Anyone have an idea who has the XFL contract. It’s a interesting scenario. All teams practice in Dallas area during the week and then fly to their games on Fridays and come back 36 hours later.

American.

Forget the airline’s name but they’ve been doing charters for various sports teams since the 80’s.

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

ua2162 wrote:

Forget the airline’s name but they’ve been doing charters for various sports teams since the 80’s.

I think you ment from the '30s, given that fleet.

Jshank83 wrote:

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

Given that G4 doesn’t serve the Seattle area, wonder who they contracted for ground handling

airlinepeanuts wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

Given that G4 doesn’t serve the Seattle area, wonder who they contracted for ground handling

I figure most airports have crews that handle charters. Charters fly into airports with no scheduled commercial all the time, so I’m sure they have a normal some pre set company that handles charters

Jshank83 wrote:

airlinepeanuts wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

Given that G4 doesn’t serve the Seattle area, wonder who they contracted for ground handling

I figure most airports have crews that handle charters. Charters fly into airports with no scheduled commercial all the time, so I’m sure they have a normal some pre set company that handles charters

Good point, BFI particularly because they get a ton of charters and have no commercial ops.

Very interesting it appears both teams fly on the same plane together. This goes along with what I’ve put together listening to the game time interviews. I guess it’s possible 120 players and coaches on a 177 seat plane. Since all teams are league owned they probably have equipment in “home” cities and don’t have to carry as much to/from like a college or NFL team.

Flyer92122 wrote:

Very interesting it appears both teams fly on the same plane together. This goes along with what I’ve put together listening to the game time interviews. I guess it’s possible 120 players and coaches on a 177 seat plane. Since all teams are league owned they probably have equipment in “home” cities and don’t have to carry as much to/from like a college or NFL team.

All eight teams are based in Arlington and fly to their "home" games to cut down on costs.

I would hope the charter companies are paid in cash in advance. Anybody watching this league needs to get a life, go outdoors, take the grandchildren to a movie. Thanks I feel better now for venting.

Hey I actually enjoy the games! That being said the original Miami Air got hosed by the AAF football league in 2019. They had exclusive charter rights, the AAF folded halfway through the season and shortly after Miami Air did too.

Flyer92122 wrote:

Since all teams are league owned they probably have equipment in “home” cities and don’t have to carry as much to/from like a college or NFL team.

Most NFL and especially college football teams aren't flying that much equipment with them to begin with. The bulk of the equipment is trucked to the game in advance.

retiredmx wrote:

I would hope the charter companies are paid in cash in advance. Anybody watching this league needs to get a life, go outdoors, take the grandchildren to a movie. Thanks I feel better now for venting.

You're trying to gatekeep what people watch on TV? And of all the garbage on TVs the XFL is the hill you're choosing to die on? I've never watched 1 second of an XFL game but this is an insane comment.

[threeid][/threeid]

ua2162 wrote:

Forget the airline’s name but they’ve been doing charters for various sports teams since the 80’s.

I came here to post this

I believe Allegiant flew teams to Sanford and on the same aircraft as mentioned upthread. I think Allegiant does a lot of college football charters as well, not sure if this is just anecdotal or is legit.

I am working on a project to gather all info on how XFL teams fly. Here is what I've gathered so far three weeks into the season:

All teams pretty much reside and practice in the XFL's Arlington/Dallas hub during the season, so the teams are pretty much traveling almost every week. Teams will ONLY fly for games that are being played outside of Texas (they are chartered via bus for games in Arlington, Houston, and San Antonio). They fly out of Dallas the day before their games between 9am and 2pm CT, and depart two hours after their game ends for the return flight back to Dallas. Keep in mind, both the home and away teams fly on the same plane there and back, which I think is weird, especially after a game when both sides are chippy towards each other. But it is, after all, to keep costs low, which is vital for a new league.

As for what airline charters these teams, it has been Allegiant Air flying these teams so far, chartering them with their Airbus A320s, which seat 177 passengers, and use Dallas Love Field (DAL) for loading up and dropping off the teams. HOWEVER, American Airlines did charter the Seattle Sea Dragons and Vegas Vipers to Las Vegas this past Friday and back last night with one of their Airbus A321s (seats 187 passengers) for their week 3 matchup, and used Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) to pick up and drop off the teams.

So far, there have been six charter round-trips that have been made for the XFL this season, five of which were by Allegiant, and one by American. So it appears that there is a contract with Allegiant to charter these teams this season, though I can't confirm because of that single American Airlines-chartered flight. No team has an assigned airline, aircraft, or even flight number, so there are no ties between a specific team and a specific airline. But we are only three weeks into this season, so it'll be some time before we can get a fully-clear picture. We should have a clear picture of the entire chartering system between the eight teams by the end of week 5, which is in a couple of weeks. The Houston Roughnecks have yet to play an away game, and the Arlington Renegades have yet to take a charter flight, so once both get the chance to fly, it'll be more clear. I'll update if I get more info.

Post-week 4 update:

All teams took charter flights this past weekend as all four games were played outside of Texas. Both American Airlines and Allegiant Air took turns chartering flights for week 4. Two of the four charter flights were on American with their A321s, and the other two were on Allegiant with their A320s. This now brings the total to seven round-trip charters by Allegiant, and three by American this season. So it does indeed appear that along with the Allegiant contract, the XFL also has a contract with American that started in week 3.

Don't forget that both the home and away teams fly on the same plane to and from their respective games. I'll make another update in week 5 if any of the trends change!

I find it kind of interesting that Allegiant has 2 planes doing this, when they are using 2 of Global X's planes to cover flights out of SFB

MrNuke wrote:

Flyer92122 wrote:

Since all teams are league owned they probably have equipment in “home” cities and don’t have to carry as much to/from like a college or NFL team.

Most NFL and especially college football teams aren't flying that much equipment with them to begin with. The bulk of the equipment is trucked to the game in advance.

Wrong. It’s all flown in the cargo compartment.

They don’t truck the equipment from city to city.

And they carry at least one or two moving trucks worth of equipment.

Boof02671 wrote:

MrNuke wrote:

Flyer92122 wrote:

Since all teams are league owned they probably have equipment in “home” cities and don’t have to carry as much to/from like a college or NFL team.

Most NFL and especially college football teams aren't flying that much equipment with them to begin with. The bulk of the equipment is trucked to the game in advance.

Wrong. It’s all flown in the cargo compartment.

They don’t truck the equipment from city to city.

And they carry at least one or two moving trucks worth of equipment.

Depends on the team and where they are playing in relation to their home field. Can't speak for the NFL but the CFL trucks the the sideline equipment and the majority of the player equipment. The plane will carry personal baggage and some player equipment, at least that's my experience with the Charters.

I suspect those teams that are still able to get widebody aircraft are able to fly more than those who only get multiple narrow body equipment, some of those trunks I'm sure are a b***h to load in the hold of a 737.

nkops wrote:

I find it kind of interesting that Allegiant has 2 planes doing this, when they are using 2 of Global X's planes to cover flights out of SFB

Yea I find it kind of interesting too. I’m not sure if Allegiant is using Global X planes to directly fill in the open SFB spots from the Allegiant planes pulled out for XFL charters, but bottom line, I find it weird that they do it that way (IF this is indeed the reason why Global X is covering Allegiant flights). I would expect XFL charter services to be handed to Global X instead, but maybe it’s because of the money. Hmmm…who knows!

dmanonice wrote:

Boof02671 wrote:

MrNuke wrote:

Most NFL and especially college football teams aren't flying that much equipment with them to begin with. The bulk of the equipment is trucked to the game in advance.

Wrong. It’s all flown in the cargo compartment.

They don’t truck the equipment from city to city.

And they carry at least one or two moving trucks worth of equipment.

Depends on the team and where they are playing in relation to their home field. Can't speak for the NFL but the CFL trucks the the sideline equipment and the majority of the player equipment. The plane will carry personal baggage and some player equipment, at least that's my experience with the Charters.

I suspect those teams that are still able to get widebody aircraft are able to fly more than those who only get multiple narrow body equipment, some of those trunks I'm sure are a b***h to load in the hold of a 737.

I’ve worked many NFL Charters. The teams fly all the equipment to where they are playing the away game.

Logistics alone would prevent trucking NFL equipment.

And it’s usually was a 757 or 321 for narrowbodies when a Widebody isn’t available.

nkops wrote:

I find it kind of interesting that Allegiant has 2 planes doing this, when they are using 2 of Global X's planes to cover flights out of SFB

Charters are guaranteed to be very profitable as long as they are priced right and in a long-term arrangement like with the XFL, you want to keep your customer happy.

Week 5 Update:

American Airlines is doing all the charter work this week. Three of the four games are being outside of Texas, so three different round-trip charter flights are being done for this week’s games. The first of the three is almost complete as American flew the Sea Dragons and Roughnecks to Seattle on Wednesday for last night’s game (Thursday), and are chartering the two teams back to Dallas early this morning (Friday). The other two charter round-trips will be to St. Louis for the Defenders/Battlehawks game, and to Las Vegas for the Guardians/Vipers game. Both of those outbound flights will leave today (Friday), and will return right after the games tomorrow (Saturday night/Sunday morning).

Now I am seeing a trend here…ever since American began chartering the XFL alongside Allegiant Air in week 3, it appears that American is slowly taking over the charter services for the XFL. Not sure if this means it is the end of Allegiant Air chartering the XFL, as it’s too early to tell, but trends are indicating that the XFL has a good deal with American Airlines to fully charter their flights, as this is the first week Allegiant isn’t doing any charter work.

Also found out that American has assigned flight numbers for specific routes. AA9722 is used for charter flights to Las Vegas, AA9723 is for Orlando, AA9732 is for St. Louis, and AA9733 is for Seattle. Only one left that I don’t have a flight number for is DC, as they haven’t had an American Airlines charter yet. These flight numbers will become very helpful for spotters who want to track XFL flights, assuming American becomes the sole charter airline for the XFL.

I’ll update next week if there are any changes or if I find any new trends!

Week 6 Update:

American Airlines is doing all the charter work again this week as well. This is the second consecutive week I haven't seen Allegiant Air do any XFL charters, which probably means that Allegiant's contract with the XFL is over. Not 100% sure, but knowing that American has solely chartered the XFL for two consecutive weeks as Allegiant dwindles away, I think it's safe to assume we won't see Allegiant again this season. As long as the league has a good deal with AA, that's good to know!

Remember, of the eight teams in the league, five of them have to fly to their home games (the other three are Texas teams and charter via bus from Arlington/Dallas). Below are the flight numbers for each team when they fly to their respective home cities:
AA9722 - Vegas Vipers (to/from Las Vegas LAS)
AA9723 - Orlando Guardians (to/from Orlando MCO)
AA9732 - St. Louis Battlehawks (to/from St. Louis STL)
AA9733 - Seattle Sea Dragons (to/from Seattle SEA)
AA9737 - DC Defenders (to/from Baltimore BWI)

Remember that the two competing teams for each game fly on the same plane. The flight number is based on the home team/destination.

Hopefully this stays consistent for the rest of the season and I don't have to update any more, but I will let y'all know if there are any changes!

I’m kinda curious if the initial Allegiant flights were a subcontract by AA, perhaps they were having some trouble covering all the flights?

USAirKid wrote:

I’m kinda curious if the initial Allegiant flights were a subcontract by AA, perhaps they were having some trouble covering all the flights?

Honestly, from my point of view, I wouldn't think so, considering there was only one round-trip charter flight to cover in week 1 which American could've easily done if that contract between them and the XFL was there. Just hard to wrap my head around the concept of American asking Allegiant to take care of some charters for the first few weeks while American prepares to fully take it on. American does have the world's largest fleet size at 900+ planes, so knowing that definitely means DFW should have some spare aircraft that can be used for a charter or replace with a plane pulled out of service to charter a flight. Bottom line, I think American would've been able to work that out easily. Or maybe players complained about Allegiant's legroom and demanded more, so the XFL found American at a good deal. Who knows? It's all just speculation!

But, to a certain extent, you could be right, so I wouldn't dismantle your thought!

The lack of legroom seems plausible especially with both teams on same plane, some rows will have no empty seats. I can’t imagine a football player in a center seat with both the aisle and window taken.

airlinepeanuts wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

Given that G4 doesn’t serve the Seattle area, wonder who they contracted for ground handling

Most likely one of the FBOs. United is handled by an FBO at BUR instead of at the terminal for their Dodgers charters, and they have regular mainline service there. They might bring folks from their ramp over to assist though.

N1120A wrote:

airlinepeanuts wrote:

Jshank83 wrote:

2 flights last week to Vegas and Seattle were Allegiant.

Return from the Seattle game was BFI-DAL G44766 flight up was 4765

LAS game was DAL-LAS flight 4101

Given that G4 doesn’t serve the Seattle area, wonder who they contracted for ground handling

Most likely one of the FBOs. United is handled by an FBO at BUR instead of at the terminal for their Dodgers charters, and they have regular mainline service there. They might bring folks from their ramp over to assist though.

Correct, FBOs will have their people pretty much take care of these charter flights. Even at my local airport, Lafayette Regional Airport, the Signature FBO does all the work when we get sports charter flights, even if they're larger A320 aircraft (our airport doesn't have mainline presence so that is considered large to us lol).

These teams go through the FBO when "checking-in," not the terminals, so everything that's included in these charter flights are all done at the FBO and on its apron.