Once we found out we were relocating to Austin, we needed to go down and find a house. This is the first, of what would turn out to be many, trips to house hunt and we had many options to get between Dallas and Austin. Ultimately, we decided that JSX was our best bet as the times were right, business class fares were reasonable, and I wanted to try out the “semi-private” flying experience.
Booking
Once we nailed down our travel dates for this trip, I hopped on Google Flights and found multiple daily, almost hourly frequencies on Southwest and American. The outlier amongst these were two daily on JSX which departed from Dallas-Love Field, near our house. The timing was right so we booked our tickets with cash directly with the airline. Tickets started at $139 each way, which was only slightly more than the economy fares on American and Southwest.
Check-In
The check-in process started the day before departure when I received an email from JSX informing us of a slight change to our reservation along with some information on our flight. Fortunately the message had nothing to do with the flight itself but rather a change in the FBO from Signature Flight Support to a new private lounge solely for JSX flights. In addition to our flight information it also provided us with information on parking and rideshare options. There is no self parking available but valet is available for either $35 or $40 per day depending on what part of the email you read.
Around 3:10p we ordered an Uber for the short 10 minute drive over to the JSX hangar. Though they advertise being able to show up 20 minutes before departure, I wanted to leave a little buffer as it was our first time flying with them in case of any hiccups along the way. Our Uber dropped us off right in front of the building and after a 2 minute check-in process where our bags were tagged and BP’s printed we had roughly 20 minutes in their brand new Flagship facility.
The lounge/check in area was extremely spacious but there wasn’t much in the way of food and beverage. They had some small bottles of water as well two Keurig coffee machines but that was the extent of our choices. I’m not sure if this is a result of Covid or if they want to incentivize people from showing up until just prior to departure. There were only a couple of other pax in the lounge as the 3:30p flight to Houston-Hobby had just finished boarding prior to our arrival.
Boarding
Starting around 3:30p there was a steady stream of pax checking in right up until the 3:40p cutoff. I sipped on a coffee and frantically refreshed Zillow until boarding was called. Security consisted of walking through a set of metal detectors before reaching the podium. Our boarding passes were scanned and we walked out onto the tarmac and made a quick left turn where our Embraer 145LR was waiting to take us to Austin.
JSX
XE 222
DAL-AUS (Dallas Love Field – Austin-Bergstrom International)
Seat: 3A (Business)
EMB-145LR (N242JX)
Scheduled: 4:00p-5:00p
Actual: 4:07p-4:44p
With no carry-on luggage, boarding was a breeze and we settled into 3A and 3C for our very short flight. The flight attendant working our flight as well as the Captain and FO welcomed the passengers aboard at the top of the stairs.
Seat
The intra-Texas JSX planes are in a 1-1 configuration with a table adjacent to the seat on the right side of the aircraft. The seats with the table have an additional upcharge so one can assume the table isn’t for both pax in the row but my fiancé was kind enough to let me use it. Though the seats are standard width, there is extra legroom between rows and with only 12/30 on the flight today, everyone had room to spread out.
In-Flight
After a manual safety demonstration, we navigated out of the alley and taxied out to the runway. During our taxi the FA distributed menus and took our drink orders. We took off to the northwest, overflying DFW before turning towards the south. As soon as we ascended through 10,000ft, our FA began the beverage service. I had a vodka soda with lime (didn’t expect a powdered lime packet) while my fiancé had sparkling wine.
After the beverage service she came through with a snack basket consisting of brownie brittle, green pea snack crisps and cheese straws and encouraged us to take as much as we wanted. Having not eaten any lunch, I went for the cheese straws and green pea snack crisps. The flight went by quickly, but with no Wi-Fi on board I passed the time writing this trip report and staring out the window. Though fine for a short hop, you may want to download some things in advance if you find yourself on JSX for some of their longer flights.
Arrival
We soon began our descent into Austin and, after passing the airport and Circuit of the Americas, we landed from the south where we had a quick taxi over to Signature Flight Support. They parked us right in front of the doors and before letting us off they lined up all of the checked luggage next to the aircraft for retrieval when we got off.
Though I didn’t know it at the time, Enterprise has a location at Signature which I should have used to rent our car. Instead, we had to call an Uber and head over to the main terminal to pick up our car from Hertz.
Summary
If the price is right, you can’t beat JSX on the Dallas to Austin route. Spacious seating, operating from close-in Dallas-Love Field, and only needing to show up 20 minutes before your flight makes this one a winner. As an added bonus, they have partnered with both JetBlue and United in the event you need to book through a corporate travel portal though you can’t redeem miles with the airline. Here’s hoping we see them expand more in Austin as they have done in Dallas.
