Viva Las Vegas

Virgin dumps nonstop Austin service from Love Field to make room for new route

Virgin starts nonstop service from Dallas Love Field to Las Vegas on December 1.

Courtesy of Virgin America

Virgin America is giving Dallas travelers a new nonstop option for another hot city: Las Vegas. Flights between Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) begin as of December 1, with tickets on sale October 15 for two daily round-trip flights between the two cities.

Unfortunately for Austin travelers, the Las Vegas route will replace the nonstop route between Dallas Love Field and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

To celebrate the introduction of the new route, the carrier is launching a special 2-for-1 offer on the new Dallas-to-Vegas flights, as well as fares from $49; tickets are available on the Virgin America website or by calling 877-FLY-VIRGIN — but that sale ends at 11:59 pm on October 15.

Virgin claims to bring some needed product and fare competition to this nonstop route, with fleetwide Wi-Fi, custom-designed leather seating, power outlets, personal touch-screen entertainment platforms, and new aircraft with three classes of service.

"Las Vegas is an iconic travel destination, and Dallas travelers deserve an option that gets them there in style, whether they are traveling for a fun weekend getaway or headed to one of the thousands of trade events or conventions that Las Vegas hosts each year," says Virgin America president and CEO David Cush in a release. "We are confident that our award-winning service and product will resonate on this route, especially since we will be the only carrier operating between Love Field and Las Vegas to offer three classes of premium service."

Service between DAL and AUS ends November 30. In a release, Virgin America senior vice president John Macleod said the route's performance "did not meet expectations" and that because the airline is limited to two gates, it had to "make tough decisions."

Guests who have already purchased tickets for travel between Love Field and Austin-Bergstrom on or after December 1 will be given the option of a full refund.

The Dallas-to-Vegas flight schedule will include a morning flight leaving DAL at 10:45, a night flight that leaves at 7:30, or 5:50 pm on Saturdays. The Vegas-to-Dallas schedule will include a daily flight that leaves LAS at 12:25 pm and gets into DAL at 5:05 pm. There's also a red-eye that leaves Vegas at 1:30 am and arrives in Dallas at 6:10 am, every day but Sunday.

Virgin America will be the only airline offering a red-eye from Las Vegas to Dallas. Las Vegas is currently the eighth largest market from Dallas Love Field in terms of guest traffic and the sixth largest destination from all Dallas airports combined.

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Shopping for a cause

Dallas nonprofit Bonton Farms spreads its wings with 2 DFW Airport stores

DFW Airport

Bonton Farms stand at DFW Airport

South Dallas nonprofit Bonton Farms is going international without straying too far from home. The organization is debuting two storefronts at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport: one that just opened and another coming this fall.

The larger Bonton Farms marketplace, a 2,895-square-foot space in Terminal A, quietly opened in mid-August.

A second, smaller 551-square-foot newsstand near the A-Pier will open in October, when the airport's A-Pier expansion is scheduled to open, a spokesperson says. (Exact date is still TBA.)

The shops are called, simply, "Bonton Farms" and are operated by Marshall Retail Group, a subsidiary of WHSmith North America, which is partnering with Bonton Farms on the airport concept.

According to a release, both stores will sell Bonton Farms products such as locally made honey, handmade jam, and goat-milk soap, along with apparel, merchandise, and products made by "Bontonpreneurs," the local entrepreneurs supported through the nonprofit's business-development programs.

Bonton Farms' goods are now sold at DFW Airport Terminal A. Photo courtesy of Bonton Farms

The stores will also offer fresh grab-and-go food, including sandwiches, wraps, salads and sweet treats, as well as travel essentials and souvenirs and gifts.

The airport project was first announced in 2024 as a partnership between Bonton Farms, WHSmith, and DFW Airport. The plan called for Bonton Farms products to be sold alongside goods from other North Texas businesses, including Fort Worth's Sons Coffee, Lettuce Cook, and Pearl Honey Spreads.

Bonton Farms began in the Bonton neighborhood with a small beekeeping operation and has grown into a nonprofit farm, market and community hub. Its operations now include two farm sites, a coffeehouse, farmers market, preservatory and farm-to-table Market/Café, along with programs focused on workforce development, education, health and wellness, economic opportunity and access to fresh food.

"This opening represents an exciting milestone for Bonton Farms and the community we serve," says Mark Jones, President & CEO of Bonton Farms, in the release. "For the first time, our products and our story will reach travelers from around the world. Through this partnership with WHSmith North America, we're creating new opportunities to share the mission of Bonton Farms while generating additional support for programs that help our neighbors thrive."

The airport shops are designed to introduce Bonton Farms to travelers who may not otherwise encounter the organization or its products.

"This store isn't just retail space, it's a front door to our mission," says Kendra Charisse Smith, Director of Operations at Bonton Farms, who oversaw execution of the partnership. "From sourcing and packaging our products to meet the demands of a whole new scale of distribution, every step was about making sure Bonton Farms shows up authentically in one of the busiest airports in the world. This launch reflects the same care and intentionality we put into everything we do in South Dallas.”

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