Winter Travel

Dallas cozies up as No. 4 best winter travel destination for warm-weather lovers

Everyone knows Dallas is a great destination any time of year.

TREC Dallas/Facebook

For Texans, winter in the Lone Star State brings a long-awaited respite from six months of unbearable heat. We're pretty content to finally leave the house without a double (or triple) layer of SPF. But for tourists, winter in Texas brings respite from the opposite problem: colder climates where locals actually experience things like rain and snow.

A recent WalletHub study shows Texas taking three of the top 10 "best winter vacation destinations for warm-weather lovers," with Dallas-Fort Worth landing at No. 4.

Austin came in just ahead, at No. 2.

Comparing around 70 of the largest U.S. metro areas, the study groups cities by warm and cold weather. Rather than a subjective survey of each locale's scenic beauty (in which Texas cities would also sweep the top 10, of course), WalletHub focused on the cost and convenience of traveling to each city, as well as the number of attractions and variety of activities in each destination.

As a result, the two lists rank "the cheapest U.S. destinations that are also the easiest to reach," according to the study's landing page. To compile the data, WalletHub measured 37 key metrics, including two weeks of flight data, safety indicators, and weather predictions.

In the warm weather category, Nevada's Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise metro area nabbed the No. 1 spot with an overall score of 67.18 and high marks in the number-of-attractions category (No. 2) and number of warm-weather activities (No. 1).

Austin came in a close second with an overall score of 64.76 and high marks for lowest travel costs and fewest hassles (No. 2), as well as best weather (No. 6) and number of warm-weather activities (No. 12).

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington earned top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 3) and best weather (No. 2).

In total, Texas took nine of the 37 spots in the warm weather category, with three cities in the top 5. Besides DFW and Austin, here's how other Texas metros fared on the list:

San Antonio-New Braunfels — No. 5. Top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 6) and lowest local costs (No. 3).
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land — No. 7. Top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 1) and number of attractions (No. 9).
Killeen-Temple — No. 21. Top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 6).
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission — No. 27. Top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 1).
Corpus Christi — No. 32. Top marks for lowest travel costs (No. 7).
Brownsville-Harlingen — No. 33.
Beaumont-Port Arthur — No. 35.

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