Getting going to the Games

With the Summer Olympics about four months away, it’s still possible to get event tickets, plane seats and packages to the Athens Games. But they’re disappearing quickly, and cheaper options are dwindling.

Despite terrorism worries -- fueled by last month’s train bombings in Madrid -- and hand-wringing over whether delay-plagued venues will be ready in time, travel organizers say the Olympics are selling well.

Sead Dizdarevic, president of CoSport and Jet Set Sports, both based in Far Hills, N.J., began offering Athens Olympics packages and escorted tours early last year. He expects to be “100% sold out” by mid-May. If demand holds, he said, he might create new packages.

As of last week, the two companies had booked more than 16,000 Olympics travelers. Remaining packages, including event tickets and hotels but not airfare, started at about $5,555 per person, double occupancy, for five nights. Custom-designed escorted tours began at about $30,712 per person, double occupancy, for six days. (877) 457-4647, www.cosport.com.

Another authorized Olympics vendor in the U.S. is Cartan Tours Inc. of Manhattan Beach. Unlike Dizdarevic’s companies, it sells event tickets and packages alone, but not in combination; the packages include airfare.

Tickets for men’s and women’s swimming finals have sold out, said Bonnie Keilbach, an Olympic specialist at Cartan. So have the least expensive tickets for opening and closing ceremonies; remaining seats began at $936 for the opening and $644 for the closing, she added. Tickets for less popular events cost as little as $14.

Cartan’s remaining packages started at $6,889 per person, double occupancy, for six nights, including hotel, air from New York, breakfast and either lunch or dinner daily; add about $400 for air from Los Angeles. (800) 360-2004, www.cartan.com.

CoSport and Cartan also offer packages aboard cruise ships docked in Athens’ port during the Games; contact the companies for details.

Those making their own travel arrangements for the Games may find lodging scarce in downtown Athens; try surrounding areas. Getting a good airfare may also be a challenge. In recent spot checks on the Internet, summer round trips between LAX and Athens, which were running around $1,200, jumped to more than $2,000 for some dates during the Aug. 13 to 29 Olympics. (Airfares change constantly, so these numbers may be outdated.)