LSU Sent Two Charters to the Texas Bowl. The Cheaper One Carried the Coach.

The Tiger Athletic Foundation paid Executive Aircraft Charter Service twice for LSU's trip to the Texas Bowl, according to the foundation's affiliated-entity report: $17,956 for a flight on Dec. 26 and $9,612.29 for one on Dec. 27. Same route each time, Baton Rouge to Houston and back. Two different aircraft, two different days, and two entirely different passenger lists.

The larger charge covers the flight that left first. A six-passenger Citation in Flightline First's fleet came across from New Orleans, lifted out of Baton Rouge at 2:15 p.m. on Dec. 26 and was in Houston by 3:10. The foundation names its passengers as Verge Ausberry II, Cheri Ausberry, Wade Rousse, Angela Rousse, John Ballard and Kristina Ballard — three LSU administrators and their spouses, arriving a full day before kickoff. The aircraft then sat at Houston for roughly 34 hours, flying home in the small hours of Dec. 28.

The smaller charge covers game day. A King Air turboprop on the charter company's own certificate positioned up from Lafayette that afternoon, left Baton Rouge at 6:27 p.m. and landed at Houston at 7:30. Its passengers were Lane Kiffin, William Glasscock, Thaddeus Rivers, Knox Kiffin and Hudson Clark. It was on the ground three hours and seven minutes and was back in Baton Rouge by 11:31 p.m. Houston won the game 38-35.

The two charges are the clearest public illustration of how this vendor prices. The jet held overnight cost 87 percent more than the same-day turboprop turn while flying about five percent less. What LSU paid for was not primarily time in the air; it was an aircraft and the days it was committed.

The foundation's report names the passengers and the amounts but prints no tail numbers and itemizes nothing. Which aircraft flew which charge is established from public flight records, not from the document, and the report does not explain why the administrative party needed a jet held for a day and a half.