Southwest Airlines is offering two nonstop roundtrips to get college basketball fans to the 2026 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis, the airline announced March 31.
Within about an hour of the announcement, though, all the seats were gone.
The Friday-to-Tuesday flights will go roundtrip from Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn. and from Tucson International Airport to Indianapolis International Airport. Arizona, Michigan, UConn and Illinois will battle it out Saturday, April 4 to advance to the NCAA finals, and the national champion will be crowned Monday, April 6.
Two flights from Hartford will depart Connecticut Friday, but fans will likely have to add a layover on the way home. One nonstop flight will leave Indianapolis on Tuesday morning, but it’s already sold out. The cheapest roundtrip with a layover going back to Connecticut costs at least $1,000 as of publication.
Meanwhile, Arizona fans will have to look elsewhere. Southwest launched a roundtrip from Tucson to Indianapolis, but the airline’s website shows no tickets available for the flight as of publication. The cheapest Friday-to-Tuesday round trip from Tucson costs more than $1,200 with a stop in Phoenix, according to Google Flights.
Typically, no airline flies directly between the cities. For large sporting events with high travel demand, like the Final Four or IU’s postseason college football run, airlines tend to offer select nonstop routes not normally serviced by the Indianapolis International Airport called specialty flights.
Book flights at southwest.com.
Alysa Guffey writes business and development stories for IndyStar. Contact her at alysa.guffey@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Southwest adds flights for Arizona, UConn fans coming to Final Four
Reporting by Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
