The Dallas Cowboys still have to beat the New York Giants on Sunday, not to mention either the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers next weekend.

But that hasn't stopped longtime Cowboys season ticket holder Paul Gabriel from making plans to go to Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 3.

Mr. Gabriel, who operates the popular "Gabe's Trailer" tailgate party, said he was convinced in early December that the Cowboys would play in the Super Bowl and made plans to stay with a friend in Scottsdale, Ariz.

He's hoping to get game tickets through the team's ticket lottery and plans to fly his six-seat Piper Malibu private plane there.

"I just said, 'What the heck, I'm going whether [the Cowboys] get there or not,' " Mr. Gabriel said.

"But I do think they'll get there."

With a place to stay and a private plane, Mr. Gabriel has some advantages few fans enjoy.

For other folks, planning a trip to the Super Bowl can be a tricky business.

Wait too long to book, and you might have trouble finding what you want.

While the Glendale stadium holds around 70,000 fans, the Phoenix area is expected to attract as many as 125,000 for the festivities.

Book too early, and you might end up paying for tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars you don't need if your team doesn't make it.

The uncertainty over which teams will play hasn't stopped plenty of fans from making plans.

Kevin Michalenko, director of revenue management for Southwest Airlines Co., could practically guess which teams were in contention by looking at ticket reservations. The Dallas-based airline is one of the largest carriers in Phoenix.

Bookings to Phoenix are up from each of the markets whose teams are in the playoffs, especially the Boston area and Dallas, Mr. Michalenko said.

Bookings are also up to Las Vegas, a perennial hot spot during the Super Bowl.

Like other airlines, Southwest isn't offering many discounted seats into Phoenix, but the carrier doesn't charge a penalty for cancellations.

Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines Inc., said the Fort Worth-based carrier has limited the number of refundable tickets to Phoenix, in part to discourage speculative bookings.

The bottom line for getting to the Super Bowl? Don't expect to find any bargains and don't be surprised if hotel bookings require at least a four-day stay and are nonrefundable.

Several hotels are already sold out and have been for months, thanks to the corporate groups, sponsors and NFL officials who will also be in town.

Of the 19,000 rooms the Arizona host committee negotiated rates for, only about 2,000 are available to the public. Once they're sold out, fans will have to contact hotels individually or go through a travel agency. The Phoenix region has about 55,000 hotel rooms, not to mention plenty of private homes available online through sites such as BowlGameRentals.com and Craigslist .com.

Room rates available through the Arizona host committee's Web site range from $214 a night for the limited service Premier Inn-Phoenix Metro 15 miles from the stadium to $610 a night for the Carefree Resort & Villas, and bookings come with a four-night minimum and are nonrefundable.

Getting tickets is another challenge.

The face value of the tickets is $700 per regular seat and $900 for each premium club seat and suite ticket.

Super Bowl tickets are distributed throughout the league and the host site through a long-held formula. Each Super Bowl team gets 17.5 percent of the tickets to sell to fans and distribute to players' families and other constituents.

The host committee gets 5 percent, the league gets 25.2 percent and the other teams split the remaining 34.8 percent.

Brett Daniels, a Cowboys spokesman, said the team would hold off on making plans for ticket distribution just yet.

"Our focus is on preparing for the New York Giants," he said.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said most teams hold a lottery among their season ticket holders, and before the game the NFL sells 500 ticket pairs to fans who enter a lottery by June.

Mr. Aiello cautioned against purchasing tickets on the secondary market, where authenticity may not be guaranteed. (He said the authentic tickets have a special hologram on the front and are made with security paper stock that is multicolored when torn.)

Sean Pate, a spokesman for San Francisco-based secondary marketplace StubHub.com, said prices for the Super Bowl tend to be volatile because it isn't clear which teams are playing until two weeks before the game.

As of Friday afternoon, the Web site, which guarantees tickets against fraud, had nearly 3,000 Super Bowl tickets listed for sale, ranging from $3,000 to $15,000.

But those prices are likely to fluctuate as the playoffs proceed, Mr. Pate said. "If the New England Patriots play the Dallas Cowboys, it will easily be the highest average selling price in the history of this company."

On the other hand, if the Seattle Seahawks play the Jacksonville Jaguars – two teams with a smaller national fan base – the prices could fall, Mr. Pate said.

Currently the average selling price for a Super Bowl ticket is $4,304 on Stubhub – with the lowest priced ticket (in the Terrace Level End Zone) going for $2,210.

Last year, when the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears, the average price on Stubhub was $4,004.

Some fans place their bets on ticket packages, such as the ones offered by Dallas-based Maximum Sports Connection Inc.

Owner Ronni Sokol said she's already gotten $500 deposits from about 100 fans and expects her phones to be ringing off the hook when the team wins on Sunday.

That's right. She said when.

"They're going to win, I just know it," said Ms. Sokol, whose company books only tickets for Dallas Cowboys events.

Early deposits on some all-inclusive Super Bowl packages – including the $4,500 ones offered by Ms. Sokol's firm – are refundable if the Cowboys don't make it. But they also don't come cheap.

"That's a pretty big markup," said Trophy Club resident Mark Watson, whose family has had Cowboys season tickets for 22 years. Mr. Watson said he's not making any plans until he's certain the Cowboys are heading to Arizona.

"We've got two more games to play and I don't want to jinx anything," said Mr. Watson. "Check back in a week from Sunday."