Tag Archives for austin.
Some of the routes Delta has been running have been ‘intra-Texas’ flights that seemingly make no sense, other than they are short flights using cheap outsourced planes. Cities include Harlingen, McAllen, and Midland, Texas. Harlingen and McAllen seemed like super-strange choices at first, since they’re just 45 minutes apart from each other by car.
Austin airport is currently tendering a request for proposal for a financial institution lounge project. Their goal is to open an American Express Centurion lounge, Chase Sapphire lounge, or Capital One lounge as part of the “West Infill” project that’s currently under construction.
American Airlines flight 2863 from Austin to Charlotte was delayed four and a half hours on Friday afternoon because a passenger named their wifi network “I have a bomb.”
Police boarded the aircraft and asked the passenger with that network name to identify themselves, but they did not. Passengers were all taken off the aircraft and held, cordoned-off in the gate area.
Several spots that did make the list are overrated. It seems like they’re stretching because once they agreed to rate Austin they needed to rate restaurants in Austin and while the city’s food scene is across-the-board above average there’s actually very little that’s great. Some of the spots that made the list wouldn’t have come close in other cities that the guide rates.
It seems worth noting that the plan that American Airlines announced for a new 15,000 square foot lounge near gate 14 three years ago is not happening.
They’re still getting a new lounge, despite pulling back significantly in Austin and eliminating around two-thirds of destinations served. But it won’t be as large, and it will be in a different space.
I covered all of the airport lounge moving pieces at the Austin airport like plans for all airlines to move to different spaces, and to add credit card and common use lounges, as new construction finishes.
However the most immediate change deserves to be pulled out separately.
The Austin airport has an upcoming presentation slated for this week on its lounge plans. They’re building four new lounge spaces, will relocate all of the airlines, and make room for credit card issuers and common use operators that join programs like Priority Pass.
British Airways flight 191 from London Heathrow to Austin departed two hours late on Monday when passengers got into a fight because one of them was wearing a MAGA hat.
Austin has had one of the fastest growing airports on the country, year-after-year for many years. American Airlines planted a flag, growing tremendously there, though Southwest Airlines remained the largest carrier in the market by a wide margin.
Now American has pulled back almost completely, retrenching to hub flights and limited Mexico leisure service.
It’s a 41-room 1930s-era motor lodge with neon sign that attracts locals to its pool with day passes. And, since Austin really isn’t centered around a downtown, it’s actually quite a good location for tourists. The property maintains the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ vibe of the early-2010s (from long before the Californians arrived during the pandemic).
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 »
