UCF students camp out for bowl charter flight tickets
About 80 UCF students, many dragging blankets, comforters and pillows, camped out in front of the CFE Arena on Thursday night in hopes of snagging low-fare tickets to a charter flight for the Fiesta Bowl, where the Knights football team will take on the LSU Tigers on New Year’s Day.
Junior Parker Melnick, 20, got the first ticket after they went on sale at 9 a.m. Friday.
Melnick said a friend called Thursday and told him about the ticket sale.
“We left the house pretty quick and were the first ones in line,” said Melnick, a junior from Atlanta who with his twin brother, Jonathan, got to the arena at 7 p.m.
“We did not stay warm,” Jonathan said of sleeping outside.
The University of Central Florida’s student government will charter the plane, and there will be room for 158 students. To buy a ticket — only one per student allowed — students had to have a valid student ID, a UCF email address, and $250 in a check, money order or cash.
It appears to be a good deal for students who hope to see their 25-0 Knights beat LSU. As of Friday morning, the least expensive tickets from Orlando International
Airport to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix hovered at about $300 but had connections through Boston or New York, putting total travel time at between eight and 12 hours, according to flight booking website Kayak.com. The least expensive direct round trip, through American Airlines, was listed at $887.
Students still will have to pay for their own game tickets, lodging and transportation to and from the airport once they touch down in Arizona.
The chartered flight will leave Orlando International Airport on Dec. 31 and return Jan. 2.
“It’s going to be a great time to have everybody all together … charge on, baby!” Parker Melnick said while clutching his ticket.
UCF last played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2014, when it beat Baylor. Last year, the UCF defeated Auburn in the Peach Bowl.