March Madness: 2014 Ncaa Tournament Charters

KELPkid · Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:17 am

Well everyone,

The conference tournaments are now over, and the field is set. Let the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's basketball tournament begin, and post the tournament charter flights here!

KELPkid · Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:19 am

I'm trying to get a handle on my Alma Mater-the New Mexico State Aggies. They won the WAC tournament on March 15 in Las Vegas, but I can't tell if they came home. If they did, it was not on a charter flight. My guess is that they will depart LAS directly for GEG, however no LAS-GEG charter has shown up yet, and for that matter, neither has an ELP-GEG charter

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:23 pm

Tuesday games . . .

Mount Saint Mary's: ? Likely HGR or MDT-BWI
Albany: LL 738 ALB-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...5/history/20140317/1300Z/KALB/KDAY

North Carolina State: LL 738 RDU-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...6/history/20140317/1300Z/KRDU/KDAY (crazy flight plan, btw)
Xavier: Driving

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 1):
I'm trying to get a handle on my Alma Mater-the New Mexico State Aggies. They won the WAC tournament on March 15 in Las Vegas, but I can't tell if they came home.

Four days is a long time to sit in Spokane, especially since the distances are not (relatively) that great. A Thursday game is usually a Tuesday departure.

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 17, 2014 3:48 pm

Wednesday games . . .

Texas Southern:
Cal Poly: 6F M83 SMX-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/FAO201 (I assume they used SMX for the extra 2,000 feet of runway over SBP; also, I believe 6F is a new tournament operator).
Texas Southern: LL 738 HOU-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...4/history/20140317/1800Z/KHOU/KDAY

Tennessee: Driving?
Iowa: LL 738 CID-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BSK337

Alias1024 · Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:42 pm

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 1):
I'm trying to get a handle on my Alma Mater-the New Mexico State Aggies. They won the WAC tournament on March 15 in Las Vegas, but I can't tell if they came home. If they did, it was not on a charter flight. My guess is that they will depart LAS directly for GEG, however no LAS-GEG charter has shown up yet, and for that matter, neither has an ELP-GEG charter

Whomever the Aggies end up flying with I hope the have some first class seats available for Sim Bhullar. That's the largest human being I've ever seen!

For reference, the player on the left (Alex Kirk) is 7'0" and about 250 lb.

PMUA787 · Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:55 am

Its too bad the Aggies cant fly in and out of LRU up the road and have to trek down to ELP.

KELPkid · Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:11 am

Quoting PMUA787 (Reply 5):

Its too bad the Aggies cant fly in and out of LRU up the road and have to trek down to ELP.

See if you can convince the city of Las Cruces to make the infrastructure upgrades necessary to handle an aircraft larger than a Beech 1900 or an RJ

Anyhow, still can't find NMSU's charter

jreuschl · Tue Mar 18, 2014 2:02 pm

UW-Milwaukee > Buffalo

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NCR201

KBUF · Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:45 pm

University of Dayton: Miami Air #321 B737-800 DAY-BUF: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BSK321

EDIT: Villanova and St. Joe's (PHL-BUF), Ameristar B737-200 and MD-83 (don't know which school is on which charter):

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AJI9995
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AJI9996

[Edited 2014-03-18 14:26:13]

KELPkid · Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:57 pm

New Mexico State University Aggies:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...1/history/20140318/2100Z/KELP/KGEG

Sun Country 738

[Edited 2014-03-18 16:23:49]

KBUF · Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:40 am

Ohio State: Sun Country #8661, 737-800, CMH-BUF: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX8661
Western Michigan: jetBlue #8550, A320, AZO-BUF: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU8550

All team charters to BUF now accounted for, with the exception of UConn's (and needless to say, Syracuse is driving).

Cubsrule · Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:07 pm

Cubsrule · Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:15 pm

Tuesday games . . .

Albany: LL 738 DAY-MCO http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...1/history/20140319/0359Z/KDAY/KMCO
Mount Saint Marys: ? (Where do these guys fly from? I couldn't find them going to Dayton either.)

North Carolina State: LL 738 DAY-MCO http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...4/history/20140319/0600Z/KDAY/KMCO
Xavier: Drove Home (this flight is presumably the airplane that was waiting if another one was needed: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BSK572)

tjwgrr · Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:53 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 11):
I think Michigan is the only mystery here . . .

Maybe coach Beilein put the boys on a long bus ride after their horrible performance against Michigan State last Sunday...

KELPkid · Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:56 pm

Quoting tjwgrr (Reply 13):
Maybe coach Beilein put the boys on a long bus ride after their horrible performance against Michigan State last Sunday...

The NMSU charter didn't show up on flightaware until right before departure(!). Wondering how last minute everything was...

Usually, you get probably 24 hours advance notice in flightaware. That makes me wonder if Michigan is in a similar situation, or maybe Sun Country's dispatchers aren't loading the outbound charter flight plan until just before departure, or their flight crews are doing it old school: calling clearance delivery and reading out the flight plan to the CLNCDLR controller

ytib · Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:46 pm

Here is one for Friday's games

Arizona: TUS-SAN http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CXP112

DariusBieber · Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:09 am

For San Antonio's games:

Team Charters:

Providence: (almost 5 hours seems a long time to fly from Rhode Island to San Antonio!)
PVD - SAT
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8048

Iowa State University:
DSM - SAT
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/FAO204

North Carolina:
RDU-SAT
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8045

North Carolina Central:
RDU-SAT
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NCR202

[Edited 2014-03-19 17:10:45]

Cubsrule · Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:25 pm

Cubsrule · Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:54 pm

Wednesday games . . .

Cal Poly: LL 738 DAY-STL http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...6/history/20140320/0359Z/KDAY/KSTL
Texas Southern:

Tennessee: LL 738 DAY-RDU http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...7/history/20140320/0515Z/KDAY/KRDU
Iowa: 6F M83 DAY-CID http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...7/history/20140320/1300Z/KDAY/KCID

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 14):
Usually, you get probably 24 hours advance notice in flightaware. That makes me wonder if Michigan is in a similar situation, or maybe Sun Country's dispatchers aren't loading the outbound charter flight plan until just before departure, or their flight crews are doing it old school: calling clearance delivery and reading out the flight plan to the CLNCDLR controller

It all depends on when they file flight plans, which differs a fair bit from operator to operator. I don't think there's really anything to read into it.

Cubsrule · Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:59 pm

My prior post was missing Texas Southern, who are taking a 6F M83 DAY-HOU this afternoon (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/FAO208/history/20140320/1845Z/KDAY/KHOU). Interestingly, this looks to be the same plane that took Iowa home last night (the repo from CID is here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...history/20140320/1545Z/KCID/KDAY). I wonder if they set things up this way because Tennessee was close enough to drive home if it lost.

KELPkid · Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:47 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 19):
. Interestingly, this looks to be the same plane that took Iowa home last night (the repo from CID is here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...history/20140320/1545Z/KCID/KDAY). I wonder if they set things up this way because Tennessee was close enough to drive home if it lost.

Yeah, I noticed a distinct lack of "loser" flights posted. Remember the good ol' days, when Champion Air had the contract to fly home the losers? I always found it ironic that losing teams flew home on an airline named Champion...

Cubsrule · Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:58 pm

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 20):
Yeah, I noticed a distinct lack of "loser" flights posted. Remember the good ol' days, when Champion Air had the contract to fly home the losers? I always found it ironic that losing teams flew home on an airline named Champion...

The "first round" sort of had loser flights -- there were flights to the "second round" sites for the winners and loser flights for the rest. It's an odd round that way. The other rounds either have winners staying and losers going home or everyone traveling so there aren't really loser flights.

tjwgrr · Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:20 pm

Quoting KELPkid (Reply 20):
Yeah, I noticed a distinct lack of "loser" flights posted.

Western Michigan's ride home after defeat: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX8671

Cubsrule · Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:55 pm

KELPkid · Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:33 am

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 23):
New Mexico State N8 752 GEG-ELP http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...1/history/20140321/0830Z/KGEG/KELP (sorry, KELPKid, but at least they got a sweet ride home)

Next year, the sweet 16

Cubsrule · Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:51 am

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:07 am

Everyone goes home after Saturday's games. That typically means earlier flights; I think all the flight but 3 or 4 went last night. Also, note the extensive DL involvement, which is not surprising given all of their aircraft downtime on Saturdays.

Florida: Driving home from Orlando
Pitt: DL M88 MCO-PIT flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL8896/history/20140322/2200Z/KMCO/KPIT

Louisville: DL M88 MCO-SDF http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...7/history/20140323/0200Z/KMCO/KSDF
Saint Louis: DL M88 MCO-STL http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...8/history/20140323/0330Z/KMCO/KSTL (note that DL did all the MCO flights today; this is more common later in the tournament)

Michigan: Driving home from Milwaukee?
Texas: WN 73G MKE-AUS http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...4/history/20140323/0200Z/KMKE/KAUS

San Diego State: DL 752 GEG-SAN http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...1/history/20140323/0500Z/KGEG/KSAN
North Dakota State: AJI M83 GEG-FAR http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A...7/history/20140323/1600Z/KGEG/KFAR

Syracuse: Driving home from Buffalo
Dayton: DL M88 BUF-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...0/history/20140323/0500Z/KBUF/KDAY

Wisconsin: Driving home from Milwaukee
Oregon: DL 320 MKE-EUG http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...9/history/20140323/0455Z/KMKE/KEUG

Michigan State: DL 752 GEG-LAN http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...2/history/20140323/0530Z/KGEG/KLAN
Harvard: N8 752 GEG-BOS http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...1/history/20140323/1800Z/KGEG/KBOS

Villanova: DL 752 BUF-PHL http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...3/history/20140323/1500Z/KBUF/KPHL
Connecticut: 6F M83 BUF-BDL DL" target="_blank">http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...0/history/20140323/1400Z/KBUF/KBDL

bjorn14 · Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:44 am

Anybody know why Harvard left from BED but are returning to BOS?

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:08 pm

Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 27):
Anybody know why Harvard left from BED but are returning to BOS?

It's not terribly unusual in multi-airport metro areas, since the airport used at least partially depends on the charter operator.

[Edited 2014-03-24 10:32:37]

tjwgrr · Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:38 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 26):
Michigan: Driving home from Milwaukee?

About 325 miles back to Ann Arbor which is around 5 hours if no stops and depending on traffic and time of day....... I know they take the bus to Evanston, IL when they play Northwestern which is around 260-265 miles.

Cubsrule · Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:53 pm

Quoting tjwgrr (Reply 29):
About 325 miles back to Ann Arbor which is around 5 hours if no stops and depending on traffic and time of day....... I know they take the bus to Evanston, IL when they play Northwestern which is around 260-265 miles.

300 miles is roughly the limit for driving. This year, Kansas (a hair under 300 miles) drove to Saint Louis, but Kansas State (about 380 miles) and Kentucky (about 340 miles) flew. In the past, Kansas has driven to Oklahoma City (320 miles) for tournament games.

flymco · Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:12 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 30):
300 miles is roughly the limit for driving. This year, Kansas (a hair under 300 miles) drove to Saint Louis, but Kansas State (about 380 miles) and Kentucky (about 340 miles) flew. In the past, Kansas has driven to Oklahoma City (320 miles) for tournament games.

According to an article in the New York Times if teams are within 350 miles of where they are playing they get bussed.

flymco

Cubsrule · Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:48 pm

Quoting flymco (Reply 31):
According to an article in the New York Times if teams are within 350 miles of where they are playing they get bussed.

That line is a bit fuzzy. I believe Arizona bussed to and from San Diego (355 miles from Tempe to San Diego per google maps), while Kentucky flew to Saint Louis (337 miles from Lexington to Saint Louis per google maps).

flymco · Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:46 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 32):

This is the link to the article I was referencing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/sp...rters.html?ref=ncaabasketball&_r=0

flymco

Cubsrule · Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:18 pm

Thursday games . . .

Stanford: WN 73G SJC-MEM http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...7/history/20140325/1930Z/KSJC/KMEM
Dayton: LL 738 DAY-MEM http://flightaware.com/live/flight/B...0/history/20140325/2030Z/KDAY/KMEM

Wisconsin: WN 73G MSN-LAX http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...9/history/20140325/1400Z/KMSN/KLAX
Baylor: UA 738 ACT-SNA http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U...6/history/20140325/2330Z/KACT/KSNA

Florida: AA 738 GNV-MEM http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A...5/history/20140325/2000Z/KGNV/KMEM
UCLA: WN 73G LAX-MEM http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...6/history/20140325/2030Z/KLAX/KMEM

Arizona: Driving to Anaheim
San Diego State: Driving to Anaheim

flySFO · Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:43 pm

When teams fly a charter flight on a commercial airline (i.e. Southwest out of LAX), does the team board through a gate at the terminal like a normal commercial flight or do they skip the terminal altogether and board on a remote ramp?

ytib · Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:29 am

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 32):
That line is a bit fuzzy. I believe Arizona bussed to and from San Diego (355 miles from Tempe to San Diego per google maps), while Kentucky flew to Saint Louis (337 miles from Lexington to Saint Louis per google maps).

Arizona is in Tucson.

NWAESC · Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:37 am

Quoting flySFO (Reply 35):
When teams fly a charter flight on a commercial airline (i.e. Southwest out of LAX), does the team board through a gate at the terminal like a normal commercial flight or do they skip the terminal altogether and board on a remote ramp?

Depends on the airport, gate availability, etc. I've seen both. I've also seen a sort of hybrid, where the plane is a "regular" gate, but the team is bussed onto the field, and boards from the ramp...

INFINITI329 · Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:41 am

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 32):
That line is a bit fuzzy. I believe Arizona bussed to and from San Diego (355 miles from Tempe to San Diego per google maps), while Kentucky flew to Saint Louis (337 miles from Lexington to Saint Louis per google maps

You are confusing Arizona with Arizona State.. Arizona State is Tempe and Arizona in Tucson

ytib · Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:51 am

Arizona: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX8661/history/20140326/0059Z/KTUS/KLGB

Source - https://twitter.com/APlayersProgram/status/448626418776150016

BEAR DOWN!

Edit: Change URL to historical link.

[Edited 2014-03-25 18:55:58]

Cubsrule · Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:12 am

Quoting infiniti329 (Reply 38):
You are confusing Arizona with Arizona State.. Arizona State is Tempe and Arizona in Tucson

You know, I lost a shot at a job in Phoenix once because I confused the two . . . you'd think I'd get it right now. As ytib points out, they're flying SY TUS-LGB.

bjorn14 · Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:30 pm

Curious as to why 3 teams in the West region are using 3 different airports? No room at SNA? GO BUCKY!

Cubsrule · Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:57 pm

Friday games (very few flights here) . . .

Michigan: Driving to Indianapolis
Tennessee: DL M88 TYS-IND http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...0/history/20140326/2200Z/KTYS/KIND

Iowa State: WN 73G DSM-EWR http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...8/history/20140326/1800Z/KDSM/KEWR
Connecticut: Driving to New York

Louisville: Driving to Indianapolis
Kentucky: Driving to Indianapolis

Virginia: RP ER4 CHO-TEB http://flightaware.com/live/flight/C...0/history/20140326/2100Z/KCHO/KTEB
Michigan State: XP 734 LAN-JFK http://flightaware.com/live/flight/C...1/history/20140326/2230Z/KLAN/KJFK

Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 41):
Curious as to why 3 teams in the West region are using 3 different airports?

Again, the carrier has some discretion. New York was similar.

Cubsrule · Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:40 pm

Thursday losers . . .

Stanford: 6F M83 MEM-SJC http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...8/history/20140328/1500Z/KMEM/KSJC

Baylor: XP 734 LGB-ACT http://flightaware.com/live/flight/C...2/history/20140328/1700Z/KLGB/KACT

UCLA: WN 73G MEM-LAX http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...3/history/20140328/1600Z/KMEM/KLAX

San Diego State: Driving home from Anaheim

toering · Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:46 pm

Are any of these games the reason an HA A330 is at MSP? Saw it yesterday off I-494 at the Delta hangers.

Cubsrule · Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:36 pm

Quoting toering (Reply 44):
Are any of these games the reason an HA A330 is at MSP? Saw it yesterday off I-494 at the Delta hangers.

No. Widebody charters in the tournament are pretty rare.

Friday losers:

Tennessee: DL M88 IND-TYS http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...0/history/20140329/1400Z/KIND/KTYS

Iowa State: WN 73G EWR-DSM http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...4/history/20140329/1600Z/KEWR/KDSM

Louisville: Driving home from Indianapolis

Virginia: Aerodynamics ER4 TEB-CHO http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...9/history/20140329/1600Z/KTEB/KCHO

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:09 am

Saturday is another day after which everyone travels . . .

Florida: DL M88 MEM-GNV http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...8/history/20140330/0300Z/KMEM/KGNV
Dayton: DL M88 MEM-DAY http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...7/history/20140330/0300Z/KMEM/KDAY

Arizona: DL 320 LAX-TUS http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...6/history/20140330/0600Z/KLAX/KTUS
Wisconsin:6F M83 LGB-MSN http://flightaware.com/live/flight/F...0/history/20140330/1700Z/KLGB/KMSN

Cubsrule · Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:45 am

Sunday games . . .

Michigan State: DL 752 EWR-LAN http://flightaware.com/live/flight/D...1/history/20140330/2330Z/KEWR/KLAN
Connecticut: Driving home from New York

Michigan: Driving home from Indianapolis
Kentucky: Driving home from Indianapolis

xcoaster1 · Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:58 pm

So now the question is, the charters for the flights into DAL/DFW for the final four this weekend.

BravoEchoNov · Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:21 pm

Kentucky actually chartered a flight from Indy to Lexington last night. Does anybody have anymore info?

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