Now This Is The Way To Travel
The team flew on a custom 747-400 yesterday: https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Article/michigan-football-arrives-in-houston-for-the-cfp-national-championship-224694441/
What a way to make some memories!
https://www.atlasair.com/passenger-services/our-passenger-fleet/boeing-747-400-vip-plus/
January 6th, 2024 at 7:11 AM ^
If you look at Roman Wilson's Vlog you can see the interior in detail at the 1:15 mark
https://youtu.be/7Lt8KjKEXk4?si=vB3mVlvN2GflUvSZ&t=74
January 6th, 2024 at 11:54 AM ^
That’s from the Rose Bowl flight. Is that the same plane?
January 6th, 2024 at 7:40 AM ^
Is it Monday evening yet? This is going to be the longest weekend ever for those of us not traveling.
January 6th, 2024 at 7:59 AM ^
Gotta talk to my travel agent.
First, I gotta get a travel agent.
Uh, before that, I gotta get the money.
Otherwise, I"m there.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:43 AM ^
Before you get the money you gotta get a job.
Amiright?
January 6th, 2024 at 9:41 AM ^
First we get the jobs, then we get the khakis. THEN we get the chicks.
January 6th, 2024 at 9:54 AM ^
This sounds like a solid plan...I'm in.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
Oh, yeah. That part.
But my plan is to rely on the lottery.
January 6th, 2024 at 1:28 PM ^
Better plan. Foolproof.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:45 AM ^
My preferred method of travel is the custom 747-400. I'll let you know how it is if it ever happens.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:03 AM ^
Is this part of the deal when you play in the championship? They send a sweet ass ride like this to pick each team up?
January 6th, 2024 at 8:11 AM ^
No same plane they used for the Rose Bowl
January 6th, 2024 at 1:00 PM ^
Who pays for all this?
In unrelated news, there sure were a lot of commercials in the Rose Bowl broadcast.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:24 AM ^
It’s great to see Atlas get some love. I flew the 747 for them before getting hired by United. I absolutely loved that jet and the VIP charters were tremendously fun to fly.
January 6th, 2024 at 9:13 AM ^
Obligatory username checks out...
January 6th, 2024 at 9:36 AM ^
What do you think about the Alaska Air flight that had a window fall out? How does that happen?
January 6th, 2024 at 10:05 AM ^
Corner keys & slide-bolts were broke. Notice that the screen was still in place? That’s a safety feature.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:28 AM ^
Man now this is how you fly.
I'm sitting in the lounge watching some of y'all board flights for Houston and having the champagne problem of having to go to Hawaii instead. The jealousy and fomo is real. I'm living through all y'all's Twitter and Instagram posts.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:29 AM ^
I live near Metro Airport and saw this parked in the southeastern corner (Eureka / Middlebelt area) the other day and wonder who this rather nice looking plane was for. I suppose we know now.
January 6th, 2024 at 9:32 AM ^
I'd have thought they'd use Willow Run -- but the runway isn't long enough for a 747.
I haven't flown on a 747 since 2018, and I'm not sure when / If I'll get another opportunity. Lufthansa still has their 747-8s, and it looks like Air China and Korean Air are still flying them also, but other than that it's charters or freighters. A real shame -- nothing in the air today holds a candle to the Queen of the Skies.
January 6th, 2024 at 9:48 AM ^
The Korean Air 747-8 is beautiful.
If you have the money, would recommend the business class seats on the upper deck. Most I have slept on a TPAC flight.
Was always a dream going up the staircase hahah.
The A380 is also a treat. Sadly it is going extinct, too.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:47 AM ^
I definitely agree with flying upstairs when possible, although you also can't go wrong with flying in the pointy end on carriers with F. :) It's not necessarily that expensive, either -- business class sale fares can sometimes be had for less than the cost of a CFP ticket. My favorite example, and my most recent 747 flight, was a Lufthansa sale fare from Italy to Australia for about $2K, during a time when they accidentally allowed United's upgrade certificates to work on their cheapest business class seats -- so I flew F on the A380 in one direction and J on the 744 (no F cabin) in the other.
The A380 is nice, but it's got all the grace of an elephant. The 747 is a swan. :)
January 6th, 2024 at 9:52 AM ^
I could be incorrect, but I don't think you can actually land a 747 at Willow Run, so that might be the reason. As I recall, you need 9,000-ish feet minimally, and I think the longest runway at Willow Run is about 7,500 feet.
Obviously, smaller charter aircraft, like the one that famously / infamously was blown off the runway in the wind storm of March 2017, are normally fine there.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^
Yes, you're correct. That's what I was intending to say, but I don't think I conveyed it well. :) YIP is not suitable for the 747. I imagine people didn't kvetch too much about the extra time on I-94 once they saw their ride..
January 6th, 2024 at 8:22 PM ^
I seriously considered flight to Germany on Lufthansa just to fly on the upper deck of the 747. As a kid, that always just seemed like the coolest thing. It's sad that they are phasing them out.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:10 AM ^
Beats the heck out of flying Steerage Class like I do.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:11 AM ^
Nice detail to pick an airline with maize and blue so everyone thinks they painted it for you.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:42 AM ^
I think the MMB got to fly on the same plane from some of their photos that I saw on social media. Cool ride!
January 6th, 2024 at 10:56 AM ^
The charter company has a second 747-400 with a much larger capacity. The one with the team seats <200; the other one seats >500. I wonder if UM chartered both to cover the band, other support, various semi VIPs etc.
You couldn't fit both the team and the band on the same plane with the smaller capacity.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:31 AM ^
And there's no way the team was on the 500-seater. Roman's vlog was clearly taken in a low-density seating arrangement. 500 sounds like the all-economy capacity.
January 6th, 2024 at 1:32 PM ^
Correct. The larger capacity plane has roughly 500 economy seats and a score of business class seats. That is definitely not the plane the team was flying.
January 6th, 2024 at 8:28 PM ^
Yeah- my guess is that the band kids weren't getting the same seats as the football team! ;)