Airlines don’t have a lot of spare planes that they’re willing to charter for the NCAA tournament, so in pursuit of a seamless travel experience for collegiate basketball teams there are going to have to be some sacrifices — like:

Women’s teams will be required to take departures as late as 10pm. They can fly a day earlier than usual if they wish and will be paid an extra day’s per diem if they do.



Men’s teams with an early game time in the second round will be required to fly home the same day they played. Teams with start times after 3pm will fly home the next day — but might have to fly early. But if their travel is late in the day, they’ll get extra per diem and be guaranteed late checkout of their hotel.

This line is priceless,

As we face these charter travel challenges together, we respectfully ask that all teams be flexible in their requests and recognize there are larger issues at stake than just arrangements for individual teams.

Teams are also asked to show up on time for their charter flights, since arriving late doesn’t just mean their team is late but it will affect downstream operations for the charter aircraft, causing delays for other teams as well.

Put another way, this is a request rather than a threat that the jetway door closes 10 minutes prior to departure and anyone not there will be left behind and have to fly commercial.

Click to enlarge:

(HT: Brian Sumers)

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