Local Austin news station KXAN reported earlier today that United has added two nonstop flights from Austin to Birmingham’s Shuttlesworth International airport the weekend of the highly anticipated showdown between Texas and Alabama.
Curious to see what the pricing looked like, I headed over to Google Flights to see the schedule and options. Imagine my surprise to find that, along with United, American and Delta have added nonstop flights on this route as well!
Though it is a one off route for an event, as an aviation and college football fan it is great to see airlines adding these types of flights to help shuttle fans to games. This is especially true considering many colleges are located in smaller cities that don’t see a lot of direct service.
While convenient, these flights come at a pretty steep premium. The schedules and starting fares for these flights are as follows:
American ($911)
September 8th: AA 933 Departs: 3:55p Arrives: 5:46p Equip: Boeing 737-800
September 10th: AA 1116 Departs: 12:05p Arrives: 2:12p Equip: Boeing 737-800
Delta ($1,880)
September 8th: DL 5303 Departs: 1:45p Arrives: 3:46p Equip: CRJ-900
September 10th: DL 5303 Departs: 2:45p Arrives: 4:53p Equip: CRJ-900
United ($1,689)
September 8th: UA 369 Departs: 1:20p Arrives: 3:04p Equip: Boeing 737-700
September 8th: UA 581 Departs: 3:45p Arrives: 5:29p Equip: Boeing 737 MAX-8
September 10th: UA 369 Departs: 12:00p Arrives: 1:46p Equip: Boeing 737 MAX-9
September 10th: UA 581 Departs: 2:20p Arrives: 4:06p Equip: Boeing 737 MAX-8
United has operated multiple flights for college football games over the years and will operate 127 this year alone. It’s nice to see American and Delta joining in the fun.
Are you planning to travel to any college football games this year?
