San Angelo Regional Airport - Mathis Field

I arrived to San Angelo regional Airport at ~4:20am. I went immediately to the front desk to check in and no one was there. Also a lady and family claiming arrived at 4am. We were all standing there. I saw that they had signage posted “that they close at 4:15 for a check in times”. Since living in San Angelo for almost 3 years now, I have never had a problem arriving to the airport exactly 1 hour before departure, arrived right at the cut off for the front desk to be closed. Nothing was posted on social media anywhere and I was not told by American Airlines. Was booked for flight “AA3663” departure of 5am. The ticket counter was “closed” when I arrived with a bag to be checked and one carry on. Kiosks were only working for “no bags to check”. They were calling my name to board and I could not. TSA only called the front desk Upstairs at gate. Only after at 530am did a gentleman help me get put on a flight for 1050am for Dallas. I was put in 1st standby list for Dallas to Newark. (2 of my flights had to be changed) the staff claimed due to a manning issue they could not allow me to depart on time.. video footage needs to be looked at. I politely the first time showed my military I’d card asking for them to get grab the front counter lady to let them know I was here on time. I waited again, then went up again to a lady with TSA. I was very polite.( I think I had another passenger recording me? I was not trying to make a scene, but again, front desk was not manned again until 530. Thank you Hannah S Cruze.

We appreciate having a smaller airport that is easy to maneuver and not very stressful. There are two restaurants, and a car rental place. The waiting area is spacious. It is relatively easy to talk with a agent if you need to. They also have a self check in. The free long-term parking is a real bonus. It cost significantly more to fly out of here but the convenience of not having to drive and navigate big city traffic and airport makes it worth the price.

I can't comment on the staff at this airport because no one is here at all (besides TSA). Arrived less than 30 minutes before the flight took off (there was still 20 minutes of boarding time) so I couldn't use the automated system. There were several people waiting to go through TSA, so I had plenty of time to make my flight, but I missed it because nobody was there to assist me. Now I'm delayed by at least half a day because of this. American Airlines tried to charge me over $400 to change to another flight. The associate who was called down by TSA to assist me put me on standby for the next flight out, but I'll miss my connection so my best bet is that I lose half a day of my life (assuming I can even get on both of my flights). There are 2 gates and 3 flights a day. You would assume this wouldn't lead to staffing issues, but apparently it does. American Airlines (via American Eagle) are the only airlines that operate out of this airport. I'll fly to Dallas and drive the three hours to San Angelo from now on.

Incompetent and rude staff. My mother arrived for a 5:00 AM flight at 4:15 AM. Plenty of time to check in and get through security at this tiny airport with two gates. Well, apparently because they are so short staffed, there was no one at the desk to check her in. She had to flag down a security person. They told her that the staff already left the desk to go work at the gate, and that she should have been there way earlier. The plane was sitting there, and had not even started boarding yet. She was on time. Airport staff blamed my mother for not "knowing" that the airport is understaffed, so she couldn't get on the plane. THIS IS BULL. DO BETTER MATHIS FIELD. HIRE MORE PEOPLE and stop blaming your passengers for your own problems, screwing up their travel plans for your failure of management.

I really like the airport short wait times not busy the only thing is that the airport only has 2 Airlines American and United and those are pricey airlines I think we need a cheaper option like southwest,Alaska,spirit or frontier also more locations we can only fly to Dallas and Houston I know they are small airplanes but we need more options because it’s way more expensive to fly to Dallas or Houston from San Angelo I always fly to Portland Oregon a lot but I always have to stop in Dallas More food options because there only one place we need a Breakfast place because I fly usually at 6am and have to leave home at 4:30 can’t grab breakfast on the way vending machine expensive nice bathrooms and water fountains.