Airport News

Spirit Airlines ramps back up nonstop flights out of DFW Airport

Spirit Airlines is aloft again.

Courtesy photo

With COVID-19 shutdowns starting to be lifted, Florida-based discount carrier Spirit Airlines is restarting the engines on 13 nonstop routes out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, including Atlanta, Chicago, and Cancun.

The airline had shut down flights due to the pandemic, although they were still doing flights out of DFW to Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Phoenix.

A spokesman says that the demand just was not there. "May was our low point across our network," the spokesman says. "All airlines needed to significantly shrink capacity by about 90 percent."

How about a chart showing the average scheduled Spirit flights per day at DFW from May-July 2020:

May: 2
June: 9
July: 24

The airline is starting to "stair step" flight resumptions in June and July. By the end of June, they'll be connecting DFW with 14 cities. By the end of July, that total will be 18 cities.

Flights added in June include:

Atlanta (ATL) – June 5
Baltimore-Washington (BWI) – June 7
Cleveland (CLE) – June 26
Cancun (CUN) -- June 25
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) – June 10
LaGuardia (LGA) – June 25
Chicago (ORD) - June 5
Philadelphia (PHL) – June 5
Tampa (TPA) – June 12

Flights resuming in July include:

Boston (BOS)
New Orleans (MSY)
San Diego (SAN)
Los Cabos (SJD)

While this is a restart, there's still a long way to go. These flights put the airline at approximately 25 percent of what their capacity was pre-COVID-19.

The airline requires face coverings for passengers and employees, and has a complete list of precautions on its website.

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Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

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