Austin, TX check-in and boarding on Thursday, 11 Apr 2024

[vgivanovic]

Twelve million, three hundred and forty-five thousand, six hundred and seventy-eight passengers (more but likely less 😉 flew out of Austin yesterday. They had been there for the eclipse. What could have been a GIANT CLUSTERF*CK, and I mean a truly GIANT one, was instead a well-corralled, reasonably fast moving operation.

Kudos to Southwest!

Give all those who worked out yesterday a bonus, a meaningful bonus!

I don't know how many passengers Southwest handled yesterday, but in front of the check-in counters there were 5 possibly 6 lines of people: two TSA lines, at least 2 check-in lines, and one double width line just for people wanting to go past the Southwest counters. It was wall-to-wall people, all with luggage, of course. The Southwest check-in lines stretched twice as long as the width of the Southwest check-in counters, over into the next building. And, next to the terminal doors, all the lines had to break periodically to allow people to get into or out of the terminal. There were probably 30 people with flags answering questions, starting and stopping lines, pointing people to the right lane, etc. And they all knew what they were doing, knew what the other employees were doing, and were pleasant beyond reason.

Kudos to Southwest!

There were so many flights that Southwest had to hold planes on the tarmac until a gate became available. I suspect that American, Alaska and Delta had as many extra planes as did Southwest. You know how planes stop at the end of the runway before taking off? Well, not yesterday. They blew around that last corner, one set of wheels off the runway and applied full power even before the turn was complete! OK, OK, I exaggerate 😉 The taxiing, the takeoff, the flight, and the landing were exactly as I like them to be: boring.

Kudos to Southwest!

P.S. When I suggested that Southwest give a bonus to the employees who worked yesterday, I meant it. Had things gone south (southwest?) I would probably not have flown Southwest until the memory of that disaster had faded. Years, probably.

[bec102896]

Yesterday was the 3rd busiest day in AUS history just behind formula 1 and a music festival. With one security check point closed for the expansion it creates a massive backup by Southwest I agree that they handled the crowds well and when I’m there tomorrow I’ll be sure to share the kudos with some of the employees I know there (after all AUS is my home airport and my 2nd home) 

if you get a chance I would share the kudos to Southwest directly by clicking on the contact us link at the bottom of this page. 

if you experienced any delays in check in or security I apologize as that’s not the normal but it was as you saw a very busy day and thanks for your patience 

[whitesoxfan]

In comparison to those comments regarding "Austin, TX check-in and boarding on Thursday, 11 April, 2024" I'd like to relay my comments regarding "Austin, TX check-in and boarding on WEDNESDAY, 10 APRIL, 2024." My wife and I were amongst the crowd of twelve million, three hundred and forty-five thousand, six hundred and seventy-eight plus two passengers (seemingly more and not likely less) that attempted to fly out of Austin on that day. Based on the apparel and souvenirs that many carried, it was obvious that many had been in the area for the eclipse as well as other reasons to travel. Without any prior warnings, we arrived at the airport just after 2:00 pm expecting that we had arrived early enough to check our bags and pass through TSA to make our 5:05 flight to Chicago-MDW. It became  apparent to us that this might be the possible "GIANT" situation described by "vgivanovic" as soon as we were told to join the end of the line of Southwest passengers wanting to check bags. That line stretched outside the terminal from one end to well past the other end of the building. After moving along  in this triple-wide line at a snail's pace for well over an hour, a few airport employees appeared offering water and snacks but very little information to share with us. It was just past 4:30 pm when we  finally entered the terminal and saw that there was another "herd" of passengers in multiple lines snaking back and forth towards the opposite end where the Southwest ticket and baggage check-in counters are located. A Southwest employee came by at 5:10 asking those in line whether we had missed our flights while my wife was on her phone with Southwest Customer Service to get us re-booked on the 9;05 flight to Chicago-MDW  A few minutes later we had updated boarding passes but were told to continue staying in line. Eventually I told an airport employee walking by that we had been re-booked on a later flight and she directed us to move over to the mush shorter line at baggage check-in. After all that time standing in lines, the TSA line seemed to be a "welcome breeze" and finally were able to sit down for a quick meal around 6:30. I'm guessing that the Airport and Southwest employees learned how to better deal with the chaotic situation they had on Wednesday so that it wasn't repeated on the next day as reported by "vgivanovic". Passengers could have been told of the baggage problem and encouraged to arrive  three or more hours prior to their departure times; Airport and Southwest employees could have coordinated and communicated their efforts better and should have kept passengers informed with realistic waiting times.                          

[vgivanovic]

Arrgh, it seems that you had a worse experience than I did. I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm not sure that Southwest learned from the experiences on 10 April and applied them to 11 April. I suspect that there were many more people flying the previous day than the day I flew.

On the other hand, a person who seemed to know, commented that the 11th was the third busiest day at AUS. Perhaps he meant the 10th was the third busiest day.

[vgivanovic]

Actually, after re-reading Aviator A's post, he did mean the 10th was Southwest's third busiest day at AUS. I wonder where the 11th ranked.

[bec102896]

@vgivanovic @whitesoxfan 

here are a couple articles that discuss the wild numbers from AUS that week 

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-airport/aus-breaks-2-top-busiest-day-records-following...

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-airport/2024-aus-passenger-stats/?utm_campaign=socialf... 

[bec102896]

Also @whitesoxfan 

im sorry of your bad experience on Wednesday I know they were a mess then and from what I have seen and heard from some of my friends it was a disaster that’s not the normal but unfortunately with the extra people in town flying out it made for a headache and it did take some time for kinks to be worked out 

my guess is the line just kept growing from passengers missing flights and having to be rebooked and that takes time sometimes rebooking can be fast other times there’s a passenger who can’t decide what they want to do and hold up the line if you know what I mean. 

id recommend sending an email to southwest sharing your experience and maybe they will be able to offer you a voucher for the inconvenience especially since you had to take a later flight

my recommendation for Southwest as another customer like yourself would have been to issue a waiver for all AUS flights once they saw what mess they were getting themselves in to that way people could change flights on the app/website without a fare difference and no agent required (similar to what they do for weather) of course HQ usually deals with those waivers but the line would have still been there for checked bags and other things but maybe slightly shorter.