Super Bowl LIV is now one week away and will features a matchup in Miami between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. United Airlines is adding several special segments to transport fans to and from the big game.
United Adds Super Bowl Flights
United will add extra service to Miami from San Francisco, a hub that already has SFO-MIA service, and also add nonstop flights between Kansas City and Miami. But it will also bolster flights from its hubs according to the following schedule:
Outbound to Miami
Friday, January 31, 2020
- San Francisco – 3
- Kansas City, Missouri – 2
- Chicago – 5
- Denver – 1
- Houston – 5
- Los Angeles – 1
- Newark, New York – 8
- Washington D.C. – 2
Saturday, February 01, 2020
- San Francisco – 3
- Kansas City – 2
- Chicago – 5
- Denver – 1
- Houston – 6
- Newark, New York – 6
- Washington D.C. – 2
Inbound from Miami
Monday, February 03, 2020
- San Francisco – 5
- Kansas City – 3
- Chicago – 4
- Denver – 1
- Houston – 5
- Los Angeles – 2
- Newark, New York – 9
- Washington D.C. – 3
All flights will be mainline except for flights between Houston and Miami, which will be operated by Untied Express.
How are fares? I took a look at pricing from Los Angeles, just for the fun of it (I am not a sports fan), and found round-trip fares are $1117, which is still cheaper than Delta (sold out eastbound) and American Airlines (sold out westbound). The only flight still available back to Los Angeles is a 2:15AM flight on Monday morning arriving at 4:59AM. Talk about a reverse redeye…
Round-trip nonstop fares from Kansas City are currently $415 and $1087 from San Francisco.
CONCLUSION
For diehard American football fans, United has you covered from its hubs plus Kansas City for Super Bowl LIV.
Will you be taking advantage of United’s special Super Bowl flights?
Miami is an AA hub. They should be picking up any excess demand. What is their plan?
It doesn’t appear that American and Delta are running extra flights, which is indeed surprising, particularly for American.
According to Vasu Raja, American will be running 757s to MCI while also adding extra flights to SJC and SFO from MIA.
Not sure this is the “most attractive” Super Bowl match in terms of many people wanting to attend. Don’t get me wrong it will still sell out but these are two teams that have local fans which is very different from other teams like the Patriots, Cowboys, Packers, Steelers that have fans all over the US. A quick look at hotel availability in Miami for the Super Bowl weekend still shows lots of availability at normal prices for Miami at this time of the year.
I’ve always wondered how they find the planes to operate lots of special flights for things like this. Do they reduce frequencies on other flights? They don’t have planes just sitting around, waiting for occasions like sports championships and conferences, do they?