Cost of Going to the Nationals

[mtangolics]

I'm kind of annoyed at my school at the moment. Right after our last regional they told us we should be prepared to pay $900 per person to get to Atlanta. This seems quite ridiculous in that they're making us pay, and that they gave such a high number. I searched on travel booking sites and found several deals that included airfare, hotel, AND a rental car for TWO people for under $800. I'd just like to get some input from other teams on how much they're being asked to pay to fly to nationals.

[thoughtful]

We got some where around $400 canadians, though we are not flying and only staying there for the regional days, so about 3 days in hotels and 3 nights. Though that might be because we have some money to compensate the students too.

[KathieK]

RAGE qualified for the Championship based on last year's points system, so as soon as we knew the location and dates we booked group travel on airlines. This is difficult to do because there are so many teams trying to fly from CT to the same place at the same time and so few flights that will accept groups.

We are paying $308 per person for a round-trip flight. We are having to leave on Tuesday afternoon and coming home late on Sunday, so we booked the five night hotel package through FIRST-THS. Most of our students are staying in quad rooms, so the cost is $310 per person. Our adults are staying in doubles, so it is $497 per person. There will be additional meals to pay for on Tuesday, Wed, and Sunday, and dinner each night except for the team social.

We are responsible for paying our own way and since we meet year-round we do fundraising throughout the year to offset our travel costs.

[Joe Ross]

Who is "they"? Is they FIRST, or your team's administration, or some random person at the regional?

You are very quickly approaching the magic 3 week point for buying airline tickets. Buy your tickets as soon as possible. If you really need cheap lodging and transportation, get a hotel near the airport (ie, free shuttle to and from the airport) and then take the subway to the competition.

Right now, our current airfare looks to be $300-$400 from Rochester, depending on exactly when we want to leave. Check other airports also, as you may get good deals from LaGuardia or JFK, if you are willing to do that drive.

[mtangolics]

"They" are our vice-principal and our school administration. =p

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by mtangolics

I'm kind of annoyed at my school at the moment. Right after our last regional they told us we should be prepared to pay $900 per person to get to Atlanta. This seems quite ridiculous in that they're making us pay, and that they gave such a high number. I searched on travel booking sites and found several deals that included airfare, hotel, AND a rental car for TWO people for under $800. I'd just like to get some input from other teams on how much they're being asked to pay to fly to nationals.

They are probably looking at the package cost of hotels still available. You can probably shop around for cheaper, but you won't get food, transportation, and other things like you do in the package. Remeber, you are paying for convenience with a package. I know one team is paying for $800 per person plus for bus, hotel, and transporation.

[Nate Edwards]

We are paying about $600 per person for Hotel through THS and Airline. We payed about $850 per person last year in houston. It can get rather expensive. But this year we got ahead got cheap airline and got our hotel so we don't have to worry about possible over $900. It all depends on how many flights go to Atlanta from where you are.
Nate

[Tom Bottiglieri]

we arent going.. but it would be somewhere around $1400 per person. Please dont complain..

[Mike Norton]

We just bought plane tickets out of Hartford for $295 round trip on Delta nonstop Wednesday returning Sunday.

If you have any question about rooms you should ask team 386. They have some great ideas and cheap hotels. $49 a night. this works out to be $370 for air and room per-person. the hotel is walking distance to the site.

[Team311]

we didnt know we were going until saturday so its gonna cost like 1500 a peson to go unless we do a lot of fundraising

[Gabe Salas Jr.]

ouch...

Our team does year-round fundraising. I think you guys will hate us if I post how much each person on Team PINK has to pay in order to go to Nationals. I would just say it is really affordable, and all that fundraising (and hard work) really pays off. No pun intended. Seriously.

[Heretic121]

its about $350 for round trip bus, and hotel... we have to buy our own food and use the marta *subway, taxi, etc i think* to get around but the georgia dome is walking distance so no worries about that =D

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Team311

we didnt know we were going until saturday so its gonna cost like 1500 a peson to go unless we do a lot of fundraising

We're staying out at the airport and the cost is approximately $70/night/room. Airfare from LA is about $230 round trip depending on the airline. Food is on your own, but the hotel has a free breakfast.

So we'll probably be running around $400 each. So if we can do it from LA for that, and $1500 each is what you just HAVE to pay, then somebody has some unrealistic expectations. Either that or you are sending a minimal team, and expecting those traveling to cover the entry fee as well.

BTW our reservations have been made in the past week, so it's not like we're getting huge advance discounts. We are also traveling as several small groups, rather than one big one. Sometimes groups wind up paying a premium to stay together.

ChrisH

[KTBSPASonya858]

I'm mot sure how much it's costing us, but instead of flying were riding a charter bus.

[Cory]

Around $550 for us, albeit we made our reservations almost a month ago.

flying to Georgia should be much cheaper for EVERYONE than say flying into Houston, or Orlando.

Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world afterall

Cory