Super Bowl LIX (that’s 59 for those of us who don’t know our Roman numerals) kicks off Sunday, February 9, 2025, in New Orleans.
The Philadephia Eagles will square up against Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team the Kansas City Chiefs, and if you want to be there when it happens, we’ve got some tips for how to save on your flights.
How much are flights to New Orleans for the Super Bowl?
First, let’s take a look at current fares, both in cash and points.
MCI to MSY: From Kansas City, roundtrip economy fares to New Orleans for Feb. 8-10 are currently around $685 in cash, which puts the fare at around 68,000 points in most credit card portals (which typically offer a redemption of 1 cent per point). A search on point.me brings up much lower fares: as low as 52,000 points (plus $12 in fees) roundtrip nonstop or as little as 15,000 points roundtrip with a short layover.
PHL to MSY: From Philadelphia, roundtrip economy fares to New Orleans for Feb. 8-10 are currently much higher — around $1,100 roundtrip in cash United or American or $670 on Frontier. The full-service airline fare would come out at around 110,000 points in most credit card portals. A search on point.me has fares as low as 32,000 points (plus $38 in fees) roundtrip nonstop or as little as 18,000 points roundtrip with a short layover.
Outside of these cities, prices can vary quite a bit, but we’re already seeing fares to New Orleans for the Super Bowl dates spike due to the increased demand.
How to save on flights to the Super Bowl
If the cash prices from your city have you shuddering a bit but you don’t want to miss the big game action, here are a few ways to snag a cheaper flight.
Book ASAP
When it comes to cash fares, flights rarely get cheaper in the final two weeks before departure, and with the high demand we’ll see along routes to New Orleans for Super Bowl week, you should only expect the fares to rise in the final days before the game.
Points fares are a slightly different beast. Programs that price their points fares according to region or distance won’t see a lot of fare volatility, but you might struggle to find availability. And if the airline uses dynamic pricing, the points fares will increase or decrease as the cash fares do. This means you’ll likely see fare increases as the date of the game approaches.
Your best bet is to snag a seat ASAP, even if you aren’t sure you will attend the game. Most programs allow you to cancel or change your flight and get most of your points back. And if you’re paying cash, you have up to 24 hours after booking to cancel and get your money back, so long as you’re booking at least seven days before the trip.
Extend your trip by a few days
The highest demand — which means the highest prices and lowest availability — will be for flights arriving on Saturday and departing on Monday. If you can spend a few more days in NOLA (and why wouldn’t you want to?), you’ll save on your flights.
Compare two one-ways to a roundtrip
While a roundtrip flight is often in the same price range as two one-ways, booking two one-ways gives you a lot more flexibility to mix and match your airlines and programs and snag the best flights for less. This is especially helpful if you have points in a few different programs.
Check nearby cities and alternate airports
New Orleans is a major destination, and the airport receives nonstop flights from 48 destinations in the U.S. — chances are you can get there with one stop or less. But your closest airport might not have the best fares. For example, cash fares to New Orleans from Lexington for Super Bowl weekend are currently around $1,200, while fares from Louisville, an hour’s drive away, start at $400. For those in the Northeast, don’t forget about the airports that are connected to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, such as Newark (EWR) and Baltimore (BWI) — for example, if you’re in Philly and willing to travel to Baltimore and fly on Spirit, you can save at least $200.
Check both business class and economy
Business class can sometimes cost a lot fewer points than you might expect, especially when compared to the points fare for economy. For example, you could fly nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) to New Orleans for as little as 12,500 points each way in economy, or if you’re willing to add a short layover in Charlotte, it’s just 19,000 points each way to fly in the much comfier seats up front.
Break up your group and book individually
You’re traveling in a group of four, so you search for four seats. Makes sense, right? It does, but it can result in higher fares. Airlines bucket their cash fares; when all the seats at one price are gone, the available seats go up to the next highest price. If you’re looking for more than one seat, but only one seat is available at the lowest price, the fare can rise drastically when a second passenger is added.
This also applies to points fares. Not every seat on a plane is available to book via points, and availability can be especially limited when it comes to premium seats.
If you’re having trouble finding the number of seats you need at the price you want, reduce your search number. You may need to split your party among different flights, pay for some in cash and others in points, or split your group between fare classes.
Evaluate whether cash or points is the better option
Generally, we recommend not booking a fare that comes out to less than one penny per point in value. This is the bare minimum you’ll get from most credit card portals, but you can often get a lot more value when transferring your points to an airline. If the flight you’re eyeing isn’t a great points deal, you may want to save your points and just pay cash.
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