Pope to Travel on American

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

 
From Jetwire:
 
[SIZE=11pt]Ready to transport Pope Francis[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]This week, American has the honor of transporting Pope Francis from Washington, D.C., to New York, Philadelphia and back to Rome. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has chartered a Boeing 777-200 aircraft – which will use call sign Shepherd One – to carry the Pontiff.[/SIZE]
(Had to delete the rest of the post (one sentence) because it contained a link to inside Jetnet.)
 

 
Great News Jim,..............Thanx !!

 

[1AA]

If anyone at AA has photos of the Pope and his travels on AA can you please post them or link them up? I'm sure between the flight crews and ground personnel someone should have some nice photos. Thanks.

 

[Crash Pad DCA]

Attention passengers. Today's flight to Rome CIA may be slightly oversold and/or weight restricted. If there are any bishops with flexible travel plans, please see a gate agent...

 

[jimntx]

Attention passengers. Today's flight to Rome CIA may be slightly oversold and/or weight restricted. If there are any bishops with flexible travel plans, please see a gate agent...

We're offering a 3 million lira (approx. $4.95) coupon for future travel on AA, and a guaranteed middle seat on the next available flight.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

At 2:00am, AA 9420 just made land fall in France, Francis's  journey over the 'Pond complete, and he'll be back in Rome (CIA airport) in a little more than 90 mins.
 
Bless you Frances, and THANX for coming. It was our pleasure !

 

[LD3]

How are flight crews chosen for charters like this?

 

[jimntx]

Good question.  I know when I first started in 2000, I was told that the f/as for the Dallas Cowboys charters were asked for by name by the team.  No male f/as were ever used, or so I was told.  (I've also talked with some f/as who worked Cowboys charters.  They didn't like them because they had to hand run meal trays even in coach, and the players were always up in the aisles blocking them from getting their jobs done.)  I've worked the Veterans charters before.  That is voluntary and unpaid.  I worked a charter for a crowd of football fans going from Chicago to Jacksonville, Fl for a bowl game several years ago.  For reasons known only to American Airlines, airplane and the crew were all STL-based.  So, we had a 4 leg charter.  The first and the last legs were ferry flights between STL and ORD.
 
I also have seen charter flight positions out in Open Time on the computer where anyone qualified on that aircraft and available on the day(s) of the charter could pick up the sequence.  You can always tell the charter flights because the flight number is 4 digits beginning with a 9--i.e., 9420.  I'm just guessing, but I would imagine that on charters for VIPs--such as, the Holy Father--the crews are hand-picked.  By what criteria, I have no idea, but I'm sure the company is making every effort to put its best foot (and crews) forward.

 

[PHL]

True, but I wonder if that had more to do with the fact that TWA and Pan Am both had cabotage rights to fly between European countries.

 
Would that make a difference in this case since the flight is a private charter, and not transporting revenue passengers between European countries?  
 
Side note...Alitalia brought him over.  I wonder why they didn't take him home?

 

[Albert]

 
Would that make a difference in this case since the flight is a private charter, and not transporting revenue passengers between European countries?  
 
Side note...Alitalia brought him over.  I wonder why they didn't take him home?

I heard on the news its common for the host nation to provide the airline. Media also interviewed the Captain

 

[700UW]

The host country always takes him home.

 

[bob@las-AA]

Who ever put the papal seal on that trip 7 should have measured twice because it was crooked as hell!

 

[jimntx]

The host country always takes him home.

Let's be specific.  The hierarchy of the church in the host country "takes him home."  The a/c was chartered by the U.S. Conference of Bishops.  The United States, the host country, did not provide for the transportation.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

Who ever put the papal seal on that trip 7 should have measured twice because it was crooked as hell!

 
And when I saw that I thought it was the side effects of drinking too much holy water whiskey ... ... ...

 

[700UW]

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/10/31-american-airlines-employees-helped-take-care-of-pope-francis-on-plane.html/
 

 

[700UW]

Great article

http://m.seattlepi.com/news/texas/article/American-Airlines-crew-talks-about-flight-with-6555845.php