The University of Hawai'i sold out its allotment of tickets to the Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl yesterday afternoon, leaving hundreds of fans disappointed that they can't attend the Warriors' first appearance in a Bowl Championship Series game.

"I'm very angry," said Jenny Ryan of Wahiawa, who has airline reservations but no ticket for the Sugar Bowl. "Given the support that the fans have provided to UH over the season, they (UH officials) were not in a position to assume anything. I need my ticket. Hopefully we can get it fixed."

Warriors supporters would have had a better shot at getting Sugar Bowl tickets had UH officials accepted the school's full allotment of 17,500 seats. UH officials, concerned they would not be able to sell the full allotment, received permission from the Sugar Bowl and Western Athletic Conference to reduce the number to 13,500.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said last night that Sugar Bowl officials contacted him and UH officials before Saturday night's game against Washington asking if Hawai'i would give up 5,000 of its tickets to LSU if LSU ended up going to the Sugar Bowl "knowing that the LSU demand would be greater."

"Hawai'i was faced with making a decision, trying to estimate what their local demand might be and trying to accommodate the Sugar Bowl's request and made a decision that 12,500 tickets might be enough to satisfy the Hawai'i fan base," Benson said.

"When LSU didn't get in and it was Georgia, the number was reduced by 1,000.

"So Hawai'i had 13,500 (tickets) and 4,000 shifted to Georgia."

UH officials also worried they might get stuck with tickets they could not sell, Benson said. At $125 per ticket, UH would have been liable for $500,000 if it could not sell the 4,000 tickets it let go, Benson said. The value of the tickets would have come out of UH's Sugar Bowl earnings, he said.

In the face of actual demand from UH fans, WAC officials are now asking the Sugar Bowl for extra tickets for Hawai'i, Benson said.

But UH officials have been told that the game is sold out, said UH associate athletic director John McNamara. "We just said, 'Call us if any more tickets become available,' " he said.

Of the reduced allotment of 13,500 tickets, 5,000 were committed before sales even began Monday morning.

The football team and university received commitments of 3,000 tickets, McNamara said, 1,500 went to travel packages and another 500 to UH corporate partners.

Georgia sold out its allotment of 17,500 tickets on Sunday, plus another 5,000 Sugar Bowl tickets.

As of 2:30 p.m. yesterday, UH season-ticket holders who didn't have Sugar Bowl seats were being put on a waiting list. Sales to non-season-ticket holders were scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

BUYBACK OFFERED

To assist fans who have hotel rooms and airline seats but no game tickets, UH officials are offering to buy back seats from people who still can't get reservations.

"If you're caught in that situation, we're willing to see what we can do to take your tickets back. ... We've already had people call us and say, 'Can I return my tickets?' We've taken them back," McNamara said.

There was no limit on Sugar Bowl tickets, McNamara said, and the average number of tickets purchased by individuals was between five and six.

Warrior supporters can still take their chances getting tickets to the 72,003-seat Louisiana Superdome directly through the Sugar Bowl, through travel agents or from after-market ticket sellers.

"I'm kind of sick right now. My stomach just turned," said David Loui, who has airline tickets and hotel rooms booked for the Sugar Bowl — but no actual game tickets. "I thought it was maybe an Internet hoax. But I called the (UH) ticket office and they did confirm. They said the allotment was sold out."

Loui was one of 22,800 UH season-ticket holders this season who had an opportunity to buy Sugar Bowl tickets beginning Monday morning. But Loui held out for a friend who is a UH Koa Anuenue sport-package member who gets preferred Sugar Bowl seats in the Superdome.

Late yesterday, Loui was frantically trying to reach his friend to see if he, indeed, purchased their tickets.

"I just put in a call right now," Loui said. "I don't think I can do anything about it."

CHARTER FLIGHTS

UH fans with Sugar Bowl tickets continued to scramble to find hotel and airline reservations for New Orleans.

Panda Travel, one of UH's partner travel agencies, hastily arranged a pair of charter flights to the Sugar Bowl that were quickly filling up. Kehau Amorin, the company's special projects manager, said Panda Travel will try to arrange a third charter flight today.

But travel agents said UH fans with tickets will still be able to get to New Orleans by Jan. 1.

It'll just cost a lot more than yesterday's prices, which were more expensive than the day before. And UH fans should expect to bounce around the country before they eventually arrive in Louisiana.

Leanette Gima could only get a flight to New Orleans a day earlier than she wanted and return to Honolulu a day later than she expected — making it an eight-day trip.

She'll get on a United Airlines flight in Honolulu on Dec. 28 and arrive in New Orleans nearly 12 hours, two layovers — in San Francisco and Denver — and four airports later.

Gima, 61, of Kane'ohe, hasn't flown longer than five hours in more than 30 years.

"I'm dreading it," she said. "My only trips have been to Vegas and back. But I've been waiting for this. I've been a UH season-ticket holder for 35 years."

A special Panda Airlines charter flight on Omni Air for 300 passengers was full yesterday and another Hawaiian Airlines charter flight was quickly filling up, Amorin said.

Panda's original 150 Sugar Bowl packages — including airfare, hotel rooms and Sugar Bowl tickets — cost $2,799 and sold out within minutes Monday morning.

Yesterday, the Omni Air package cost $3,300. The Hawaiian Airlines package was running at $3,299 for coach and $5,499 for first class.

Vacations Hawaii, UH's other travel agency partner, was still offering $1,999 Sugar Bowl packages on the UH athletic Web site, www.hawaiiathletics.com.

But the nearly 300 packages had sold out within 10 minutes on Monday morning.

"There are no longer any nice connections to get there," said Kevin Kaneshiro, sales and promotions manager for Vacations Hawaii. "Four connections, a horrendous schedule — overnight here, overnight there. But there's still availability. Every hour, more seats are being booked. It is just a lot more expensive during one of the busiest holidays of the year. It all calculates to an extremely expensive adventure."

Vacations Hawaii officials considered chartering a flight and asked customers who said, "don't worry, we'll pay" if they were serious about booking a charter, Kaneshiro said.

Loui, who graduated from UH in 1978, spent hours looking at different travel Web sites for the best price with the fewest hassles to see his Warriors.

On Sunday afternoon, he found a United Airlines flight through Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans for $900 but could not book a ticket.

When he went back to the Web site, "the same ticket had gone up to $1,600," Loui said. He finally found a roundtrip flight for $1,300 that involved flying back home through Chicago, San Francisco and Maui.

Before he found out that UH had sold all of its Sugar Bowl tickets, Loui said, "I don't think it's going to be a problem to get a game ticket. But if I miss this game, I would be crushed. We've come so far this year. I've got to see it to the end."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.