49ers and Chiefs Fans Travel Across the Country to Watch Their Teams Make History
Richmond, VA, January 28, 2020 — Super Bowl LIV, taking place Sunday, February 2 in Miami Gardens, Florida, is shaping up to be an unforgettable matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Devoted fans will travel across the country for the chance to see their team make history, which in the case of the Chiefs, would be a moment fifty years in the making. Anticipating an influx of travelers, airlines have announced additional flights from the Bay Area and Kansas City to the Miami metro area for the Super Bowl.
According to Allianz Global Assistance, a leading travel insurance and assistance company, who reviewed Americans’ travel plans* for roundtrip flights landing in Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport between Thursday, January 30 – Saturday, February 1, 2020, and returning Monday, February 3 – Tuesday, February 4, 2020, West Coast airports including Los Angeles (LAX: +24%) and San Francisco (SFO: +160%) will see healthy increases in air travel over last year, likely spurred by 49ers fans. Kansas City’s airport heads into game day with a modest increase of Florida-bound air travelers (MCI: +45%), indicating that Chiefs fans may prefer to watch the big game from the comfort of their home.
Other significant changes in air traffic over last year’s Super Bowl, which pitted the New England Patriots against the Los Angeles Rams and took place in Atlanta, Georgia, include decreases in known “Pats” destinations – Boston (LOG: -76%), New York City (JFK: -33%). Air travel over Super Bowl weekend from Florida airports are also down this year, reflecting those fans’ possible switch to road trips to the stadium and fans from the Seattle (SEA: -84%) are also turning out in few numbers this year versus last.
Over Super Bowl weekend, a small percentage (3.7%) of travelers are flying from the Kansas City area to the Miami metro area for the game. On the contrary, 7.3% of travelers will hail from the greater San Francisco area, in hopes that the San Francisco 49ers will take home their record-tying sixth Super Bowl title.
In addition to those traveling from San Francisco and Kansas City, similar to last year’s Super Bowl, an impressive percentage still are coming from the New York area (14.2%), likely due to its high population density and significant concentration of both West Coast and Midwest transplants in the Tri-state area.
“The Miami metro area is gearing up to host one of the biggest nights in sports, and will welcome both San Francisco and Kansas City football fans in droves,” said Daniel Durazo, director of marketing and communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA. “Although fans are traveling to watch the game in a beautiful, warm-weather destination, we strongly recommend buying travel insurance when you book your trip. Don’t fumble around with your trip of a lifetime—buy travel insurance to protect you from covered illness, injury, baggage loss, and more.”
Allianz Global Assistance offers travel insurance** through most major U.S. airlines, leading travel agents, online travel agencies and directly to consumers. For more information on Allianz Global Assistance and the policies offered for travelers, please visit:http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com.
# # #
*Methodology:
The data of U.S. travelers’ 2020 Super Bowl travel plans was gathered by analyzing the number of travelers that went through the online booking process of airfare paths for partners offering Allianz Global Assistance to generate itineraries for roundtrip flights landing in Miami and Fort Lauderdale 1/30 – 2/1/2020 and departing 2/3 – 2/4/2020.
| Rank | Origin City (Airports) | Percent of Travelers |
| 1 | New York (LGA, JFK, EWR) | 14.2% |
| 2 | Los Angeles (LAX) | 9.3% |
| 3 | San Francisco (SFO, SJC, OAK) | 7.3% |
| 4 | Chicago (ORD) | 6.0% |
| 5 | Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) | 5.7% |
| 6 | Philadelphia (PHL) | 5.2% |
| 7 | Charlotte (CLT) | 3.8% |
| 8 | Kansas City (MCI, SGF, COU) | 3.7% |
| 9 | Phoenix (PHX) | 3.4% |
| 10 | Atlanta (ATL) | 2.5% |
About Allianz Global Assistance
Allianz Global Assistance is a leading consumer specialty insurance** and assistance company with operation centers in 35 countries. In the United States, Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company) serves over 45 million customers annually and is best known for its Allianz Travel-branded travel protection plans. In addition to travel insurance, Allianz Global Assistance USA offers tuition insurance, event ticket protection, registration protection for endurance events and unique travel assistance services such as international medical assistance and concierge services. The company also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call center services and claims administration for property and casualty insurers and credit card companies.