• Short's Travel contact information. Short's Travel manages all NCAA championship travel. Their toll free championship number is 866/655-9215.

• Short's championship portal. All traveler rosters and preliminary flight preferences must be submitted through the portal at www.shortstravel.com/ncaachamps by the Wednesday before Selection Sunday. Once the tournament field has been announced, participating institutions will have four hours to enter flight preferences. After that, flight preferences cannot be changed. However, the traveler roster can be edited until 24 hours before departure for charter flights or until tickets have been issued for commercial flights.

A login and password are required to enter the championships portal. This information was mailed each institution's athletics director in October. Institutions unable to locate their login information must send a signed fax on institution letterhead requesting the login information to Short's Travel at 319/234-0366. An agent will then call the institution with the login information. Any delay in entering the travel roster into the Short's Championship Portal could delay flight assignments.

• NCAA travel staff contact information. The phone number to the NCAA national office travel staff is 317/917-6757. Juanita Sheely, travel and insurance coordinator, and Nikki Watson, travel analyst, are the primary NCAA contacts for all championship travel issues and can be reached at this number or by cell phone at 317/966-6516 and 317/966-6508, respectively. In addition, one of them will be on site with Short's for the first 10 days after the tournament field is announced.

• Drive/fly. Participating institutions located within 300 miles of the competition site as determined by 2004 Microsoft Streets and Trips, are required to travel via ground transportation rather than by air. However, the institution may choose to travel by air and be reimbursed by the NCAA for the cost of ground transportation. The institution must submit a bus quote to the NCAA travel staff before travel to be reimbursed. The institution may use Short's Travel for these flight arrangements and will be responsible for providing a form of payment to Short's for these tickets.

• Reasonable flight options. Charter options will be pursued by Short's only if reasonable commercial options are not available. Flight options often are limited due to the quick turnaround time of championship travel and the seasonality of NCAA championships. Institutions that fly should be prepared to have connecting flights, split their travel party and depart early in the morning or late in the evening. "Reasonable flight options" means that the team, coaches and support staff, up to 25 people, will fly together and will have no more than two connections.

Charter aircraft is limited and travel times must be flexible. Because of the attempt to use the aircraft available in the most efficient way possible, teams must be prepared to leave the site of competition immediately after their game or the following morning, even if it is not their preferred departure time. The NCAA national office travel staff is responsible for making the determination of what should be considered reasonable options for the official traveling party.

If it has been determined that there are reasonable commercial options available but the institution wishes to pursue a charter flight and pay the difference between the available commercial space and the charter, charter options will be researched only after all other teams with no commercial options have been accommodated. In this instance, teams should expect that flight options will take longer to confirm.

• Hub rule. Institutions may be required to fly out of any airport that is within 120 miles of their campus as determined by 2004 Microsoft Streets and Trips. They also may be required to fly into any airport that is within 120 miles of the competition site. For example, if a team prefers to fly into Indianapolis airport, they may be required to fly into Cincinnati. A team in a rural area serviced only by regional airports may be required to drive to a metropolitan area to fly from a major airport.

• Communication of options. Short's will make every possible effort to communicate confirmed flight arrangements to the institution no later than 18 hours before departure (dependent upon when an institution submitted travel preferences and complete roster). Institutions that fail to meet the deadline to submit information will be moved to the bottom of the priority list. However, due to the limited availability of aircraft, there may be emergency situations in which the institution's travel plans are not confirmed with the airline until shortly before departure.

The institution's travel coordinator must be prepared to contact the members of their travel party with travel details right up to the time of departure. Institutions also should realize that flight options are being arranged according to departure date. This means, in general, that teams leaving on Wednesday will receive their options before a team leaving on Friday.

Short's travel portal will be used to communicate flight options and final arrangements to the teams. Travel coordinators should be sure to access the site regularly. Agents still will be available by phone to assist with a team's needs. In addition, the travel portal will provide team practice times and game times.

• Passengers beyond the official traveling party. If the institution exceeds the official travel party size on a charter flight, the NCAA will cover the cost of the official travel party only. The institution will be billed by Short's the prorated cost per seat for individuals on the flight in excess of the official travel party.

*Security . Due to heightened airport security, government-issued photo ID is required for check-in for all commercial and charter flights. In addition, because each aircraft is being used for multiple flights each day, teams must pass through security and be on time for all departures. That ensures that the aircraft can remain on schedule. Teams should allow two hours to go through airport security.

• Approved travel parties. For a participating institution to receive full per diem and transportation expenses, its traveling party must include 30 band members, (including one conductor), 12 cheerleaders and one mascot. If an institution does not meet this requirement, the allowable travel party is reduced by the number missing. For example, if an institution has only 28 band members, 12 cheerleaders and one mascot, the allowable travel party would be reduced to 73 for the preliminary rounds and 98 for the Final Four.

Institutions are responsible for adhering to the official NCAA travel policies, accessible at www.ncaa.
org/financial/travelforms.html.

Need additional travel information?

Who to contact

By telephone:

• Short's Travel Management: 866/655-9215

• NCAA travel staff: 317/917-6757

By email:

• Short's Travel Management: ncaachampstvl@shortstravel.com

• NCAA travel staff: travel@ncaa.org

Where to find guidelines, forms, etc.

Online:

• www.shortstravel.com/ncaa champs

• www.ncaa.org/financial/travelforms/html