Travel Tips

Top tips for Dallas travelers going places on the Thanksgiving holiday

We've got tips for Dallas travelers in the air or on the ground.

Photo courtesy of DART

Thanksgiving 2017 is expected to see a record number of people traveling: According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), around 50.9 million people in the United States will travel 50 miles or more.

That represents a 3.3 percent increase from 2016, or 1.6 million people; it's the highest number of travelers since 2005.

The biggest spike occurs in air travel, with a 5 percent increase, or 3.95 million people traveling, between November 22-26.

Armed with information from Dallas Love Field, DART, and other transportation entities, we've compiled all the pertinent info. Read on:

Flying
You'll want to check with your airline for flight departure/arrival status prior to arriving at the airport. Arrive at least 90 minutes to two hours before your flight to allow time for parking, check-in, baggage check, security, and any unplanned events, especially during peak hours.

Airport parking
Love Field has three parking options:

Parking Garage A is closest to Southwest Airlines/Terminal 2: $17/day
Parking Garage B is closest to Continental and Delta Airlines: $13/day
Remote parking is at Love Connection, on the northeast corner of Mockingbird Lane and Harry Hines Boulevard: $6/day. A roundtrip shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes.

The Cell Phone Lot, a lot nearby where you could wait for arriving passengers, has closed. They've shifted that to Express Parking, located in Garage A, which has 60 designated spaces available for up to two hours while waiting for arriving passengers.

The first hour is free in Express Parking and throughout Garage A.

Love Field switched valet parking operations into the under-construction Parking Garage C. With this switch, valet now offers approximately 1,000 spaces, 400 more than before, and returns 600 spaces in Garage B for public parking.

Garage C is not open to the public and will only be utilized by the valet parking staff. Garage C will fully open to the public in late 2018 and bring an additional 5,000 parking spaces.

Parking reservations
Parking lots at DFW Airport often fill up, so you may want to reserve a parking spot via Park 'N Fly. You select your airport, then enter the date and time you expect to arrive. It offers you covered and uncovered options, and lets you pay ahead of time.

Getting a ride
Holiday travelers are encouraged to utilize alternate plans for getting to and from the airport; such as DART; ground transportation (taxis, shuttles, transportation network companies); or convincing a friend or family member to give you a ride.

At Love Field, drop-off and pick-up for passengers is on the upper level, marked Departures/Arrivals, on the upper roadway of Herb Kelleher Way. Dallas police will be onsite to monitor. Ticketing, security, and baggage claim are on the upper level. Ground transportation, including taxis, for-hire shuttles, transportation network companies, and rental car shuttles, is on the lower level.

Taking DART to Love Field
DART Rail's Green Line goes to Dallas Love Field. You get off at the Inwood/Love Field station and catch a Route 524 bus connecting to Love Field. It operates every day from approximately 5:30 am to 1 am. For schedule and fare information, visit www.dart.org/riding/lovefield.

Taking DART to DFW Airport
DART Rail's orange line goes to DFW Airport seven days a week, from 3:50 am to 1:19 am. The DFW Airport Station is located at DFW Airport's Terminal A, Lower Level Curb, Entry A-10.

DART holiday schedule
Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) will see schedule changes on November 23 and 24. Regular scheduled transit service resumes Saturday, November 25.

Thanksgiving Day: DART buses and light rail trains will operate on a Sunday schedule.
Friday, November 24: DART buses and light rail trains will operate on a Saturday schedule.

The TRE will not operate on Thanksgiving Day and will operate Saturday service on Friday. TRE details are at TrinityRailwayExpress.org.

With construction resuming on the Las Colinas Area's Personal Transit System, service will be temporarily provided by DART shuttle buses beginning November 20. The shuttle will not operate November 23 or 24.

Current bus detours remain in effect for routes 1, 29, 31, 36, 42, 211, 346, 347, 409, 486, 510, 535, 547, and 840.

DART Paratransit will operate on a holiday schedule Thanksgiving Day and the day after. The Paratransit Scheduling Center will be closed both days. Regular subscription trips are canceled Thursday and Friday. Customers may call on November 22 to schedule service for November 23-28. Call 214-515-7272.

DART's Customer Information Center will be closed Thanksgiving Day and open Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. The administrative offices, Customer Care Center, and Lost and Found will be closed both Thanksgiving Day and the day after.

A full list of route and schedule modifications can be found at DART.org or by calling 214-979-1111.

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Down Under News

American and Qantas step up winter flights from DFW to Australia

American Airlines

Awww look, the two planes are hanging out.

American Airlines and Qantas are enhancing service on flights from DFW to Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. Qantas will increase operations to daily services between Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) and Melbourne, Australia (MEL), starting December 3 through the end of January 2026.

Qantas will also operate all of its services between Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) and Sydney, Australia (SYD) on its A380 aircraft from January.

“American is proud to partner with Qantas to increase travel options for customers to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this winter,” says American’s Vice Chair and Chief Strategy Officer Steve Johnson in a statement.

It's the fourth consecutive year that American and Qantas formed a Joint Business partnership to expanding connectivity between the U.S. and Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. After launching service between DFW and MEL in 2022, daily service operated by Qantas in December and January between these two hubs will allow for one-stop connections from across the U.S. to Melbourne. Ohhh, one-stop but not nonstop.

They'll also bring back American Airlines flights from DFW to Brisbane, a popular winter flight that was introduced in 2024. Service will start on October 25.

American recently introduced its newly designed Boeing 787-9 aircraft featuring 51 Flagship Suite seats and 32 Premium Economy seats, available on all flights between DFW and BNE. Customers can purchase a Flagship Suite experience on this route now.

American and Qantas offer networks connecting North America with Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific from these key gateways: DFW, Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Vancouver, Canada (YVR), with connections to more than 200 other airports across North America.

The four major gateways in Australia and New Zealand are Auckland (AKL), Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL), and Sydney (SYD) with connections to nearly 70 destinations.

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