Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

For nine years Austin ran two terminals, and the first question on any arrival was which one. That question is gone: the South Terminal closed on April 1, 2026 to make room for the midfield taxiway work, and its airlines now arrive at the Barbara Jordan Terminal with everyone else.

The consequence is concentration. The same number of passengers now leaves through one set of doors onto one arrivals roadway, and the curb that was comfortable in 2024 is not the curb you are meeting a chauffeur at today. Where the arrival is at a peak hour, meeting inside is not a luxury choice — it is the one that works.

There are two honest options and they suit different arrivals. The curb is quicker for a guest who travels with a carry-on, knows the airport and can be outside within four minutes of the aircraft door opening. The chauffeur holds in the cell phone lot, and the car is at the door as the guest reaches it.

Meet-and-greet puts the chauffeur inside, at baggage claim, with a name board. It is the right call for a first visit to Austin, an international connection, checked luggage, a guest travelling with family, or anyone whose arrival should not involve reading signage. It costs a little more because it costs the chauffeur parking and time, and we would rather tell you that than bury it.

The one arrangement we will not offer is a guest standing on a curb hunting for a car among forty others. If the flight lands at a peak hour with checked bags, we will recommend meeting inside and say why.

Every AUS pickup is tracked against the live flight rather than the scheduled time. That matters in both directions and the second one is the one people forget: an aircraft that lands forty minutes early is a guest standing on a curb, and a chauffeur dispatched to the original time is no better than no chauffeur at all.

Wheels-down triggers the approach, not the ETA printed on the itinerary. On a delayed inbound the car is re-timed rather than cancelled, and on a diverted flight the plan is rebuilt with you rather than around you.

Arrivals are elastic and departures are not. AUS runs four checkpoints since the West Infill expansion opened Checkpoint 4 in February 2026, and the queue at each of them is a function of the hour and the week rather than the terminal's capacity on a quiet Tuesday.

The number we plan against changes in convention season, on a festival Friday and across Grand Prix week, when a city-scale departure compresses into the same twelve hours. Tell us the flight and we will set the pickup against the queue that day actually produces.