United Airlines will run a special nonstop flight from Denver to Buffalo this weekend for those fans looking to attend the Broncos’ first playoff game since 2016.
That got us thinking: How much would it actually cost to see the Broncos beat the Bills?
The answer is about $800 a head, including flights, tickets to the game and a hotel. (You’ll probably need to eat, too.)
The flight: The special United nonstop will fly out of Denver on Saturday at 10 a.m., with a return flight Monday at 8:45 a.m.
Economy tickets on the flight were going for $571 round-trip as of Wednesday afternoon. That’s a much better deal than the other segmented flights, which also take much longer. The flight’s on an A320, which seats fewer than 200 passengers.
Southwest also flies a regular nonstop to Buffalo, but it’s a lot more expensive, and the next nonstop flight back to Denver isn’t until the Thursday after the game.
The game: Tickets to the game can be had for surprisingly cheap, starting at $116 for the real nosebleeds. Some lower deck seats were going under $300 as of Wednesday.
The sleep: Hotels in Buffalo are not very expensive, either. If you stay at the airport, you could snag two nights for a total of $160.
The weather: Freezing, cloudy and a chance of snow showers all weekend.
The odds: The Bills are the second-ranked team in the AFC tournament. Betting markets have the Broncos as the 8.5-point underdogs. ESPN analytics show only a 32 percent chance of a Broncos victory. I say don’t tell me the odds.
The other flights: If you need to travel near Lake Ontario for reasons other than seminal Broncos games, there are other options, too.
Frontier Airlines operates seasonal nonstops to Buffalo, but those don’t resume until May.
Southwest’s nonstops fly from Denver to Buffalo on Saturdays and Sundays, returning later in the week.
United will begin a daily, year-round nonstop flight on May 22.
United operates regular nonstops to Syracuse, about 160 miles east of Buffalo. United and Air Canada also run nonstops to Toronto, about 100 miles around the lake.
