By DOUG FEINBERG | AP Basketball Author
Breanna Stewart knew the place she wished to go. Somebody was in her approach. Throughout video games, that’s not an issue for the WNBA MVP. Whereas boarding a industrial flight, it’s a bit trickier.
On a current connecting flight carrying the New York Liberty from Atlanta to Las Vegas, Stewart needed to ask a person within the aisle seat to rise up briefly so she might contort her 6-foot-4 body by means of the row earlier than settling in her window seat because the passengers in line behind her patiently waited. The person politely complied, maybe unaware that the most effective gamers within the girls’s sport could be sharing his overhead bin house for the following 4 hours.
Such is the way it works for WNBA gamers. When flying, they’re identical to all people else.
Not like NBA groups that constitution flights, WNBA groups primarily fly industrial per the collective bargaining settlement. The league has mentioned it will price about $25 million to constitution for the complete season or roughly $2 million per staff.
The Related Press traveled final week with New York and acquired a firsthand have a look at the expertise. Throughout their cross-country trek, the Liberty gained at Connecticut on Tuesday night time, appeared to expire of fuel in a lopsided blowout loss at Las Vegas on Thursday and beat Seattle 81-66 on Sunday after a few days off.
Stepping round individuals to get to her seat was a part of a 13-hour day Wednesday for Stewart on the second leg of the highway journey.
“It was an early day. Drop your luggage off, get on the bus to go to the airport to switch to Atlanta to get to Vegas,” Stewart instructed AP on a shuttle to Las Vegas baggage declare. “I’m drained.”
The lengthy day started round 6:30 a.m. with Stewart dragging her baggage right down to the resort foyer in Connecticut. All the Liberty’s 65 checked luggage needed to be catalogued and loaded on a bus from Uncasville to Hartford for the staff’s 2,700-mile flight to Las Vegas — together with a quick layover in Atlanta.
Stewart and her teammates don’t fly economic system, however the seats are nonetheless tight.
Gamers are in consolation seats or economy-plus to make sure additional leg room, per the CBA. That helps, however taller gamers like Stewart and her 6-6 teammate Jonquel Jones nonetheless discover themselves in tight areas generally. To not point out 6-10 Han Xu, who wasn’t on the highway journey as a result of she was enjoying with the Chinese language nationwide staff within the Asia Cup.
Now they’ll improve to top notch — on their very own dimes.
“These seats are cramped. I attempted to get upgraded to top notch to have extra room however the flight was full,” mentioned Jones, who needed to duck to even get on the aircraft. “It’s not at all an effective way for us to journey that approach with a sport on Tuesday after which one other sport Thursday.”
Stewart, a Diamond Medallion member on Delta, was upgraded to top notch for the journey from Hartford to Atlanta due to her standing on the airline. She wasn’t so lucky on the second a part of the journey — the four-plus hour flight from Atlanta to Las Vegas.
There are a number of perks for gamers, however even a few of these have a catch.
As soon as New York’s 33-person journey get together acquired to Bradley Airport in Connecticut, it was a seamless course of with the Liberty operations employees effectively unloading the bus in lower than 3 minutes. A Delta consultant met them with all of the bag tags and tickets.
With tickets in hand, gamers headed straight to safety — however right here’s the catch: Although most had both TSA precheck or Clear standing, foreign-born gamers don’t have that choice.
Jones, who’s from the Bahamas, and Marine Johannes, who’s French, normally should undergo common safety strains. Typically they get fortunate, because the pair did Wednesday, once they had been escorted by means of the precedence line by a Delta consultant.
The staff spent about 50 minutes within the Connecticut airport ready to board a flight to Atlanta. Bradley isn’t a really busy airport and all of the gamers had been in a position to chill out — even Stewart, who gained 4 nationwide championships in faculty at close by UConn. Gamers sat quietly by themselves, checking cell telephones or listening to music whereas others chatted with teammates.
Their flights had been on time regardless of thunderstorms wreaking havoc on air journey final week but when there had been any cancellations, New York had its standard backup plan.
The buses that transported the staff from Mohegan Solar stayed on the Connecticut airport till the Liberty’s aircraft took off. Assistant common supervisor Ohemaa Nyanin mentioned it’s a typical apply, including that if one thing had gone improper the Liberty would have bused again to New York the place there have been extra flight choices.
After the two 1/2-hour flight to Atlanta, there was a brief layover for his or her connecting flight. Gamers went to seize a fast cup of espresso or some meals for the longer leg of the journey.
It helped that the staff didn’t should traipse by means of the busy Atlanta airport for the connecting flight. It was just one gate over from the one the place they landed.
As soon as the staff lastly arrived in Las Vegas practically 12 hours after dropping their luggage at that Connecticut resort foyer, the gamers boarded a ready bus whereas the employees headed for luggage declare to verify all 65 luggage made it to Nevada.
“We simply allow them to be and do no matter they need,” coach Sandy Brondello mentioned of plans for the gamers. “A few of them watch movie, a few of them simply sleep.”
The wear and tear-and-tear on gamers’ our bodies is one purpose they’ve lobbied for constitution flights, with New York paying a hefty value for ignoring the journey restrictions. The Liberty acquired a WNBA-record $500,000 wonderful final yr for utilizing chartered flights in 2021 through the second half of that season.
Nevertheless, the league has eased its stance this season, permitting groups which have scheduled video games on back-to-back nights to make use of constitution flights.
The WNBA is also permitting Mercury middle Brittney Griner to make use of constitution flights following her extremely publicized arrest in Russia. She did journey commercially with the staff final month and the 6-9 All-Star was harassed by a social media provocateur throughout an incident in Dallas.
The Liberty, like many WNBA groups, journey with safety. Throughout New York’s journey to Las Vegas, just one fan got here up and requested for a photograph with guard Sabrina Ionescu.
Gamers have develop into extra guarded as their movie star standing continues to rise.
“I’ve had guys come up and trash-talk me about how they might beat me one-on-one,” Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Grey mentioned. “Often persons are good, however you possibly can’t be too cautious these days.”
Stewart believes the Liberty group is doing what it could actually to make journey as straightforward as doable for the gamers, however with the well being and security of gamers in danger, she thinks extra must be accomplished.
“I don’t assume we’re asking something loopy,” Stewart mentioned. “We wish to proceed to be our greatest, and realizing that every one the prehab and rehab and lifting and stuff we do for our our bodies is simply as equally necessary as the way in which that we journey and the flexibility to stretch our legs.”
She added gamers should “be sure we’re not getting swollen from flying as a result of that could be a factor.”
One comfort for the Liberty: This was their solely highway journey with a connecting flight.
