[AnsgarWilke]

I had recently an unpleasant experience at the Airtran baggage drop off in Atlanta.
Having checked in electronically for flight 140 to Detroit I just wanted to drop off my bag at the Airtran counter. I was asked to wait in a queue of just 3 people, therefore not expecting any problems since it was 55 min before scheduled departure.
Strangely the baggage drop off was handled by the same 2 counters that also handled business class passengers.
Since suddenly several business class passengers arrived and they were handled with priority it took around 15 min to get to the counter.

When the clerk told me that they could not check in my bag since it would be 40 min before the flight I was more shocked than angry since I simply could not believe that I should suffer from their ineffectively organized baggage drop off.
So I complained to the Airtran supervisor that this would not be acceptable, but just got the reply that I would get my luggage via a later airtran flight to Detroit that day.
After arrival at the gate in Detroit I was surprised when I saw from the plane window that my bag was unloaded.
So my complaint about the inefficient baggage drop off seemed to have helped; still this kind of "service" leaves a bad taste

Remark:
The Airtran check-in in other cities seems to be better organized than in Atlanta; delays when checking in are more frequent in Atlanta than in other airports.

[countrynewsman]

Consider yourself lucky. My family and I flew AirTran from Dallas to Las Vegas four years ago and the luggage arrived soaked. It had been raining and there was no protection for the luggage when it sat out in the cart for a time before we received it.

[Jetliner]

On the first post - the ticket counter should be more organized than that. I thought they had a separate line for folks who checked in on line.

As for the second post about Las Vegas, just because the bags were wet, does not mean they were left out in the rain. The plane does not park in a garage, and the cart is open as it is being loaded, so with any airline in any city if it is raining, some bags will get wet. Sorry, but it's an unavoidable fact.

[Silent Bob]

actually, going back to the first post, the mistake you made was not giving yourself enough time to check the bag. You made the assumption that since you checked in from home, that so long as your there you can check in, but there is also cutoff time for bags as well as for people. You said you were in the line 55 minutes to your flight andit took 15 minutes just to get to the counter, leaving you 35 minutes to check the bag. True I would blame the counter in part because of how they handled the check in process, but there has to be self blame as well, because you did not give yourself adequate time to check the bag, so that it will make it for the flight on time.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by Silent Bob

actually, going back to the first post, the mistake you made was not giving yourself enough time to check the bag. You made the assumption that since you checked in from home, that so long as your there you can check in, but there is also cutoff time for bags as well as for people. You said you were in the line 55 minutes to your flight andit took 15 minutes just to get to the counter, leaving you 35 minutes to check the bag. True I would blame the counter in part because of how they handled the check in process, but there has to be self blame as well, because you did not give yourself adequate time to check the bag, so that it will make it for the flight on time.

Atlanta is one of a handful of airports that have a 45 minute cutoff for checked bags regardless of which airline you are flying. This is because of the size of the airport and the distance those bags have to travel and the screening because it is such a busy airport. All of the NYC area airports, SFO, LAX, LAS, DEN and a few others also have this 45 minute requirement. Here's a quote from CO's website regarding recommended check-in time @ATL:

Atlanta, GA (ATL) 2 hours
Note: The baggage acceptance cut off time at the Ticket Counter is 45 minutes before the scheduled departure of each flight.

and from AirTran's:

Ticket Counter Check-in Requirements

AirTran Airways recommends that passengers arrive at the airport 90 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their flight. Due to security requirements, passengers and their baggage will not be accepted at the ticket counter less than 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their flight (some smaller airports may accept baggage up to 30 minutes prior to departure time). See AirTran Airways' Contract of Carriage for specific airport check-in requirements.