By Bryan Menell June 12, 2009 2 Comments

The Austin American Statesman is reporting that American Airlines will cease it’s twice daily non-stops to San Jose on August 25th. It was commonly called the Nerd Bird because so many tech folks were always on that flight. I can’t name a time when I (a) didn’t see someone I knew or (b) couldn’t find an empty seat when we took off.

Now the choices for our local tech workers are Southwest through Vegas, AA through Dallas, or maybe a flight into SFO instead. Seems like kind of a bonehead move. If at total capacity the route isn’t profitable, then raise the price and I would venture to guess that the flight will still be full.

About

Bryan is the Managing Editor for AustinStartup and the Director of the Collaboratory at Dachis Group. He is a co-founder of Capital Factory, on the board of Texchange, and runs the popular Austin Tech Happy Hour with his wife. He advises early stage technology companies including Socialware, SpeedMenu, and AudiencePoint.

Comments:
  1. I don’t get it. That plane is always full. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities for jobs. Why would they divest? I’m sure AA has some advanced models for revenue maximization, but I’d love to see that math because I thought full planes was a good thing.

    In the meantime, Jet Blue, please get some evening flights from SFO to Austin. Opportunity to grab some market share. I love my AA miles, but not as much as I like direct flights!

    Process for the Enterprise » Blog Archive » Nerd Bird: the End of an Era

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