Hey @GopherFootball fans! More flights have been added to #Orlando for the @BWWCitrusBowl: http://t.co/ImwcTWpEqS pic.twitter.com/3Ahpp8hOgc
— Sun Country Airlines (@SunCountryAir) December 17, 2014
Massive demand from Gophers fans desperate to get down to Florida for the Citrus Bowl has prompted Sun Country Airlines to add five more flights.
Gophers fans contacted Sun Country over Twitter expressing disappointment that tickets to Orlando on its regular scheduled flights had sold out.
The Mendota Heights-based airline responded by announcing Wednesday it will be running two more flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Orlando on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 ahead of the Gophers bowl game against Missouri on New Year’s Day.
It is also running three extra return flights on January 1, 3 and 4, with the New Year’s Day flight a red-eye leaving the sunshine state at 11.30 p.m.
The Pioneer Press reports that more than 7,000 tickets to the game have already been sold out of the Gophers’ allocation of 9,000.
“There was still significant demand from fans to have an opportunity to go down there, and so we were excited to be able to take them,” Eric Curry, vice president of sales and customer experience at Sun Country, told the Pioneer Press.
According to the Star Tribune, a round trip to Florida leaving on the 6.15 a.m. January 1 flight, returning that night on the 11.30 p.m. red-eye, would set you back $373. Costs for other flight combinations said to be similar.
On another note, the Star Tribune also reports Twins closer Glen Perkins will be Minnesota’s V.I.P. for the Citrus Bowl Parade, which will go through downtown Orlando on Dec. 30, two days before the Gophers face Missouri.
Perkins is a Golden Gophers alum, he was drafted by the Twins in the first round of the 2004 MLB Draft.
