Want to see some playoff football? Here’s your travel guide for Wild Card weekend
After a somewhat anticlimactic Lions-Vikings game to complete the puzzle, the NFL playoffs are now set, and it’s time to get this tournament going!
Let’s break down each game so you’ll know how to make travel plans for each.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS @ HOUSTON TEXANS
Saturday, January 11, 3:30pm CT
NRG Stadium
Chargers fans caught a break with this matchup, since a game with Baltimore would have been a much more difficult trip for those coming from Southern California. As it is, the LA to Houston route is an easy draw. Plus, the Saturday afternoon start makes for easier planning.
The late start time does create the possibility of same-day travel, even if it’s not the most advisable strategy in winter. (Just because LA to Houston involves two cities that don’t get winter weather, you never know where your aircraft is coming from – and it could very well be coming from someplace that’s dealing with weather-related flight delays.)
Having said that, on Saturday there are three options for same-day travel that would arrive in what we consider to be an acceptable time frame for you to comfortably make a 3:30pm kickoff:
| DATE | AIRLINE | FLIGHT | ROUTE | DEPART | ARRIVE | CURRENT PRICE ($/POINTS) |
| Sat 1/11 | United | 1748 | LAX>IAH | 12:51am PT | 6:04am CT | $439 / 39,400 |
| Sat 1/11 | Southwest | 820 | LAX>HOU | 5:00am PT | 10:10am CT | $483 / 36,071 |
| Sat 1/11 | United | 2194 | LAX>IAH | 6:00am PT | 11:15am CT | $439 / 39,400 |
But the safer travel choice will be to fly in on Friday, and there’s no shortage of options for that, with Spirit having the cheapest flights: $71 for a 14-hour connecting odyssey, to a $283 direct flight. If you have frequent flier points on United or Air Canada, you can grab a direct flight for between 10,000 and 15,000 points, which is good value for a flight priced at $400+.
A quick look at Hotels.com shows downtown hotels available for less than $150/night, which is a solid deal.
On the ticketing front, the current get-in price for a pair of tickets on StubHub is just under $100 each. For a lower-level pair of tickets, it’s around $260, which is very reasonable for a playoff game. The Texans didn’t play well down the stretch, and the Chargers aren’t a very strong traveling fan base, so when you put those things together, we expect demand to be soft and that prices will likely fall as the week progresses. But if supply starts to shrink as people snap up cheap tickets, you may not want to wait until the last minute. Watch on Thursday and if you see tickets that fit your budget, grab them.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS @ BALTIMORE RAVENS
Saturday, January 11, 8:00pm ET
M&T Bank Stadium
Well this one certainly ended up being easy. Steelers fans are undoubtedly used to this 250-mile / four-hour drive across Pennsylvania. And the evening time slot means you can definitely forgo the Friday night hotel if you want to.
If you do want to fly, there are two direct flights on Southwest that will get you from PIT to BWI in time for the game:
| DATE | AIRLINE | FLIGHT | ROUTE | DEPART | ARRIVE | CURRENT PRICE ($/POINTS) |
| 1/11 | Southwest | 738 | PIT>BWI | 5:30am ET | 6:50am ET | $323 / 23,718 |
| 1/11 | Southwest | 3500 | PIT>BWI | 10:35am ET | 11:40am ET | $323 / 23,718 |
Otherwise, you’ll need to fly in on Friday.
For the return, there are three direct flights from BWI to Pittsburgh on Sunday, all on Southwest.
TSI TIP: flying from Pittsburgh to any DC airport other than BWI probably doesn’t make sense. By the time you would land at Reagan (DCA) or Dulles (IAD) airports, get a rental car, and drive to Baltimore, it will have been faster (and way cheaper) for you to just drive from Pittsburgh to Baltimore directly, even if you have to rent a car to do so.
SCHEDULE ALERT: in case you’re interested, the Washington Capitals have a home game against the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night. So if you wanted to redirect yourself to DC on Friday instead, you could catch that game.
On the hotel front, we’re seeing plenty of availability for less than $200 in the Inner Harbor, which is not surprising, because we usually see decent hotel prices in Baltimore on game weekends. For more information about lodging for this game, check out our hotel guide for Camden Yards. The venues are across the street from each other, so all of our advice for the Orioles holds true for the Ravens.
On the ticket front, the cheapest get-in price for a pair of tickets on StubHub is currently $173/ticket, and the cheapest pair of lower-level seats is $260 each. Our prediction is that prices continue to fall during the week, and we think if you wait a bit you’ll be able to find lower level tickets at a lower price by Thursday.
DENVER BRONCOS @ BUFFALO BILLS
Sunday, January 12, 1:00pm ET
Highmark Stadium
This one will be more challenging for Broncos fans coming from Denver. A gameday flight is out of the question: there’s no way to get to Buffalo from Denver in time for a 1pm kickoff. And even on Saturday there is just one nonstop on Southwest, but it’s weighing in at $600+. So it’s likely that you’ll be connecting if you’re making this trip.
One-way flight prices range from $296 on multiple airlines, and that includes a Southwest flight that gets there in 5.5 hours, the fastest travel time available.
| 1/12 FLIGHT OPTIONS | AIRLINE | FLIGHT | ROUTE | DEPART | ARRIVE | CURRENT PRICE ($/POINTS) |
| Earliest connection arrival | Southwest | 107/2073 | DEN>MCO>BUF | 6:50am MT | 4:00pm ET | $372 / 26,729 |
| Fastest/earliest arrival | Southwest | 3550 | DEN>BUF | 10:40am MT | 3:40pm ET | $617 / 46,417 |
| Cheapest | Multiple | various | DEN>BUF | various | various | $296 |
The return flights don’t help either. There are no flights after 7pm that will get you back to Denver in less than 16 hours. And trust us when we tell you: getting out of the parking lots after a Bills game is a total disaster. There is NO WAY you can book a flight for prior to 7pm for a 1pm Bills game. Which, for this, means you will have to stay over Sunday night and fly back on Monday.
Given all of this, you’ll need a hotel for two nights (Saturday and Sunday). We show good availability for hotels in Buffalo, so that shouldn’t be a huge problem. There are plenty of hotels for less than $200/night.
On the ticketing front, the get-in price on StubHub for a pair of tickets is $117 each. For the lower level, it’s $157. Those prices will probably be fairly stable, but don’t sleep on local Bills fans snapping up cheap tickets as they fall. We wouldn’t wait too long on this if you’re planning on attending. We say buy while the tickets appear to be cheap.
SCHEDULE ALERT: the Sabres host the Kraken at 4pm ET on Saturday. So if you want to see some hockey, you could fly into Buffalo early and check it out.
GREEN BAY PACKERS @ PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Sunday, January 12, 4:30pm ET
Lincoln Financial Field
Well, we’ll acknowledge that if you’re a Packers fan, and you actually live anywhere in Wisconsin, you’re well used to the challenge of flying places to see your team. And this won’t be any different.
For same-day travel from Green Bay, you could actually take any of three one-stop flights and get to Philly by 1pm. But it’s risky, because you’ll have to connect in either Detroit, Chicago, or Atlanta.
The same holds true for same-day travel from Milwaukee: there’s a handful of flights that could get you into Philly by 1pm, but they’re risky.
We think you’re much better off traveling on Saturday instead, when there’s at least three American Airlines flights that cost only 9000 points from Green Bay, and multiple flights on Delta and American that are priced at 11000-12000 points. Meanwhile, the cash fare is over $300 for these flights, so this won’t be an inexpensive trip if you’re paying with cash.
For the return, there is no reasonable way to get back to either Milwaukee or Green Bay after the game on Sunday, so you’ll be hanging out in Philly overnight. Late night cheesesteak, anyone?
On the hotel front, we see plenty of hotels for less than $150 per night. If you’re interested in more information about where to stay for an Eagles game, check out our insider guide to Citizens Bank Park. The stadiums are across the street from each other, so the information in the Phillies guide will be applicable for the Eagles.
On the ticketing front, the cheapest pair of tickets for this game on StubHub is $248/ticket, while the cheapest lower-level pair is $455/ticket. That makes this the priciest game of the weekend. If you’re looking to buy, we say that as soon as you see tickets that match your budget, grab them. There are unlikely to be a lot of bargain opportunities for this game, as local Eagles fans will be buying them up.
SCHEDULE ALERT: the Flyers host the Ducks on Saturday at 7pm ET. So if you wanted to see some hockey, you could fly in on Saturday and easily catch the game. There’s also a 76ers game on Friday night.
WASHINGTON COMMANDERS @ TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Sunday, January 12, 8:00pm ET
Raymond James Stadium
The good news is that you can easily get from DC to Tampa via same-day travel on Sunday. The bad news is that you’ll obviously have to stay overnight and fly back home on Monday.
Cheap connecting flights are available, with Delta being the cheapest at $149, arriving in plenty of time for the game. For nonstop options, we see three flights out of DCA, three out of BWI, and even one out of Dulles, all of which will arrive into Tampa in time for the game. Prices are high, starting at $320, but those with American Airlines points can grab a flight right now for 17,500 points.
For a return flight on Monday, there’s no shortage of options, including bargain flights on Frontier for as little as $125.
On the hotel front, we see airport hotels (near the stadium) for reasonable prices.
On the ticket side, the cheapest pair of tickets on StubHub is $190/ticket, while the cheapest pair for the lower level is $325/ticket. We think these prices will fall: Tampa fans aren’t known to overpay for tickets, and Washington has been bad for so long that their fan base isn’t all that used to traveling. We’d wait a few days to buy these at a cheaper price.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS @ LA RAMS
Monday, January 13, 5:00pm PT
SoFi Stadium
This was clearly the game that drew the short straw, ending up on Monday and forcing traveling fans to take two days off from work.
For flights on Monday, there are three nonstop flights that we think would get you into LA in time for the game, but two of them are crushingly expensive:
| DATE | AIRLINE | FLIGHT | ROUTE | DEPART | ARRIVE | CURRENT PRICE ($/POINTS) |
| 1/13 | Delta | 2110 | MSP>LAX | 7:00am CT | 9:26am PT | $499 / 39,100 |
| 1/13 | Delta | 2102 | MSP>LAX | 8:50am CT | 11:05am PT | $499 / 39,100 |
| 1/13 | Sun Country | 421 | MSP>LAX | 9:00am CT | 11:05am PT | $285 |
But never discount Minnesota weather (and if you’re from Minnesota, we’re sure you don’t). Given the possibility of winter weather delays, we think it’s better to fly on Saturday or Sunday. If you’re going to go to California from Minnesota in January, a few days in the sun wouldn’t hurt, right?
On the return, the cheapest reasonable flight is on Spirit for $173, connecting in Atlanta. But the cheapest direct flight is a whopping $499 on Delta.
TSI TIP: don’t forget the time zone change! A 5pm game in LA would end by 8:30. Which means you could absolutely get to LAX for a red-eye flight at 11:20pm. The flight is just as expensive as the ones on Tuesday, but you’d at least save a hotel night … and get back home earlier.
On the hotel front, there is always hotel availability in LA, and for SoFi, it’s completely appropriate to stay around LAX.
For tickets, the get-in price is $100/ticket, and the cheapest pair of tickets in the Plaza Level is $238/ticket.
SCHEDULE ALERT: the Clippers host the Heat on Monday night at the brand-new Intuit Dome at 7:30pm PT. While you would be unlikely to be there for the start of the game, you could certainly be there by halftime, as you can walk from one stadium to another.
