Event tickets, flights to Salt Lake City are still available

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.

When Las Vegas was gearing up for its Millennium Celebration in 1999, the city's resorts offered $3,000-a-night rooms and big-ticket entertainers for a once-in-a-lifetime event.

But remember what eventually happened? Potential customers were put off with the high prices and frightened by the prospect of massive shutdowns in computer systems by the Millennium Bug. Tourists didn't book rooms or flights and the exorbitant room rates eventually plunged.

Now Salt Lake City, gearing for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games that begin today, can draw some parallels for its once-in-a-lifetime event.

Potential visitors are put off by the high cost of lodging and ticket packages. Now they're frightened by potential terrorism and are reminded about that with every news story about security precautions.

So today Olympic event tickets and airplane seats to Salt Lake City are readily available.

"I wouldn't be surprised at this point if bargain hunters who show up in Salt Lake City can find some real deals," said Dennis Casteel of Carlson Wagonlit Green Valley Travel. "There are probably some events that you can just go up and buy tickets."

The 2002 Winter Olympic Games Internet site verifies Casteel's theory.

Casteel said that in the last two weeks of the Games, a person could buy a round-trip ticket between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City on Southwest Airlines or Delta Air Lines for $136.50, which, he said, "is pretty much the normal price."

Casteel said seats are available to Salt Lake City any day of the week. Delta, Southwest and Skywest, the three airlines offering nonstop service between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, didn't add flights or use larger planes on those routes. Airline representatives said the Olympics have not added enough demand to warrant any schedule additions or equipment changes.

"You can even get a last-minute, walk-up, same-day trip on Southwest for $218.50, which isn't bad," he said. "You could leave in the morning, go to an event and come back at night."

Tickets to many events are available, if pricey. Next Saturday, for example, there are tickets available for the Super G men's final at the Snowbasin Ski Area for $123, men's and women's biathlon events at Soldier Hollow for $55, men's and women's short track speed skating events at the Salt Lake Ice Center for $227, and a men's hockey game featuring the United States vs. Finland at the E Center with tickets ranging from $49 to $171.

"The hardest part," Casteel said, "may be the accommodations."

The Internet site does carry a list of lodging availability and there are some rooms available. Some places require a stay of a minimum number of days, usually three; others on the list are far from the venues -- there are listings for places in Wendover and in Wyoming.

A budget motel next door to the E Center has some midweek lodging available for $239 a night.

People who opt to fly to Salt Lake City will experience some of the additional security precautions being taken. Passengers are required to be in their seats for the last 30 minutes of their flights when arriving and for the first 30 minutes of their flights when departing Salt Lake International. That's a restriction similar to one in place for all flights to and from Washington Reagan National Airport.

Southwest and Delta were forced to alter their flight schedules tonight and on the evening of Feb. 24. The entire Salt Lake City airspace is closed to all traffic from 6-10 p.m., during the opening and closing ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium.

Southwest is canceling two arrivals and departures and retiming seven other flights, including one between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, because of those airspace restrictions.

Delta is canceling eight Salt Lake City arrivals and eight departures and retiming 14 arrivals and nine departures.

Representatives of both airlines said agents are contacting passengers with reservations to notify them of schedule changes.

Motorists planning to drive to Salt Lake City should anticipate increased traffic downtown and in the vicinity of the venues. Lisa Foster, a spokeswoman for AAA in Nevada, said the travel assistance agency has had a high number of requests for its TripTik map and information booklets for Salt Lake City from clients in Las Vegas and Reno.

Foster said the price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in Salt Lake City Thursday was $1.10 and the Utah average was $1.14. The Las Vegas average on the same day was $1.23 a gallon and the Nevada average, $1.26. The national average was $1.13 a gallon.