Alexandre Polozoff - Austin, TX Airport
The Robert Mueller - Austin, TX airport (AUS) is small considering the size of the population it serves. There have been several alternative sites for the airport in the past few years but none seem to be materializing into reality. The last plan I heard about was to use the now empty Bergstrom Air Force base. But there is some problem with toxic chemicals being buried at the site.
With the small size of the airport parking has become next to impossible at the short and long term parking lots next to the terminal. Odds are you will need additional time for parking.
The rental car agencies at the airport are also understaffed for the volume of business coming through. If you are returning a rental car give it at least 30 minutes.
Loading and unloading at the terminal doors is a nightmare in itself. Be careful that you do not leave you car unattended. The police are in force and will ticket you. There is curbside check-in of luggage. Traffic entering the airport is at times a time consuming experience itself. The worse traffic I have seen has been on a Friday afternoon from 16h00 onward. The log jam at this time takes about 15-25 minutes to make it from the entrance to the airport to the terminal. Needless to say the roads feeding into the airport are also backed up.
Smoking is not permitted anywhere inside the terminal.
Southwest is in a seperate terminal from the rest of the airlines.
The security desk for the main terminal has only two belts and walkthrough detectors. It is not uncommon to be held up in a line to get through.
The airline desks have only about 3-5 ticket personnel per airline. This can lead to some unusually long lines at the desk. Checking in at the gate is an alternative but not much better since the lines there can be long too. In addition, with the new FAA rules requiring identification and questioning of passengers the check-in process has become longer.
As of April 1996 I find that it takes about 30-45 minutes from the time I get to the airport driveway entrance to have everything accomplished. That includes driving and returning the rental car, checking in luggage, getting the boarding pass and getting to the gate.
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Copyright @ 1996-1999 Alexandre Polozoff. Last Update May 22, 1999