The AirTran transaction would have been bad under the best of circumstances, as it was a complicated mess. It was all made worse by AirTran’s unreliable phone system, which tended to generate random hang ups after long holds, so that it took 6-10 trials of listening to long instruction messages and waiting on hold for each of the four rounds of phone calls. But what made it wholly intolerable was the loud techno-pop muzak blaring into my ear. AirTran prefers web transactions. Phone transactions are already punished with a $10 phone fee and a minimum of $20 more on the fare. Apparently they feel this is not enough and are further reinforcing web use with highly aversive phone experiences.
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Author: olderwoman
I'm a sociology professor but not only a sociology professor. I keep my name out of this blog because I don't want my name associated with it in a Google search. Although I never write anything in a public forum like a blog that I'd be ashamed to have associated with my name (and you shouldn't either), it is illegal for me to use my position as a public employee to advance my religious or political views, and the pseudonym helps to preserve the distinction between my public and private identities. The pseudonym also helps to protect the people I may write about in describing public or semi-public events I've been involved with. You can read about my academic work on my academic blog http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/racepoliticsjustice/ --Pam Oliver
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Sociological Confessions 
AirTran is the absolute worst. I just booked a flight with them (for my wedding!), picking the redeye as it is the most convenient way for me to go West to East. My flight was cancelled, as were all surrounding redeyes, meaning I have to get to the airport at 4am to catch my flight.
Their music is mind-bogglingly bad, made worse only by the loud crescendo that follows each (frequent) interruption to notify you that your call is important.
Oh no! I’ve only had wonderful experiences with them, although I’ve only talked to them on the phone once. B flies them from Midway to Charlotte when he visits his dad and we’ve never even had a delayed flight. Most have actually left early and the gate agents just redirected anyone who arrived at the gate after the planes are gone. It works especially well that they sell one-way flights in case B and his dad decide to drive one of the legs of the trip.