To Adam: <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> Anyway, while I think it is fair to hold the ICT in LA, economically, some teams like Sudheer's Illini (and especially teams from farther east) will find it difficult to pay for transcontinental flight. Further, it's probably not wise to book a supersaver flight until you qualify (unless you know you are a Top 10-15 team). <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> A: Fly anyways and play standby. [see WashU _at_ 2000 BU] B: You self-answer your argument by stating that not enough teams will sign up. C: Any flight out of Boston/LaGuardia/Philly is expensive to any other location in the US not served by Southwest, regardless of transcontinental nature. Matt writes: <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> Southwest flies only to selected large cities. The average college town, and even such major cities as Boston, need to fly with a full-fare airline. So far it's been made known that Princeton, Illinois, and Harvard will have enormous difficulties getting to the event. <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> A: Drive to a southwest-served city like Hartford, BWI, or Long Island, then fly. [see WashU STL-->Hartford, ICT 2000] B: Flying out of Boston/other east coast is inherently expensive to ANYWHERE it's not served by Southwest/"your favorite low cost carrier". This means ICT's should never be hosted in the deep south, southwest, or upper midwest because it takes too long to drive there for poor Cornell or Penn State. C: Southwest isn't the only low-cost alternative. D: Fundraise or host more tournaments. <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> I did a quick check of prices from several major Eastern air hubs. Los Angeles is on average $150 more expensive per person than a central city such as Chicago or St. Louis. The situation is more severe for teams in less populous areas. <<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>> A: Airfares now aren't always the lowest airfares available; wait for a sale. B: Fundraise or host more tournaments. To Mysterious Packet_Ops: A) You beg the question that Southwest Airlines flies to all the major cities from which college teams will be leaving. Amazing as it may sound, the majority of Southwest Airlines cities are found in the South and in the West. A quick look at a map of SOuthwest cities (<http://www.iflyswa.com/travel_center/routemap.html>) shows such major cities as Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Newark, Atlanta, and Charleston aren't even served by Southwest. A lot of colleges are located around area of those cities and won't have this wondrous, affordable option you're talking about. Hell, I bet a some teams will have trouble finding a flight that goes both in and out of LAX. In our specific case, nearly every ticket option I looked at on numerous discount flight plan websites required us to go LAX one way and SNA (John Wayne airport... that's in Orange County... I've driven from L.A. to Orange County many times before... that's a very long and tedious drive). So seeing as how Southwest doesn't even serve a large host of major cities, especially in the east, that effectively kills your point. <<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>> A: Airfares now aren't always the lowest airfares available; wait for a sale. B: You beg the question that Southwest is the only low cost carrier out there. C: Drive to a Southwest served location. [can't do anything about Charleston :-(] D: Fundraise or host tournaments. E: Fly multiple cheap airlines. F: Call your travel agent if you have problems. G: In general, please get more creative. <<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> B) The return flight is made easier for west coast schools because they at least gain 3 hours back due to time zone changes, as opposed to all the east coast schools, who will lose an extra 3 hours of time in addition to the large amount of travel time required. When the teams are in L.A. they will pretty much have to conform to the tournament's Pacific Time schedule, nullifying any hours saved from the time zone change on the flight to L.A. People have other things to do too, and 3 hours of time is not an insignificant amount. Some of the flights I quoted in my initial search efforts actually arrived early Monday morning, and for people who have class/work Monday that is unacceptable, let alone considering the hassle it would be to find affordable transportation home from the airport when arriving at such late hours. <<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> I'm sorry if you can't "conform" to the west coast schedule, and that you can't waste three hours of time. I'm sure we all aren't procrastinators at one point or the other; would you consider not going to your favorite tournament because of a loss of three hours? Well, I guess I just won't attend that party on Thursday... In my opinion, after flying many many places for med school interviews, quiz bowl & debate tournaments, and conferences, travel days are not days to plan to do much of anything, going to any destination regardless of coast. I don't know what experiences you've had, but I guess it varies from person to person. You're entitled to your own opinion. This ends my two cents on the matter. I don't have time to answer anything anymore, so I hereby concede all arguments [that includes you Matt]. Yours, Jason Paik who won't be attending the ICT or the SCT because he has no team
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