I have just completed a fairly massive study to determine which end cities are feasible and which are not. My assumptions are that teams started in the late afternoon or evening of Tuesday, July 31 from Anchorage and flew to somewhere in the lower 48. It is critical that final cities be reachable directly or with one connection and that the arrival time be in the 5am to 7am time frame ideally. Here are the choices for the connecting (or maybe final city):
Chicago AS 130 departs ANC 2200 arrives ORD 0655
Minneapolis on Tuesday, Sat. or Sun. has NW844 departs ANC 21445 arrives MSP 0556
Portland AS100 departs ANC 1240 (actually 8/1) arrives PDX 0514
Seattle numerous departures from ANC going all day, through 2055 arriving SEA 2310
That makes Minneapolis and Portland prime candidates for FINAL CITY. Chicago is a possibility, although it has alreadh had that honor so it is less likely.
There are a whole range of connections possible through Seattle. the trick was to figure out which other cities could be ones which met my criteria above(basically a nonstop flight out of Seattle just before or after midnight that lands between 5am and 7am). The ones that did not make that cut include New York-LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Tampa, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Nashville, Indianapolis, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, San Antonio, Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The ones that do make the cut and the flights that qualify through Seattle are:
Newark CO234 2010 0610
JFK B6 86 2350 0800(note: this is out of range but I left it in anyway)
Boston B6498 2215 0624 or AS24 2215 0635
IAD UA204 2330 0713
CLT US1548 2215 0607
Atlanta DL616 2255 0625
Orlando AS10 2320 0730
Miami AS11 2222 0655
Detroit NW208 2200 0505
Dallas AA1212 1227a0606
Houston CO1543 2345 0553
Only one city can qualify through Portland due to timing of that 504am arrival above. That city is Sacramento. On Aug. 1, WN 1461 departed PDX 0605 arriving SMF 0730 (alightly outside my range, but I'll take it).
Based on past status as a final city, I doubt that New York/Newark, Dallas, or Miami or Chicago up above got chosen for this honor once again. That means that Boston, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Detroit, Houston and Sacramento join Minneapolis and Portland as my prime candidates for FINAL CITY. Be looking for any hints that support or disprove one of these cities.