolulu, a three hour layover and a five hour return trip packed between exhausted parents and unruly, unmanaged children and the constant smell of baby crap from the continuous flow of diaper changing all around me. The seats were cramped, the attendants on a 12 hour round-trip could care less about it all, horrendous lasagna all added up to a vow never to use them to Hawaii again. The next time I flew them, was an experiment. From Chicago I took a 757-300 with really nice leather seats. But, when I reserved my seat, they failed to tell me I was right in front of the lavatory, and could not recline. So, in addition to the 30 inch pitch, the constant flushing of the toilet which vibrated into my seat back, and the passenger in front of me reclined the 4 hours of the flight, AND the FACT that the flight attendant ignored my drink request, thus putting me in the embarrassing spot of having to ask her twice for a cup of mostly ice with some soda, the flight sucked. Once I deplaned I vowed to forever pay the extra 20 or 40 dollars for advance purchase seats with another airline (save southwest).

ATA Airlines review by  Mike Cromer

30 October  2003

It's hard to believe there aren't more opinions on this airline but I guess it's because no one really wants to complain. This airline is one of the few that still gives you what airline travel used to be. Definitely one of the most comfortable and enjoyable airlines left in the sky. Just wish they had more destinations available.

ATA Airlines review by  K Alyson

24 October  2003

I often fly ATA since it's a 'hometown" airline for me. Admittedly, that makes a difference in getting direct flights, but honestly, I always check other airlines & cheap fare sites, but 90% of the time I go with ATA. Why should I pay $300+ and make at least 2 layovers to get from IND to RSW, when ATA has a direct flight for little over $200? I've never*had bad service on an ATA flight, and the few delays were due to weather. Their cabin crews are always friendly and willing to help. The seats are a bit cramped, but hey, it's economy, and I've been on worse. (United & USAirways come to mind.) Add to that a terrific safety record, and, well, let's just say that every other airline I've flown could take a few pointers from ATA.

ATA Airlines review by  E Visenio

24 October  2003

SFO to HNL and back. What a pleasant surprise. The seats were great, the service was friendly and efficient and food was good. Flights were on time except for HNL departure which was somewhat delayed but we were able to make up for lost time in the air. There were complimentary drinks, complimentary earphones, hot towelettes, hot lunch/dinner, pre-arrival sherbet and mints on both flights. The only fly in the ointment was a broken earphone plug (one channel only) on the return flight.

ATA Airlines review by  Carolyn Brock

14 October  2003

DFW to LAS - flight on time, service good. This was a charter flight. Drink service and snack (sandwich) provided for 2 1/2 hr. flight. received more service than recent flight to London on AA. FA's all had great attitude.



 

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