Last-minute Final Four flight turns into ultimate fan experience

Savage checked flights not long after the Wildcats punched their ticket after beating Purdue in the Elite Eight on March 28. 

Throughout the week, Savage looked and couldn't find a flight to make the trip worth it.

Until last Sunday.

"This flight popped up," Savage said Saturday. "We had jokingly said that if there was a direct flight from Tucson to Indianapolis, that would be our sign that we had to go to the Final Four. And there it was."

Savage was among a plane full of University of Arizona Wildcats fans who booked Friday's non-stop flight.

"This was a special flight added last minute by Southwest Airlines as the only direct flight between Tucson and Indianapolis," said Savage, a Tucson Realtor and musician. "It was full of Wildcat fans with only one random, lone Michigan fan."

Savage said Tucson International Airport and Southwest created a Wildcat fan experience at the gate, taking photos of passengers in front of cutouts of Wilma and Wilbur Wildcat before they boarded. 

"The whole experience with Southwest was amazing," Savage said.

The only hiccup in the experience was a fuel gauge issue that delayed the departure by 90 minutes.