Viva Las Vegas
Virgin dumps nonstop Austin service from Love Field to make room for new route
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.
