Just when you thought I was done with recaps for the year, I had one more up my sleeve with the 2024 Year in Review for the site. While I’ve already covered my personal travels for the year, I wanted to go month by month through my top posts of 2024 as well as some honorable mentions for the important, but not quite as popular, posts.
2024 Year in Review
January: United Airlines Boeing 737-900 First Class (AUS-IAD)
We started 2024 with a write-up of my United Airlines Boeing 737-900 First Class flight between Austin (AUS) and Washington’s Dulles International Airport (IAD). This flight happened in December 2023 as I took a last minute trip to requalify for my United MileagePlus status. While the flight has some pros and cons, I’ll remember it mostly for the “crap frittata” that I was served onboard.
February: Delta Sky Club New York-JFK Terminal 4, Concourse A
February was my busiest travel month by far as Mrs. ATX and I took a babymoon trip to Europe to see the northern lights. FIrst, we had to get to Europe which meant a layover at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Delta opened one of its newest Sky Clubs in Concourse A of the massive Terminal 4 and the space is worthy of a flagship lounge at a major hub. It’s been a few years since I’ve visited the club in Concourse B but, this would be my preferred lounge when flying Delta out of JFK, assuming your gate is nearby.
March: SWISS A330 Business Class (JFK-ZRH)
Our first long haul flight of 2024 was on SWISS between New York-JFK and Zurich (ZRH). Overall, our flight wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. The crew was friendly but the service flow took a long time and the hard product is uncompetitive since each Business Class seat doesn’t have direct aisle access,
The flight time was also pretty brutal when it comes to sleep, especially with the lengthy dinner service. While there wasn’t anything terrible about the flight, there are better ways to cross the Atlantic and you won’t see me onboard SWISS anytime soon, at least not until the cabins are retrofitted.
April: ATX Jetsetter Joins BoardingArea
In what was possibly the most important event for the ATX Jetsetter brand, we joined the BoardingArea family of blogs in April 2024. BoardingArea is the home to some of the top travel blogs in the world and I’m honored to be included among that group.
May: American Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class (AUS-SJD)
Just before the arrival of ATX Jr., Mrs. ATX and I took a quick trip with friends down to Los Cabos for a long weekend getaway. Though it has recently cut back flying from Austin, at the time of our trip American Airlines was flying direct between the two cities.
We had a very well intentioned crew and great ground staff in Austin but the overall service flow was slightly off. A bus gate in Cabo detracted from the experience a bit but that should be resolved once the new terminal is fully opened. Overall, it was a great flight.
June: Delta Quietly Returns the CRJ-200 to Service
In June, Delta shocked the world by returning the universally hated CRJ-200 to service. While not operated directly by the Atlanta based carrier, it was still an unwelcome surprise for many frequent flyers. According to SkyWest, the rebirth of the CRJ-200 was due to capacity constraints that came about from getting the CRJ-550 into service.
July: Delta Goes Into Meltdown Mode After Crowdstrike Outage
In mid July, a Crowdstrike IT outage brought airlines, airports, and hotels to a standstill. While many organizations were able to quickly recover from the outage, Delta went into a full blown meltdown.
The outage cascaded into a slew of problems for the airline which stranded passengers for roughly a week before it was able to get on the road to recovery. This occurred as Delta CEO Ed Bastian jetted off to Paris for the Olympic opening ceremony.
August: American Airlines Airbus A321 First Class (DFW-CLT)
After spending a few months grounded after the birth of ATX Jr., Mrs. ATX granted me a one day hall pass to head out and do some flying. I recruited a college buddy of mine to fly six segments in a single day to try and requalify for British Airways Executive Club Gold status.
One of these segments was aboard an American Airlines Airbus A321 aircraft, which is one of the workhorses of the American fleet. I’m not sure why the Google algorithm picked up this flight, and my connecting flight to Nashville, but they were some of my most popular posts of the year.
September: American Airlines Announces Five New Routes to Europe
American Airlines is making major additions to its international flying with the launch of five new routes, additional frequencies, and upgraded service on eight more. These new routes marked a shift for the carrier as they have historically been ceeding international flying to partners in recent years to focus on its domestic network. American seems to still be searching for a corporate identity but it is nice to see them refocus on their global route network.
October: Delta Announces its Largest Ever Atlanta Schedule for Summer 2025
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) has long been the busiest airport in the world. It is also the largest hub for Delta Air Lines and the carrier has big plans to expand its presence there.
The carrier plans to operate its largest ever flight schedule from its home airport and largest hub during Summer 2025. The expansion helps Delta solidify its position as the dominant player in the Atlanta market as other carriers like Southwest pull back due to the competition.
November: Allegiant Air Announces a Massive, 44 Route Expansion
Ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Allegiant Air announced the largest route expansion in company history in November, adding 44 new routes and three new destinations to its route map. The airline continues to add service to underserved airports and remains committed to point to point flying.
December: A Dark Week for Aviation Closes Out 2024 With Three Fatal Incidents
While commercial aviation is extremely safe, we’ve ended the year with a brutal streak of fatal incidents. Over the last week we’ve seen the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan, the crash of a Jeju Air Boeing 737 in South Korea, and the death of a SWISS flight attendant due to injuries sustained from an emergency landing in Austria.
2024 Year in Review Honorable Mention
Trouble in Tulum: Airlines Continue Cutting Back Service
After opening to much fanfare and many routes to the United States, airlines continue to cut service to Tulum’s Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport (TQO). Given the airport’s location far outside of Tulum this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially considering how much capacity was initially placed in the market.
Having the massive Cancun International Airport located an hour further up the road will always make it difficult to fill seats to TQO, especially given the lack of ULCC competition from the U.S. that helps bring fares down.
Silver Airways Declares Bankruptcy
Florida based turboprop operator Silver Airways filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on December 30, 2024. In an open letter to customers, the airline stated that it expects to have the bankruptcy process completed in the first quarter of 2025. While this seems fast, the most important information is that the carrier is expected to continue operations as normal.
Southwest Unveils a Major Transformation Plan With Assigned Seating and Extra Legroom Options
Southwest Airlines is finally entering the 21st century. In an effort to become more competitive, the airline is introducing assigned seating along with extra legroom seating and priority boarding as part of its transformation plan. The new seating options and assignments will go on sale in the second half of 2025 for flights from 2026 and beyond.
Summary
2024 was quite the year for ATX Jetsetter and I appreciate you all checking out the year in review. I’m looking forward to what’s to come with the site and my travels for 2025 and I hope you’ll all come along for the ride!
