Over the last few weeks, I have been engaged on a ‘flyover state’ tour spending each weekend in a different ‘flyover state’. Theseareas do not always make the cover page of the travel publications but I find my visits no less memorable.
The beauty of the small ‘flyover state’ airports are found in the nonexistent security lines, free wifi and overall relaxed and friendlier feel of the flying experience compared to the busier US airports I tend to frequent.
Where else can you find your very own table surrounded by windows on a Friday afternoon?
Welcome to my office. Please come in.
Think this is in a lounge or reserved area? Nope, this is just sitting vacant smack dab in the middle of the terminal at the Columbus Airport for anyone to enjoy.
I plan to do separate write-ups on each of my stops along the tour including Denver for the Great American Beer Fest, Minneapolis for a dinner at one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorites, Columbus for an Ohio State Buckeye football game, and Austin for a Formula One Race.
As a frequent business traveler who selects Southwest as my airline of choice, flying domestically to nearly any city on the growing Southwest map is a breeze. The earning and burning points structure on Southwest is such that those who devote their frequent business travel to the airline have a greater chance of running out of cities they want to visit than exhausting their reward account.
Do you have a favorite ‘flyover state’ airport?
About alex
Alex loves to travel and does so a lot. Logging 100,000 flight miles each year over the past 4 years, Alex uses points and miles to power his passion. Alex is continuously striving to experience the far reaches of the globe. In his day job, Alex is a Management Consultant frequently on the road advising Technology organizations. I love thinking about, reading about, and talking about all things travel. Feel free to reach me at pmmalex@gmail.com
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I am not sure if Binghamton airport is a “flyover state” airport or not, but I enjoy flying from a small plane. Then, walk down the stair from the plane and walk from the plane to the airport. Just feel “disconnect” … Thanks
My favorite part of flying into smaller airports is the ability to walk to the rental car instead of taking a shuttle. My latest flight was to Harlingen, TX for a weekend at the beach on South Padre Island.
Denver and Austin aren’t flyover states (cities), IMHO.
So what did you do for accommodations in Austin? Most of the chains here had set aside all the rooms at 5x the market price. Only this week have they started releasing them at normal prices again, as they didn’t get as many reservations as they hoped.
Columbus is my favorite. I especially love those corner offices you were talking about!
You haven’t truly flown into a “flyover state” airport until you land at one of our fantastic regional airports.
JLN was my local airport for years, and is still my favorite regional. Free parking, super friendly and convenient security, wide-open spaces inside the airport, and convenient baggage claim.
http://www.joplinmo.org/index.aspx?NID=149
Since you are a big Southwest guy, you should try ISP. The hub that almost was.
@Joel – I use the term loosely to mean a city not on the coasts. Denver and Austin are two of my favorite cities in the US.
@eltex – Fortunately I have a couple friends that live in the area. I did receive an email offering a standard room at the W Austin for a comically high 1300 USD per night with a 5 night requirement!
@Jenn – I was very productive in my very own corner office.
@Caleb – JLN looks like a place I would like. I love the “No emergency at this time” icon on the homepage.
@henrythefourth – One of my frequent flights to the east coast continues on to Islip. For the longest time I thought the flight attendants were trying to be funny and saying this flight was continuing on to Iceland.
Check out CID. 😀
Don’t miss the airplane viewing deck at the Minneapolis airport.