Southwest had a very successful charter operation for the 2014 NCAA Basketball Tournament this year. We operated 66 charters—18 of them alumni and fans—slightly more than the 62 charters operated last year. We carried more than 7,000 folks on these charters, which were full of teams, bands, university officials, alumni, and fans!
This year’s men’s tournament began March 20and ended on April 7. We flew the University of Florida and University of Kentucky teams, plus their respective university officials, to Dallas for the final games! We also carried the University of Connecticut band, cheer teams, and hundreds of alumni and fans to Dallas. In all, we operated 20 charter flights in/out of Dallas. (On a related note, we also were able to fly the SMU men’s basketball team to New York and back to Dallas for the finals of the NIT Tournament!)
The NCAA women’s tournament ran from March 22 through April 8, and we operated charters the entire time, including the final games as we carried both the Stanford and University of Connecticut women’s teams and university officials to Nashville for their final tournament games.
The success of our NCAA Basketball Tournament Charters would not have been possible without great Teamwork from all our Employee groups, and we thank you for the outrageous service you all gave our Customers.
Here are the Teams, alumni, and fans our airline transported for the tournaments:
Men
Arizona State
Florida
Gonzaga
Iowa State
Kentucky
North Carolina Central
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Providence
Stanford
Steven F Austin
Tulsa
New Mexico
UCLA
University of Texas
Wisconsin
Women
Albany
Baylor
DePaul
Maryland
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Prairie View A&M
Stanford
UC Berkeley
University of Texas
University of Connecticut
Vanderbilt
West Virginia
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The Southwest Charter Department was busy again this year transporting football teams, alumni, and fans to college bowl games around the country. We flew a total of 64 charter flights, with our busiest days on December 31 with 15 flights and January 3 with 17 flights! We flew three teams to their college bowls: Boise State to the MAACO Bowl in Las Vegas; OU to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, AZ (PHX); and SMU to the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham. All three teams won their games! In addition, we flew the UT Band to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. We also flew fans and alumni to bowl games from the following universities: Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and the FCS champions, North Dakota State. Although we were busy, we weren’t able to match last year’s stellar performance. One of the main reasons for that was that the BCS Championship game this year (between Alabama and LSU) was played in New Orleans, which ended up being mostly a drive market for both teams and their fans and alumni.
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04-07-2011
11:19 AM
427 Loves
College basketball teams, fans, and school officials experienced a little Southwest Culture over the past few weeks, including Butler’s adorable mascot, Big Blue! It was an even bigger success for Southwest Airlines, as we transported a number of these teams, fans, and mascots on our charter flights all across the country. Over the past three weeks, while Big Blue supported his team throughout the tournament, Southwest Airlines Employees and Customers celebrated their wins alongside him. IND Ramp Agent Andy W. and IND Ramp Sup Selena H. received some mascot tips before their big trip to HOU! Here, Blue received a personal tour of the cockpit! HOU Ops Agent Adrian O. hangs out with Blue in the gate area! Throughout the season, we carried 11 men’s basketball teams to their game sites, including the two teams in the championship game, UConn and Butler. On the women’s side, we carried five teams. Additionally, we carried fans and alumni from five different teams to watch their favorite teams play. In total, we had 27 trips and carried more than 3,000 Customers during the season including: Men’s teams: Butler, UConn, FSU, Gonzaga, Morehead State, Richmond, Arizona, UT, Wisconsin, UNLV, Illinois Women’s teams: TTU, Kansas State, Hampton, Fresno State, Wisconsin-Green Bay Fans, School Officials, and Mascots: Kentucky, Kansas, VCU, Butler Thank you to the teams, fans, and mascots, for flying Southwest Airlines, and many thanks to our Southwest Employees who made these charter flights a success!
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