Like A Rolling Stone
I live in Atlanta, GA. SXSW is in Austin, TX. That means there’s a bit of transit involved to get me from Point A to Point B.
Transportation options include flying, driving, Amtrak, carpooling, private jet, hitchhiking, car rental, and a potentially a few others. I deducted the most time-efficient (while being money conscious of course) would be to fly. And the safest option. (It’s about a 14.5 hour drive!)
I flew a fair bit last year and racked up some AirTran credits which I decided I would like to use towards my SXSW trip. The great thing about AirTran in contrast to other commercial airlines frequent flyer programs is that they give you a flight credit for every segment you fly, regardless of the distance or price of that segment. My frequent and relatively short-distance trips to NYC last Summer and Fall earned me the 8 credits required for a free one-way coach fare.
The only hitch is that AirTran doesn’t fly to Austin, TX. The closest destination is San Antonio, TX — approximately one hour and twenty minutes away from Austin. After doing a little bit of poking around, I learned there are many shuttle options from San Antonio to Austin, a few as low as $20 each way! I purchased the plane ticket using my credits and with taxes and fees (and choosing my seat), the ticket ran me $8.50.
For my return flight, I used a promotional discount code I received by being on AirTran’s mailing list which earned me $25 off my flight and was able to purchase a ticket for $165 with taxes, fees and choosing my seat.
Travel Total:
$8.50 Flight from Atlanta to San Antonio
$20.00 Shuttle from San Antonio to Austin
$20.00 Shuttle from Austin to San Antonio
$165 Flight from San Antonio to Atlanta
TOTAL: $213.50
