<p>AL34: No, you are not a bad parent. We’re not going down, either. It’s very expensive to fly down, stay in a hotel (last time, we stayed 40 miles from campus), rent a car, go to dinner, etc. In fact, my son has encouraged us not to come down on Family Weekend. Come a different weekend, he said, when the campus is quieter. Besides, if I need to see him regularly, there’s always Skype.</p>
<p>Families don’t have to go. Sometimes only the parents go, sometimes no one goes.</p>
<p>When my older son was a freshman, Bama had an awesome Daughtry concert the Friday night before the football game in Coleman Coliseum. The tix were $10 a day.</p>
<p>I have no idea yet if there will even be a concert as they canceled the homecoming concert due to low ticket sales for last year’s family weekend concert (Taking Back Sunday). IIRC, the year before’s concert was Hank Williams, Jr. </p>
<p>A lot of parents don’t go to family weekend. This year’s timing is not good for those OOS because it is so close to move in day and school is starting around then in some states. I realize that’s how the football schedule works this year, but UA does need to remember that not everyone lives in AL or adjacent states when planning events.</p>
<p>^^
I think Bama had no choice this year with choosing Family Weekend. They have to pick a home game weekend where there will be a “lighter crowd” to help with ticket availability. This year, that posed a problem.</p>
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<p>AL34, you’re an awesome mom. We ain’t going either.</p>
<p>hey. idk if we will go either. i just thought we would go sometime. i would prefer it not be so soon after school starts.</p>
<p>so … don’t feel bad. my DH is kind of sad that DD is going to school so far away, so if we go it will mostly be for HIM … not me and not DD!</p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>I’m not going for family weekend but we will be down the following week for the Penn St game. I’ve been looking forward to that game ever since it was announced a few years ago.</p>
<p>Of course I’ve been going down for a game or two every year for the last 15 years or so. So it’s not like this is something different just to see my son. Him being down there will just add to the experience.</p>
<p>Going to games is great but it takes a lot of planning especially if you’re OOS. If you want to go to a game this year and money is an object then the Georgia State game will be your best bet. You can probably get decent tickets to the Ga state game for less than face, and I imagine a few hotel rooms will open up as well. The Miss St game wouldn’t be a bad choice either. </p>
<p>Also many times you can save a few hundred dollars by flying into Atlanta instead of Birmingham. Of course you have a 3 1/2 hour drive instead of an hour, but that few hundred dollar savings is worth it IMHO especially if you have several people in your traveling party.</p>
<p>I’m very pleased with the announced plan. It’s the fairest one I’ve seen since I’ve been here.</p>
<p>Quote: </p>
<p>Also many times you can save a few hundred dollars by flying into Atlanta instead of Birmingham. Of course you have a 3 1/2 hour drive instead of an hour,</p>
<p>Actually, Atlanta is actually just under a 3 hour drive to T-town. Interstate the whole way…door to door, and a very easy drive. :)</p>
<p>A person can also fly into Nashville if that is cheaper. It’s a bit farther than Atlanta. I think from Nashville airport to T-Town would be 3-4 hours. Pretty much all down I-65 (going south) and then to I 20/59 west to T-town. Not a bad drive at all!</p>
<p>In addition to ATL and BNA, it would be possible to fly into Montgomery (MGM), Huntsville (HSV), Columbus/Starkville MS (GTR) (an hour or so to UA), or even New Orleans (MSY). Airfare prices have been going up the past few months. Just last year I paid $88 one way to fly to Birmingham from Seattle, now it’s $215 one way. Do note that in some cases, it’s worth the extra money to fly into Birmingham.</p>
<p>Airfare is definitely going up. Roundtrip from Philly to BHM is now $350 or so. It was only $230 when son booked his flight for BamaBound.</p>
<p>The reason I mentioned flying into Atlanta is because AirTran flies there and we can fly out of Atlantic City or Philadelphia for under $100 each way.</p>
<p>Another option is Amtrak. Son will probably take that home at the end of the semester, where 24 hrs on the train won’t eat up most of his time off.</p>
<p>Feenotype: where did you see the ticket plan for the 2010 year? I can’t seem to find it; would you mind sharing? Thanks!</p>
<p>I can’t remember where I read it (I’ll try and dig it up tomorrow), but tickets will be distributed between 5 “classes” of students, determined by earned on-campus hours as of the end of Spring 2010 semester. The distribution will depend on what percentage of the total number of requests made for each class. For example, if requests by seniors seniors made of 20% of the total requests, seniors will be allotted 20% of the tickets. If requests by graduate students made up 5% of the of total requests, graduate students will be allotted 5% of the tickets.</p>