Are you dreaming of exploring the historic sport-filled streets of Boston, Massachusetts, or soaking in the vibrant energy of Austin, Texas? Austin and Boston are two of the most fun cities in the USA, with both being known for their great mixes of job opportunities, fun outings, and fascinating cultures. However, whether you're traveling for a business trip, a family getaway, or a solo adventure, finding the perfect flight between these two cities can be surprisingly difficult and yet is key to a smooth and enjoyable travel experience.

Fortunately, several airlines operate flights between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), making it possible for the journey to be efficient and hassle-free. In this article, we will explore the best airlines, routes, and specific flights that can help make your travel between these two exciting cities as easy, quick, and cheap as possible. As well, since no one likes dealing with annoying layovers, this list will focus exclusively on the direct flights between the AUS and BOS airports.

When you’re flying between Boston and Austin, you have three main direct flight options:

Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, and American Airlines

These three airlines all have multiple direct flights per day between the two cities and frequently match prices to keep things competitive. JetBlue and American sometimes code-share their flights as well (though this will be going away shortly with the new rulings on JetBlue and American’s partnership in the Northeast). All these airlines fly year-round and have a similar level of amenities.

However, while the routes may be similar, these airlines have different on-time/delay percentages, different point systems, and offer flights at different times of day, so it’s crucial that you pick the right one for your travel goals!

Now that we’ve set the background, let’s jump into the list:

The Best Airlines and Direct Flights Between Austin and Boston:

1. Delta Air Lines DL1511/DL1410

Delta Air Lines is one of the outright best airlines for flights from both Austin and Boston no matter where you’re going, with an extensive variety of destinations and a good balance of price and amenities. Delta also offers free Wi-Fi on almost all its flights, which makes working from the air far easier than on other airlines. Delta flights can also be purchased using Delta SkyMiles points; however, you can also transfer points from American Express directly to Delta at a 1:1 ratio, so if you’re an AmEx cardholder, flying Delta with points is very easy and efficient!

Delta is particularly beneficial for flying the route between Austin and Boston because it offers 3 distinct flights every day in both directions:

• A morning flight: DL1511 (AUS-BOS) & DL1410 (BOS-AUS)

• A mid-day flight: DL2727 (AUS-BOS) and DL1159 (BOS-AUS)

• A late flight: DL1697 (AUS-BOS) and DL1387 (BOS-AUS)

No matter when you want to travel, there will be a Delta flight for you to take between the two cities. And the best part? The prices are almost always fairly similar between the three different time slots, no matter which direction you’re going.

However, if you have the choice of any of these three Delta flights between Austin and Boston, we strongly recommend flying on the morning Delta Air Lines flights DL1511 (AUS-BOS) and DL1410 (BOS-AUS). No matter which way you’re flying, the morning Delta flights are typically the cheapest, least crowded, and have the best on-time percentage of any of the Delta flights. If you take both morning flights we suggest, you can fly Delta main cabin round-trip between Boston and Austin for less than $250 (see below), and first-class for less than $650!

2. JetBlue B6 1238/B6 1493

Our second recommendation for direct flights between Austin and Boston is JetBlue. While JetBlue has more flights from Boston than any other airline, it also has great return routes to get back to Boston from a wide variety of destinations (including Austin)!

While there are technically three nonstop flights that you can take between Boston and Austin when you book on JetBlue, this isn’t quite accurate; only one of these flights is actually operated by JetBlue (as opposed to code-shared with American Airlines) and is actually. While it’s great that the two code-shared American Airlines flights provide some flexibility, they are substantially more expensive and you can’t book them with JetBlue points (see below, only the middle flight is operated by Jetblue).

Given that only one of these direct flights every day is actually flown by JetBlue, this really leaves one just option that makes sense: flight 1238 from Austin to Boston (leaving mid-morning) and flight 1439 from Boston to Austin (leaving first thing in the morning). Interestingly, these flights are the fastest options between the two cities, coming in at 4 hours flat and 4 hours and 8 minutes. If you fly round trip with these two flights, you can pay as little as $270 for main cabin seats, or if you prefer using points, just 16,900 points round-trip. If you already have American Express or JetBlue points accumulated, this is an excellent way to redeem your points for good value (1.6 cents per point)!

3. American Airlines AA2914/AA2476

The third airline that flies direct between Boston and Austin is American Airlines, which offers two direct flights per day. From Austin to Boston, one of these flights is in the morning (AA1413) and one is in the evening (AA2914); however, from Boston to Austin, one of the flights is midday (AA1202) and one is at night (AA2476). Luckily, these flights are often priced identically, so you can take whichever suits you better. While the price of the American flights is good (largely in line with the price of the Delta flights), the only credit system that transfers points to American is the Bilt Rewards program, which is one of the less common programs out there. However, if you have Bilt or American points you can get alright value by using them on an Austin-Boston round-trip flight, which will cost you ~22,000 points. One pro-tip: American Airlines flights can also be purchased using Avios, which is the point system for British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. While award availability booking through Avios isn’t great, you can get incredibly cheap flights booking through this system (e.g., business class round trip for 40,000 Avios)! As well, almost all the major banks (Chase, AmEx, Capital One) all transfer their points to Avios, so it can be easy to accumulate Avios compared to other airlines’ points.

Between the two direct options on American Airlines between Boston and Austin, we would recommend taking AA2914 (5:15pm-10:19pm) from Austin to Boston, and then AA2476 (7:30pm-10:59pm) from Boston to Austin. Not only have we found these flights to be less crowded than the earlier options, but they also are great options for anyone who is traveling for work, as they both take off after 5pm in their respective time zones. Booking round-trip with these two flights can go as cheap as $245, which is one of the cheapest options for flights between the two cities!

Summary

Whether you’re traveling to the sunny streets of Austin for the famous SXSW festival, or to Fenway Park in Boston to catch a historic Red Sox-Yankees game, choosing the right flight is essential to making sure your travel experience goes as smoothly as possible. Luckily, Delta, JetBlue, and American Airlines all have direct flights between the two cities daily, meaning you have a wide variety of choice for your travel needs. We’ve recommended 3 particular round-trip flights (which can be flown in either direction) based on price, on-time arrival percentage, crowdedness, and preference, which we believe are the best options for flying between the two cities based on our personal experience and research. While the prices and demand will fluctuate dramatically throughout the year (and based on big events in the two cities), we still recommend the flights listed here as the best options to fly direct between Austin and Boston.

If you’re interested in learning about other destinations, make sure to check out our guide for the best destinations to fly from Boston. And if you’re interested in learning more about which airlines are the best to fly, make sure to explore the best airlines to fly from Boston and Austin. Finally, if you’re interested in getting a travel credit card for your flights but don’t want to pay any annual fees, we have a guide to the best travel credit cards with no annual fee!