Growing up next to Tyler’s Pounds Field airport, I used to walk half a mile into the terminal because the restaurant served good hamburgers. The old terminal was always quiet and run down, with a small smattering of tired travelers stretched out on the worn seats, waiting for one of the four or so flights out to DFW that day. It was a small town airport, and it knew it.
Today, almost twenty years later, the restaurant is gone, the name has changed, the terminal has moved a new and beautiful facility, but the airport is just as quiet as it was before. It is still a small town airport, but it doesn’t know it anymore.
Tyler Pounds Regional Airport flies to 2 locations: Dallas and Houston. American Eagle (part of American Airlines) carries passengers in and out of Dalls Fort Worth International Airport just 4 times every day, and Colgan Air (A Subsidiary of Continental Airlines) makes 6 trips to Houston’s George Bush International Airport on weekdays, plus 3 trips on Saturdays and 5 on Sundays. That’s a maximum of just 10 flights in and 10 flights out every day.
Last year, Tyler Pounds Regional serviced 139,000 travelers. That’s an average of just 380 customers flying in and out every day. When you consider the size and quality of the terminal, you wonder why the numbers are so low. Certainly, it has the potential to handle at least three times that much business.
As embarrassing as it might be for Tyler’s city managers, the airport still has its merits. The terminal houses 3 rental care companies under its roof (Avis, Hertz, and National Care Rental), and offers very attractive prices for its flights.
For example, I just ran an Orbitz search for a round-trip flight from Tyler Texas to San Francisco (via DFW). The cost around $324. If you eliminate the Tyler flight and go straight out of Dallas, the costs drops to $260. Similarly, you’ll pay $363 round-trip from Tyler to Chicago, and just $299 from DFW to Chicago.
In both cases, the Tyler flight is around $65 more. But that would mean you’re driving to Dallas instead. DFW is a 2 hour drive each way. You will have to go through long lines at DFW. You’ll be buying gas for 240 miles of total driving, plus paying for long-term parking. For a 5 day trip, you would be paying at least $85, which is $20 more than flying out of Tyler, in addition to dealing with ten times the hassle.
In my experience, this is a common phenomenon. If you schedule your flights directly out of Tyler to your final destination (in other words, do it as one itinerary without entering DFW at all), you will generally find the Tyler airport to be a good option. Even if it does cost more, the sheer convenience of having someone drop you off right in Tyler and avoiding big city driving is well worth the extra cash. Houston trips will usually reflect this even more, since the drive to Houston is so much longer, and the airport so much more inconvenient.
Yes, Tyler Pounds Regional Airport probably is too big for itself, and it may be a little embarrassed because of it. But it is, nevertheless, a nice outfit. It is spacious and relaxing, the lines are non-existent, and the lobby is right at the gate, so you can spend those last precious minutes with loved ones before you have to say goodbye. All in all, Tyler Pounds is an excellent option for travelers looking to save time, money, and headaches.
