Any info on ALB, GSO/CLT, MCO/ORL would be helpful.
Seeing $800-$1,000 round trip with a total guess on the return.
We won’t know 2nd round game time until after 1st round.
At $800+ you typically don’t have “change fees” for the flight back.

Any Creative Ideas?? Go Dogs!

hoosierbulldog

Challenge for this is where do you live...DSM, MSP, STL, ORD, etc all have different options.  I'm in STL for perspective.

Orlando looks best flight wise for here because of Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit.  For Albany, I plan to fly to NYC direct instead of going to Albany.  There is a train that's ~4 hours, but I plan to drive with friends who live in NYC.  You can rent a car at LGA; I've done it for work before.  You could also look at HPN.

Greensboro is roughly halfway between CLT and RDU; both are 2 hours ish from the games.  I am most likely to fly to Charlotte given the quality availability of direct flights from my location and the comparable prices.

Given the bracket, I haven't looked much at Sacramento, Birmingham, or Denver as I feel those are unlikely (although Denver would be fine given Frontier is my initial reaction, whereas Sacramento looked like a dumpster fire the one time I checked).  I'd drive to Columbus from my location, so I haven't explored that, either.

Ive never flown frontier or Spirit. How are those airlines? The one flight Im looking at of out of Milwaukee says they're is a good chance it will be delayed but not sure if it would be cancelled. I prefer to fly out of Milwaukee or O'hare but midway or even rockford are options. 

They will charge you for every single thing possible.  Make sure when you price the flight to account for bag fees/etc.  You get a free backpack under the seat, though.  If it's within 50-60 bucks of a real airline, I wouldn't book it, personally.  At $100 or more for a direct flight?  That's when it's interesting.  The inflight experience is also just ok...don't expect as much internet/tv - bring your own entertainment, the seats don't recline, they will be closer together, etc.

Also, make sure to look at the schedule (some of their flights are awful connections via Denver on Frontier) - don't book an 18 hour flight day unintentionally.  And, yeah, if you get canceled/heavily delayed, you're probably hosed, because they will not put you on AA, Southwest, or something else.  Their direct frequencies to Orlando are plentiful enough that I could live with it if it is enough savings.  

I live outside NYC. Highly recommend flying into LGA or HPN and renting a car to drive to ALB. The train is a huge pain in the a$$ when arriving at any NYC airport. It’s not convenient at all to get to Penn Station. MAYBE EWR, but who wants to fly into Newark?

What would you know about flying? 😏

If Albany, fly into Boston, rent a car and drive. Albany is one of the most inconvenient and expensive airports to go in and out of.

Dang it. This has to be Mike or David S.
Your grandpa was a GREAT DRAKE FAN and always mentioned you two and Risa in his Home Plastics commercials.
I was hoping to pay my fair share and jump on a private with SA!
Take care.
Go Dogs!!!!

Www.DUGreatCollective.org

hoosierbulldog

I was referring to SiegelAviation’s post.

hoosierbulldog

Hartford is surely closer than Boston as well

Generally speaking sticking with airline hubs will make it cheaper as well, though not always.

American has hubs in Charlotte, New York LaGuardia
Delta has a hub at Boston, New York LaGuardia & New York JFK
United has a hub at Newark

While Orlando is not a traditional hub, it's a big enough year-round destination they have plenty of flights. The problem of course if you're also going to be fighting all the spring breakers. In my opinion if Orlando wants to host give them the regional not the first/second rounds in the middle of Spring Break.

Allegiant, Sprit, Frontier you get what you pay for, absolutely nothing. If you're taking a bag, especially if you plan to check something more often than not by the time you add it all up the price difference is a wash to one of the traditional American/Delta/United carriers. You are also taking a big risk if a flight gets cancelled, American/Delta/United can almost always get you on something else but if you're on Allegiant/Spirit/Frontier you are often out of luck for days.

Regardless, I strongly recommend flying out no later than Wednesday (if we play Thursday) or Thursday (if we play Friday) regardless of what time the game is. Do not try to fly down the morning of the game, you just increase your chances of missing the game significantly not to mention missing all the pregame fun.

Finally, with the uncertainty, buy a one way ticket there and then buy the one way out when we know. Contrary to popular belief, round trips are rarely cheaper than one ways.

Less than 12 hours until we know where we’re headed…ready to give the travel sector all my money.

Yup. This is Michael. My grandfather was Sam.