Upvote:6
The problem with getting to and from Starkville is the so-called last mile, or in this case, the last 20 or 200. The one and only time I went there, I literally hitchhiked in from Memphis and also hitchhiked out (to Birmingham). I presume you don't want to do this, but it is the cheapest way in. Starkville hasn't had scheduled intercity bus service in years. It's important to remember that despite the presence of a major state university, this area is extremely rural and is a very long distance from any large city.
The nearest airport with commercial service is Golden Triangle Regional Airport (KGTR) in Columbus, about 20 miles east. The Starkville-MSU SMART bus has a free Airport Express with its schedule synchronized to the flight schedule of the only commercial flights into and out of GTR, a Delta Connection to/from ATL. So if you want to fly in here it's going to be on SkyTeam. It's also going to be expensive. The lowest JFK-GTR one-way I found for next week was $462 on August 10.
By comparison, a Delta JFK-ATL flight on August 10 was $169. Combined with a Friendly City airport shuttle from ATL to Starkville, which is $200 plus tip, you save a few bucks, and possibly save a long layover at ATL. Friendly City also will shuttle to Birmingham ($165) and Memphis ($200), but flights into those cities were significantly more expensive than into ATL so I didn't bother looking further.