Eating a taco at Blue Mesa in Terminal D or parking in the Express Lot North at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport will soon earn local travelers frequent-flier miles.
On Thursday, the airport announced a rewards program that will award miles whenever travelers make purchases at the airport.The program, operated by www.thanksagain.com, will launch in June.By registering a debit or credit card at www.thanksagain.com, travelers can receive miles on one of six airlines, including American, whenever they use the card at DFW.The firm already has loyalty programs at other airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.Also at Thursday's airport board meeting, members learned that the first renovated section of Terminal A is tentatively set to open Feb. 26.New concession areas in that section have already opened for travelers departing from other gates in Terminal A.Workers are putting the finishing touches on Gates 9 to 16, and American plans to add its new signs and images to the area starting Monday, airport staff said. DFW is spending more than $2 billion to renovate its original four terminals -- A, B, C and E -- and build a new garage for Terminal A.Naveen Bandla, DFW's senior manager of air service development, told the board that DFW served an additional 817,023 passengers in 2012, an increase of 1.4 percent from 2011."Despite the sluggish economy, we managed to post a really good gain," Bandla said, adding that 58,590,633 passengers passed through DFW last year.Most of the growth came from carriers such as Spirit Airlines, Emirates Airlines and JetBlue Airways, which added service to the airport in 2012. DFW grew even as American, its largest airline tenant, carried only 0.2 percent more passengers.Low-cost carriers like Spirit carried 4,263,317 passengers in 2012, up 11.9 percent. International traffic also grew, with 6,108,287 passengers last year, up 9.6 percent from 2011.The board added two new members Thursday: Regina Montoya and Curtis Ransom, both appointed to two-year terms by the Dallas City Council.Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631Twitter: @Sky_TalkHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
