Midwest Airlines flies the Milwaukee Brewers on their planes through a “charter service” says the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, but the Brewers weren’t grounded like the over 100,000 other passengers who were booked on MD-80s.
The airline flies the baseball team on the planes through a charter service. But Midwest voluntarily grounded its fleet of 13 MD-80s last week in response to the FAA’s grounding of American Airlines flights on MD-80s after problems showed up in inspections.
But the Brewers made it to New York last Thursday because Midwest used one of its Boeing 717s instead. Those planes normally fly commercial routes but one was used to take the Brewers to play against the Mets.
Spokesman Michael Brophy says the Brewers took only one trip on the plane.
Hey, it’s good to be a baseball team.
The (momentarily division leading) Chicago Cubs would never do this. They would volunteer to ride cursed goats all the way from Chicago to NYC. Both ways. Up hill. Except for Lou Piniella, who would instead propel himself to the Big Apple with the power of his screaming. Not really.
Midwest Airlines flies Brewers to New York while other passengers wait [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Must be Cub fans who are the writers on Consumerist
must suck to be you
Brewers FTW!
IMO, the plane in question was probably a ‘hot spare,’ an aircraft held in reserve in case of mechanical or other issues. If another plane goes down for some reason, roll out the hot spare and put the pax on board. Problem solved.
And as far as the Brewers go; better pax get better treatment. I don’t fly for work any more, but when I did, I had top-level frequent-flyer status with two different airlines and mid-level status with two others. If you’re on one of those airlines when delays come up, they will go out of their way to accommodate you. Not so much for the once-a-year flyers who booked on Priceline.
I know it sounds unfair, but if you were shelling out two or three thousand bucks a week to fly around the country for work, you’d expect better treatment from your preferred airline, too. The Brewers are no different.
@vildechaia:
Who in Chicago or has ever watched a nationally televised Cubs game doesn’t remember the curse of the goat? Its mentioned at least once a game any time the Cubs are on Fox or ESPN, especially now in the centennial year of the World Series drought.
I wonder if the airline could get Howard Stern’s Kielbasa Queen to fly to Milwaukee and enter the sausage race–just to make everyone happy…and do it when the Cubs are in town and call it Choke Night.
@The Count of Monte Fisto: We all watched the division winners get swept in Arizona…which is disappointing because the team that lost the division would have actually put up a fight.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik: A Boeing 717 is NOT an MD-80. The 717 is larger than a commuter jet but smaller than a 737. AFAIK, only Midwest Airlines bought them domestically. Boeing has announced that it will stop production of the 717.
@LogicalOne:
AirTran bought quite a few B717s; in fact, they were the launch customer IIRC.
If you ever pass through the airport in ATL, mosey over to concourses C & D; you’re likely to see many of them.
Go Cubs!
That is all.
@radio1: “What’s next Consumerist, women who used the men’s room in bars and restaurants when the lines are long for the women’s room?” I complain about that whenever I see it. It’s annoying.