Tag Archives for austin.
Spirit’s first class was cheaper than extra-legroom coach on American, Delta, or United — and it was the only way for my whole family to sit together. The booking was a headache, but the flights themselves were surprisingly good, and the math made the decision easy.
Hyatt Regency Austin has completed its renovation, with modernized rooms, a redesigned lobby, an upgraded market, and a suite-upgrade approach that’s unusually generous for a Category 4 property. It’s still one of the best ways to use a Category 1–4 certificate, especially during peak Austin events like SXSW, where cash rates can top $750 while award nights run just 18,000 points.
Delta is preparing to launch Austin–Miami service as part of its massive expansion in Central Texas, a move insiders say is designed to “emotionally bruise” American Airlines.
Here’s what Delta is telling employees – they get 15 preferred use gates (not actually ‘exclusive use’ which is a term of art). They’ll stay on the current concourse with American (and British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa et al) while Southwest and United move to the new concourse.
Delta Air Lines is growing to 29 destinations out of Austin. Delta currently flies to 25 destinations from Austin. Along with their regional partners, they operate 22% of flights and offer 19% of seats out of the airport. They’re number two behind Southwest, which offers 39% of flights and 41% of seats. The two carriers are duking it out to be anchor tenant for the new airport lease and use agreement as a new concourse gets built. Delta says they see themselves growing to Southwest’s current size in Austin. But Southwest isn’t sitting still. They think they could grow by 50%. Austin Business Journal quotes Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan: (HT: Enilria) [O]ur intent is to continue to grow our share of the market here…People are flocking to Austin because of the business environment and…
As if to underscore just how little Delta cared actually cared about flying to Midland in the first place, they didn’t even tell the airport they were going to launch service until 48 hours before announcing it, let alone discussing any of the logistics like ticket counter space.
Delta Air Lines just announced three new destinations Austin – Denver, Columbus, and Kansas City – as well as increased frequencies to San Francisco and Indianapolis.
The worst United Airlines club lounge is in Austin. It is small, and it is overcrowded. There is just a single window. A legacy Continental Airlines Presidents Club, for a long time it just hasn’t been a priority. United is the number four airline in the city. But finally they have a plan to make things better, and it has to do with the game of musical lounge chairs that will go on at the airport starting next year.
I FOIA’d the airport for correspondence with airlines and potential other lounge operators to see what interest there is, matching the airport’s internal plans that I was first to reveal. Here is their responsive material.
Southwest Airlines just laid off 15% of its corporate staff, letting workers go for the first time in its history. But they’re not done with cost-cutting. They revealed inside the company today that they will be closing two flight attendant bases – in Austin and Fort Lauderdale. In January, the company cancelled employee rallies. Maybe these weren’t the best way to engage staff and drive the culture, but there’s not a new plan to replace them either. And the messaging was that this is part of cost-cutting in the important “fight to return to excellent financial performance” which they plan to do by “enhancing efficiencies, and capturing value throughout the Company.” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan Southwest isn’t done cutting personnel costs, though. In a memo to employees today, the airline announced that they will eliminate…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
