United Adding 74 Fall Flights for College and Pro Football Games

Based on the surge in pent-up demand that has resulted in a quicker than expected return to air travel this past and spring and summer, United Airlines is anticipating it will carry over to football season in the fall.

To that end, United is adding 74 flights, including 52 new direct flights between college towns and professional football markets on gameday weekends this September through November.

The airline will operate three times more direct flights to college towns this year than it did in 2019.

“Nothing brings people together like the opportunity to cheer on the teams they love,” Ankit Gupta, vice president of domestic network planning at United, said in a statement. “This upcoming season, United is adding even more direct flights to college and professional football games than we’ve ever added before so our customers can reunite with the teams, tailgates and touchdowns they may have missed last season.”

United is adding 58 new flights to help some of the most loyal fans in college sports cheer on their teams, including adding 44 point-to-point flights for 21 of their biggest away games.

Some of these flights include Austin, Tex. to Bentonville, Ark. (Texas at Arkansas); Lincoln, Neb. to Lansing, Mich. (Nebraska at Michigan State); State College, Pa. to Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Penn State at Iowa); Birmingham, Ala. to College Station, Tex, (Alabama at Texas A&M; and several trips from South Bend, Ind., to see Notre Dame.

For pro football, United will add 16 new direct flights for four of the most highly anticipated games of the early season, including flights between Green Bay and New Orleans; Green Bay at San Francisco; Tampa and Boston to see Tom Brady’s return to New England; and Buffalo to Kansas City.