Okay, I just ran some quick dates and flights through Travelocity and here's what I came up with.

I used the travel dates on 5/18 and 5/25 since those are when I'm planning to travel.

LAX

to Mpls $257
to KC $172
to NO $234
to Toronto $260

JFK

to Mpls $245
to KC $247
to NO $192
to Toronto $245

These are the the cheapest fares, but rather the most common fares that Travelocity pulled up.

experience has taught me that Minneapolis is extremely expensive to fly into

It must depend on where you're flying in from. My tickets to Minneapolis for juliana's wedding were $70 less than my tickets to Seattle for Halloween, nonstop, Northwest Airlines.

I'm not sure about driving either. I know that when we hit Mpls and KC that we might actually be driving distance for a lot of folks. I'm not sure how many folks are driving distance to NO.

It's not as bad now that I'm looking. I was basing it on experience booking for my ex-boss who wasn't good about booking in advance.

Yeah. Flying pretty much anywhere from Dallas-unless it's a state connected to TX in a city SW flies to is horribly 'spensive.

I know that when we hit Mpls and KC that we might actually be driving distance for a lot of folks. I'm not sure how many folks are driving distance to NO.

Off the top of my head Dana, me, Astarte, hayden, probably askye.

Here's current ranges for MSP from a variety of cities, using Friday morning arrival and Sunday evening departure:

LA - $250-300
NYC - $295-395
Dallas - $230-300
Seattle - $250-340
Raleigh - $230-300
Cleveland - $320-390
Boston - $355-450
SF - $220-340
Chicago - $231
Baltimore/DC area - $312-500

It's the East Coast that gets hit hardest, which also explains why I haven't visited anyone out there yet....

Yeah, if you're on the East coast, or at least Boston, and you want to fly into Minneapolis, you want to buy your tickets *quite* a bit in advance. If you do, it's not so bad. If you wait till 4-6 weeks before the event, though, expect to pay through the nose...and don't expect a non-stop flight.

The thing about airfare is that we've got such a huge group flying in from all corners of the country (and beyond), and everywhere is expensive to fly to from somewhere. So I'm not sure it's the best guage for expense.

[eta: DH and I flew from NYC to Minneapolis for pretty cheap last June. It wasn't direct, but it was under $200 each. Northwest flies direct for a little more money.]

Yep - I think Jess is quite right. Knowing the likely range of fares is extremely useful as a reference, but in the end, it's likely going to be just one of the factors.