unbelievable, expensive AirTran incompetence
 

Despite arriving at LAX for my return flight a full 3 hrs prior to my flight on March 24, email in hand proving they had sold me the round trip ticket and despite the fact that they already had their money, we were told we were "not in the system," that the flight was overbooked and we couldn't fly but that they could fly us back two days later--no offers to cover hotel bills etc--or we would "just have to shop other airlines." Our return tickets with a different airline cost us three times what we had paid AirTran for them. When we talked later to AirTran Customer No-Service the woman actually insisted that they had been so very generous to refund the credit for our return flights! UNBELIEVEABLE!! I will NEVER, EVER fly AirTran again and am advising my friends and customers to also avoid AirTran.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. You need to file a complaint with the DOT (There is a link on this website). You were effectively bumped from this flight and are entitled to significantly higher compensation than they have offered. Either, we are not getting the full picture or you have been shafted. You need to put this to the DOT and ask them ot investigate.

Perhaps, in the future, you should try arriving at the gate with a boarding pass rather than the airport with an e-mail. I also think that you will not have too much trouble avoiding Air Tran in the future.