Comments on: Blaming Airlines, AT&T Takes Flight

By: Flight Wisdom » Whither Secondary Cities?

Flight Wisdom » Whither Secondary Cities? — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:02:56 +0000

[...] of airline cutbacks is service to secondary cities. Early this summer, AT&T announced it was moving its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas, stating that the lack of direct flights to other cities was a primary reason. Though there is some [...]

By: Get Out of Dodge (or San Antonio)! : neror.com

Get Out of Dodge (or San Antonio)! : neror.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:03:08 +0000

[...] While I’m sure that there are numerous reasons for the company’s departure, its primary excuse is air travel. I know, from personal experience, that non-stop flights from San Antonio to any major city outside of Houston and Dallas are as rare as a south Texas winter snowstorm. Trying to fly out of San Antonio on a regular basis is an exercise in patience and frustration (and lots of connecting flights). As airlines cut schedules and ground aircraft, this problem will only get worse. Still, I doubt that air travel is the primary reason for AT&T’s exodus. I share Stacey Higginbotham’s skepticism: [...]

By: Blaming Airlines, AT&T Takes Flight | Stacey Higginbotham | Voices | AllThingsD

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:00:39 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this post Print all_things_di220:http://voices.allthingsd.com/20080630/blaming-airlines-att-takes-flight/ Sphere Comment Tagged: AT&T, Dallas, GigaOm, San Antonio, San Francisco, Stacey Higginbotham, Voices | permalink [...]

By: Josh Tabin

Josh Tabin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:57:43 +0000

Not that I am still plugged into San Antonio, Rackspace or AT&T from my years at both, but here are some thoughts: - I agree that tech is in a poor state in San Antonio. Rackspace has been around almost 10 years now and has spawned nothing outside of itself. The fact that AT&T never spawned tech startups is not surprising because all it housed were executives and corporate folks...these are not the folks that start anything other than their cars and coffee machines each morning before heading to work. - The 2 major industries in San Antonio are life science and tourism/conventions, and not that you would even know about the former. The first thing people would ask me about when I lived there was, "so how is the Riverwalk these days?" - The airline problem is real...you cannot get anywhere direct from San Antonio and for a major company like AT&T with offices around the world, that is a real problem. Fault San Antonio's own for that one...spend over a billion to get a PGA Village but nothing to expand airline capacity for a city that thrives on tourism and conventions...duh! - The real problem in San Antonio is lack of passion. The city has no identity for businesses to even want to locate there. Rackspace stays because they are paid to stay. When I first moved to San Antonio and was looking for a home, everyone told me that the reason they loved it there is because of the slower pace and easier living. I think that's great but then don't be surprised then when industry abandons you for more business friendly environments. Don't blame Randall but do like Michael Jackson says and take a look at the man in the mirror.

By: David H. Deans

David H. Deans — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:45:02 +0000

I wonder if, under Stephenson’s leadership, AT&T will also abandon their long-standing dependency on Fleishman-Hillard for in-house PR support.

The chairman of FH lives in San Antonio, even though the company HQ is still in St. Louis, and apparently the ongoing business relationship was closely tied to Whitacre.

That said, given AT&T’s move into the digital media distribution arena, an old-school legacy PR firm like FH surely is ill-equipped to meet their forward-looking needs — particularly with social media expertise.

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:05:51 +0000

Aaron, Austin can be a hard place to raise venture money thanks to AV’s utter domination of the funding market, but I’m unaware of large pools of venture money hiding out in San Antonio.

By: Aaron Farnham

Aaron Farnham — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:07:03 +0000

I find it really interesting that you hint the city of San Antonio might be to blame. The start ups my company works with in Austin tell me that they have had a hard time raising funding in Austin. Mostly due to the money having moved to San Antonio where there is not one dominate venture firm that rules the roost (i.e. Austin Ventures). Or at least that is what I have heard that heard from 2 VC’s in Austin, an M&A guy in San Antonio, and a startup CEO in Austin.

In my opinion, I think a big factor is that Stephenson is from Dallas… just like Whitacre is from San Antonio and moved the company accordingly.

By: rodger

rodger — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:38:24 +0000

Blame the airlines? How about years and years of poor energy policy, inadequate regulation in the oil futures market, shameful fiscal mismanagement, and Americans’ love of big SUV’s? Although I do believe we’re experiencing an oil “bubble,” I think in the long run we’ll be stronger thanks to this wake-up call.