Air Fares

[Ken Loyd]

Hello CD!

We are attempting to convince a major airline to offer teams a discount on team air fares. The vice-president in charge of group sales would like some numbers to work with. If your team will be traveling by air this year to a regional or nationals, please post the cities you will be traveling to and from and the number of people traveling.

Thank you,

Ken

[Manoel]

Hey Mr. Loyd,

You also mean international air fares?

Other than that, great idea! Contacting airlines to buy thousands of tickets should give you at least some bargain power.

[Cory]

SFO, OAK, or SJC----> ATL for San Francisco Bay Area teams.

[KathieK]

Last year we had approx. 40 people traveling with our team and we fly from Bradley International Airport, Hartford (CT)/Springfield (MA).

We haven't discussed where we might be flying this year - to Atlanta if we end up qualifying (we do not currently qualify). Flying from Hartford to Atlanta was more expensive than the previous years where we flew from Hartford to Houston or Hartford to Orlando.

There are a lot of CT teams, and I would expect that most of us fly out of Bradley.

[J Flex 188]

YYZ-->LAX.. max 15 members. more like 10-12

hopefully this will mean all first teams. not just US ones .

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by KathieK

There are a lot of CT teams, and I would expect that most of us fly out of Bradley.

We fly out of whatever airport can give us cheap and reliable service.

We have flown from Bradley (CT) to Orlando (FL) in the past, but the past two years from Laguardia (NY) to both Houston (TX) and Atlanta (GA).

As for numbers aboard from the team.. I would guesstimate from 20-30 people in our group total.

[Joshua May]

If we could get the funds to go to Atlanta, then 1110 would need about 25-30 (max) seats from LAX to ATL, but I'm still not sure if we will go to the Championship.

[Max Lobovsky]

1257 is probably going to send about 15 people to the championship from EWR.

[N7UJJ]

842 roundtrip PHX <++> ATL, we hope 20 or so members

[Andrew Rudolph]

Orlando -> Houston 20-40 members

[Max Lobovsky]

Perhaps you should look at some other methods of coming up with an estimate of the flights that will be required. I doubt this thread is a very good survey of all teams. Maybe try to find out the number of people attending the championships last year (and don't forget there will be more spots next year).

[Ken Loyd]

Originally Posted by Max Lobovsky

Perhaps you should look at some other methods of coming up with an estimate of the flights that will be required. I doubt this thread is a very good survey of all teams. Maybe try to find out the number of people attending the championships last year (and don't forget there will be more spots next year).

Max,

My wife works for the airline and it has taken us two years to speak face to face to the VP. He is not interested in broad estimates (we have furnished them in the past). He wants to see team numbers, number of people traveling, from where to where. He is looking for ways for the airline to make money and the teams to save money. If you know of a better way, I am all ears.

Ken

[RoboMom]

This is a nice thing you are doing.
BWI to/from Atlanta for 20.

When I priced this last year (but we didn't go), it seemed better to do it by bus. Not because the bus was that much cheaper, but would serve as "hotel" for 2 nights and would serve as a way to transport all the stuff that you no longer can take via plane, so it was more cost efficient. But a lower price would make a difference. It's about 12 hours drive for us.

Now the team has "joked" the past two years that wouldn't "Hooters Air" make a great sponsor? They fly from here to there, via Myrtle Beach.

[DCA Fan]

We travel with roughly 30 people, students and mentors combined.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Team 499 will be registering for Nat's for the first time this year. We will take 12 - 18 people from SAT - ATL. We drive the 3 hours to Houston for the Lonestar regional.

Thanks,


APS