After the incredible Seattle Seahawks comeback this week, Seahawks fans from Seattle, and Patriots fans from Boston, are scrambling for plane tickets to Phoenix, AZ for the big game. As a result, Alaska Airlines is opening a sweepstakes to get fans to Phoenix.
Sweepstakes winners will receive a flight to and from Phoenix, a room near the game, and a game day party sponsored by Alaska Airlines.
Though many sweepstakes are used as cost-effective advertising, this sweepstakes is offered through Alaska’s “Chief Football Officer” Russell Wilson’s “Fan Flight II: Strong Against Cancer.” The airline will also donate a dollar to Wilson’s cause for every person who enters the sweepstakes, capping at $50,000.
The sweepstakes might be the only way to get to Phoenix soon. Alaska Airlines announced that flights for Friday, Jan. 30 and Monday, Feb. 2 are already sold out. Additional flights will be added to accommodate air traffic to Phoenix. Fans willing to go earlier and stay longer may still be able to find regular tickets.
Alaska Airlines isn’t the only airline struggling to keep up with Superbowl traffic. U.S. Airlines will add dozens of new flights and some temporary routes to get fans to Super Bowl XLIX. Delta, United, Jetblue and Southwest have also announced expanded flight schedules. United alone is adding 55 extra flights to Phoenix and switching to larger planes for regularly scheduled flights.
Most of the added flights will connect Phoenix to Seattle and Boston, since fans from both teams will be coming from those locations. The extra flights are primarily on the Friday before the Super Bowl and the Sunday following the Super Bowl, though there are a few other dates as well.
Much of the focus is on Alaska Airlines, which runs the biggest hub in Seattle. The Alaska Airlines sweepstakes will provide 56 sports fans with the chance to get to and from Phoenix for free, but there’s a catch: the sweepstakes is only open to members of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan living in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Other sports fans will just have to try to catch one of the added flights.