Gotta Get away

Major travel site crowns one Texas city among nation's best for a quick trip

Austin's got outdoor leisure down.

Photo courtesy of Hotwire

Vacations this year might not be far-flung, weeks-long affairs. Instead, we're looking for cheaper spots that are only a quick drive away, and planning much shorter stays to test our comfort with traveling.

Austin just happens to be one of those spots, at least according to Hotwire. The online travel site ranked ATX as No. 8 on its list of America's best cities in 2020 for a "quickie" — getaway, that is.

Hotwire analyzed more than 10,000 internal and external data points across 250 cities based on three factors: best bang for your buck (20 percent), ease of arrival (20 percent), and things to do (60 percent). It identified the top major, mid-size, small town, and "itty bitty" cities, with Austin being placed on the major list (600,000 residents or more).

Population is also a factor, with travelers preferring less crowded spots. Even though Austin has the biggest population in the major-city top 10, it still earned a composite score of 114.87, beating out No. 9 Denver and No. 10 Portland.

Though the top spot officially has a population somewhere in the middle, it is definitely known as a vacation destination where folks tend to spend 72 hours or less: Las Vegas.

Sin City has the highest leisure score to pair with a moderate value score, earning it a total of 281.03.

According to another recent survey by Hotwire, more than four in five (or 81 percent) of adults agree that after quarantine, they're looking to take quick, local trips. Nearly all Americans (90 percent) prefer short getaways of three nights or less versus a longer vacation, with millennials in particular fueling the dramatic rise of the quick getaway trend, according to the survey.

vacation rankings

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.

holidays