AirTran is Officially the Worst

Right now, I am writing this from a little nook I have carved out for myself in an airport in Orlando. So, this was supposed to be a nice little flight. I was supposed to leave Rochester at 2, arrive in Orlando at 4, catch a flight to Dallas at 6, then be in Dallas at 8ish. Well, Rochester went off without a glitch; but when I arrived in Orlando I realized that my flight to Dallas was delayed. The plane wasn't there, so I decided to watch an episode of Dexter. When I was done I saw that the plane had arrived. So, in preparation for a flight without any food I ran literally 100 yards to Burger King. I spent 10 minutes at Burger King (all I wanted was a large drink and fries). When I returned, the door to the plane was shut and the mildly retarded Cuban man working at the counter wouldn't let me on the plane. Now, I can understand the fact that once the door is closed, they aren't supposed to let anyone else on. I think its a security thing. But, the thing that pissed me off was the fact that they did not announce that they were boarding, or a last call for boarding over the intercom. AirTran KNEW that I was in the terminal. Its a connecting flight, they knew that I got on in Rochester, and that I got off in Orlando (that's what she said). I'm just very surprised that nobody though to page me at all. Also, how the hell did they board the plane in 10 minutes? Did they just call all zones? I'm also pretty sure that they shut the doors prematurely. Twenty minutes later, the plane was still at the gate. 

Well, looking past the fact that it doesn't look like AirTran knows how to operate an airline on a physical basis, lets see how their customer service does. I walked over to the AirTran customer service desk only to find four Puerto Rican gentlemen at the desk already. They were having trouble getting on a flight to Puerto Rico (all that I could get from my broken Spanish). One of the attendants was dealing with them, while another attendant was just sitting in the chair next to her. About five minutes later the man finally calls me over. I explained my situation and asked what the next steps were. He told me that the only way that I was going to get to Dallas was by transferring to Georgia and then going to Dallas. So, I tell him to do whatever he has to do. He then informs me that the next flight that he can get me out to is at six in the morning. Also, he tells me that he can only put me on standby, and that if I want to be guaranteed a seat on the plane, I need to fork over an additional seventy-five dollars. What the hell? I payed to get from point A to point B, I shouldn't have to pay an extra cent to be sure that I get to point B. I've basically given up at this point and just tell him to print the standby tickets. I then ask him where the airline is going to put me up. This is where I got angry. He informed me that because I missed the flight, the airline is not going to pay for me to stay anywhere. Now, I could understand that logic if the plane was on time, and I was late to the plane; but when your plane is delayed indefinitely and you rush boarding and don't even page someone who you KNOW IS IN THE TERMINAL, it stops being that persons fault. So, broken and battered, I wander back to the terminal.

Now, for the sprinkles on the top. I started scouting out a good place to pitch up camp for the evening. I look around and soon learn that there are no benches or places to sit without arm wrests. So, basically, sprawling out across seats is no longer an option. There are no power plugs ANYWHERE near the walls, so I end up having to camp out between seats that are back to back. I piled up all my bags against a pillar and kicked out all the old McDonalds wrappers from under the seats. So, here I sit, hopefully able to get to Texas tomorrow. 

AirTran is the worst, they don't care about their customers at all. I'm filing a complaint with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) in the morning. This simple journey has become a disaster.