Major U.S. airlines have boosted flight capacity from Kansas City and Philadelphia to New Orleans ahead of the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl, yet airfares are skyrocketing, leading experts to recommend booking flights now to avoid the steepest prices.
Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are heading to the Super Bowl, along with what Vivid Seats ... [+]
Southwest Airlines is adding 31 nonstop flights—a total of 5,425 seats—between Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Kansas City and Philadelphia)
That is comprised of 15 flights over the two days before the Feb. 9 game day, and 16 return flights the day after the event.
Legacy carriers American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are adding a combined 31 nonstop flights from Kansas City and Philadelphia to New Orleans and back again.
JetBlue Airways is adding nine flights between New York City area’s Newark International and John F. Kennedy International airports and New Orleans.
Frontier Airlines has added two flights—one from Philadelphia to New Orleans on Feb. 8 and the return flight on Feb. 10.
Nonstop tickets to New Orleans from domestic airports are averaging $979 per round trip ticket already, significantly higher than the average domestic airfare of $294 per round trip ticket, according to the travel platform Hopper.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles advanced to the Super Bowl over the weekend. Following Sunday’s championship play-offs, airfares for flights from Kansas City and Philadelphia to New Orleans spiked, according to Hopper’s Big Game Travel Guide. The sticker shock is worse for Chiefs fans, who are seeing an average of $1,064 per round-trip ticket to the Big Easy, while Eagles fans are seeing $224 per round-trip ticket, on average. Roundtrip airfare costs more than double with a Monday return. The cheapest combination, says Hopper, is to depart on Saturday, Feb. 8, and return Wednesday, Feb. 12.
11,498 seats. That’s how much additional capacity the “Big Four” airlines are adding from Kansas City and Philadelphia to New Orleans over Super Bowl weekend. Southwest is contributing 47% of that pie, adding nearly as many seats as American (25%), United (16%) and Delta (12%) combined.
Ticket reseller Vivid Seats says turnout among Philadelphia Eagles fans is higher than their Chiefs counterparts. The last time the two teams faced off in the Super Bowl, two years ago, Vivid Seats saw a 62-38 crowd split in favor of Eagles fans. And during the regular season this year, the Eagles tied with the San Francisco 49ers for the highest away-crowd average across all 32 teams in the NFL, with an average of 46% of the crowd this season.
Hotel stays in New Orleans over the Big Game weekend are currently averaging $1,212 for overnight stays on Feb. 9, according to Hopper, which recommends booking as soon as possible as many hotels “are likely to sell out or increase prices at the last minute.”
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