Better places to go

Dallas flops on new list of best U.S. summer travel destinations

Travelers will be avoiding Dallas this summer.

Maybe a staycation isn't in the future for Dallas locals this summer — at least according to a new report by Forbes Advisor.

The report listed the best and worst cities for summer travel and Dallas did not fare well, coming in as the No. 13 worst summer travel destination in the nation.

The study, published June 1, compared 43 of the most populous U.S. cities across 16 metrics in three major categories: City experience, air travel experience, and driving experience.

Dallas earned an overall score of 57.20 out of a total 100 possible points. At least it beat Jacksonville, Florida which earned a perfect (and dreadful) score of 100 points to solidify itself as the No. 1 worst vacation destination for summer travel.

This is how Forbes breaks down Dallas' ranking across the three key dimensions:

37.98 – City experience score
50.06 – Air travel experience score
70.03 – Driving experience score

Major factors that brought down Dallas' scores include the city's extreme weather (AKA, the unforgiving Texas heat) combined with a higher-than-normal number of damage claims at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport, according to the report.

"Dallas’ two major airports have the sixth highest number of property loss and damage claims during the summer (1.3 per 100,000 domestic passengers)," the report said. "The city also has the seventh highest number of extreme temperature days in the summer (76 on average)."

Those were enough to sink Dallas as a destination for Americans planning to take a vacation trip.

Go Houston
While Dallas was ranked among the worst summer travel destinations, Houston climbed up to No. 10 on Forbes' ranking of the best summer travel destinations in the country.

"Visitors to Houston enjoy the lowest median hotel price during the summer ($122.33 per night) and the city’s two major airports reimburse the second highest percentage of summer property loss and damage claims in full (52.4 percent on average)," the report said.

San Antonio (No. 20) and Austin (No. 24) also fared better than Dallas in the overall rankings, showing that Central Texas is a far better place to be during the summer when it comes to statewide vacations.

Texas travelers may want to consider going out of state to places like Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was ranked the No. 1 best summer travel destination in the U.S.

The top 10 best U.S. summer travel destinations are:

No. 1 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 2 – Long Beach, California
No. 3 – Washington, D.C.
No. 4 – Seattle, Washington
No. 5 – Omaha, Nebraska
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – San Francisco, California
No. 8 – Columbus, Ohio
No. 9 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 10 – Houston, Texas

Forbes Advisor determined each city's ranking based on travel experience data from Expedia, Tripadvisor, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, AAA, The U.S. Census Bureau, and more. Metrics included a city's crime rate; median hotel prices during the summer season; the percentage of delayed, canceled, or diverted flights during the summer; among others.

The full report can be found on forbes.com.

dallas houston austin san antonio reports forbes travel summer summer vacation

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.

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