Travelers making last minute plans for the total solar eclipse have noticed a lack of flights to and from the San Antonio International Airport.
After the Airport saw and increase in passengers for Spring Break 2024 compared to the year before, people are bound to head into the area and take up more flights for the weekend. VisitSA chief marketing officer Andres Munoz said the city will double its occupancy the weekend of the eclipse compared to the same time last year.
So many people are trying to be close to the path of totality that the Austin Airport is gearing up for quote "record breaking numbers" the day before and after the event.
"The seats were completely sold out," Southwest flyer Anita Martin said.
Martin added that she wanted to fly her daughter out for the total solar eclipse but when they couldn't book her a flight home on April 9th to Washington D.C. she had to cancel her daughter's flight.
"She's not coming to San Antonio for this but we really tried."
Right now on the Southwest website flights from Baltimore to San Antonio on April fifth are almost completely booked. The same goes for the sixth.
Flights from LAX to San Antonio are booking up on the website as well.
American Airlines flights around the the same time are available but round trip tickets are in the thousands. Prices are driven up by the high demand with projections from UTSA of 720-thousand people looking for a spot close to the totality path in Texas alone.
San Antonio International Airport has not provided any more information on their preparations for the weekend at this time.
Statement from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on the total solar eclipse:
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) expects a record-breaking number of passengers the day of and after the solar eclipse, Monday, April 8 and Tuesday, April 9. According to sources, Texas is expected to have the highest number of visitors compared to other states in the path of totality. AUS will be impacted by the surge of travelers and is working with its partners to ensure operations across the airport are prepared. Here are some important tips and information for passengers:
- Passengers should arrive to the terminal at least 2.5 hours early for domestic flights and at least 3 hours for international flights.
- Unique to this event, AUS expects to have a record-breaking number of rental car returns due to the number of passengers who drove into Austin and opted to fly out following the eclipse. Considering this, AUS recommends passengers with rental car returns arrive even earlier to ensure they have plenty of time to navigate the rental car return lines, return their vehicle, and get to the terminal and their flight on time. Even if pressed for time, passengers cannot leave their vehicles unattended on the roadway and start walking to the terminal. Such actions inadvertently disrupt operations for all passengers.
- Passengers who are not returning a rental car should expect a busy roadway and lines to the terminal, so we recommend they arrive early as well.
- Passengers can use either the lower level Arrivals or upper level Departures for drop-off and pick-up.
- For passengers who aren't familiar with our airport – while it's a straight shot from the heart of Austin on a map, highway collisions, road closures, and traffic near the airport can cause delays to passengers coming to the airport. This is another reason we ask passengers to plan ahead and arrive early so that they don't miss their flight due to unexpected delays.
- Give yourself plenty of time to make it to the airport. Roadways across Austin and Central Texas are expected to be congested.
- All checkpoints lead to all gates.
AUS is excited to welcome passengers for this once-in-a-lifetime event, and are working with our partners to prepare for an increase in travelers and rental car returns, ensure there is adequate staffing, and be at the ready for impacts to operations due to this event. We ask that passengers be prepared when they get here for lines and a busy terminal.