Apr
10
2024
The Southwest Airlines check-in line didn’t just extend out the terminal, and down the road, it reached all the way down to the freeway.
Post-Eclipse Turmoil: Southwest Airlines Melts Down At Austin Airport
austin
Tag Archives for austin.
Beyond The Red Light District: Review Of KLM Business Class, Amsterdam – Austin
Feb
24
2024
After flying from Austin to Amsterdam for the last week of holiday break and spending six nights at the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam last month, it was time to head home.
Beyond the Red Light District: KLM Business Class From Austin To Amsterdam With Our 5 Year Old
Jan
28
2024
You may not think of the start of the year as the right time to travel to Europe, but I’ve always loved Paris in December and Amsterdam in January is nice as well. The weather may not be, but it’s cold in the States too! People are home from work and the streets aren’t busy. The place isn’t overrun with American teenagers!
And Amsterdam seems like an odd place to go with a five year old, but the city is a lot more than the red light district. There are great museums for kids, there’s great food, and it was something different. Plus there’s a non-stop flight from Austin, and there were three business class saver award seats on our preferred dates. The perfect trip!
Airport Ambush: Delta’s Stealthy Takeover of Austin’s Scarce Gates
Jan
26
2024
Delta decided they needed to plant their flag in Austin, realized they needed a place to send planes in order to do so, and as an afterthought told Midland, Texas they’d be coming – only just before announcing it to the public.
The Delta Passenger’s Comment That Triggered a Terror Alert
Jan
13
2024
On Tuesday a Delta Air Lines passenger was arrested in Austin “for allegedly making a terroristic threat.”
The man was onboard a flight headed for Atlanta. A flight attendant “asked him to move his briefcase,” and she reported to the captain that he said the briefcase might contain one of three things: “money, a bomb or a gun.”
Delta’s Big Move in Austin: Questionable New Flights as American Airlines Cedes Ground
Dec
15
2023
While American shed highly unprofitable flying, they had been using pretty much all available windows for swing gates, gates that could be used for flying by any carrier. And that blocked others from significant expansion.
With their recent moves opening up the field I speculated that could mean Delta making good on its promise to create a focus city in Austin. They’ve been willing to stick by unprofitable flying like Seattle, buoyed by strong performance of their interior hubs and their lucrative American Express deal, making a bet on long-term performance.
British Airways Is Its Own Worst Enemy: Flying Business Class, London – Austin
Dec
13
2023
The last segment of our trip was a flight home from London Heathrow to Austin on British Airways in business class. They use an Airbus A350 on the route, with no first class but with the airline’s Club Suites – essentially a bespoke version of the current American Airlines seat with doors added. It is a very good but not great seat.
This was the flight I already told one story off of: being refused water as a predeparture beverage, with the crewmember snapping that I already had a bottle at my seat.
Review: British Airways Business Class, Austin – London Heathrow
Nov
24
2023
British Airways business class is very serviceable. The new seat (which won’t be completely installed in their fleet until 2026, despite already being four years into the roll-out) is quite good. The bedding and amenity kits are good. Their main meals are ok, snacks chintzy, and breakfast worth skipping.
Cabin crew are friendly enough, though a bit overwhelmed in the Airbus A350 in particular.
How American Airlines Pilots Took Down The Austin Focus City
Nov
05
2023
The airline is required under its pilot deal to have 85% of its regional flying in and out of hubs (defined as the legacy American Airlines hubs, plus airports where they operate 100 or more flights). Austin isn’t a 100-plus flight city. American runs a peak of 78 flights (low 50s on Saturdays, 60s on Tuesday and Wednesday). They don’t have the gate space for more than that, and even if they did that would likely mean more losses. So Austin regional flying to non-hub cities falls under the pilot contract 15% of total regional flying cap.
American isn’t allowed to build an operation which doesn’t support mainline pilot union jobs, and given passenger demand and gate limitations in Austin that means they aren’t allowed to build an Austin focus city as they’ve been doing.
American Airlines Cuts 21 Routes From Austin… But Keeps Selling The Flights?
Nov
04
2023
American Airlines has loaded a schedule that pulls down about half the routes from its Austin focus city, as first reported by Adrian Waltz based on data available in Cirium’s Diio Mi. Eliminated in the schedule load were 21 out of American’s 46 destinations from Austin.
