The travel of sport

The Steelers take to the air at least 10 times each season, even in those years when they win home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Counting players, coaches, staff members and others, the entourage numbers between 100 and 120 passengers, not to mention several tons of luggage and gear. What a logistical nightmare.

The Penguins play 40 games on the road during their six-month season, and they take between 40 and 50 people on every trip. Virtually all of those trips are one-night stands, though there are several multi-day journeys to western Canada, California and Florida.

The Pirates' 2003 regular-season schedule called for 26 trips to other cities over five months for a total of 40 flights. Three of those trips involved being away from Pittsburgh for 10 or more days. That's not counting spring training trips, generally taken via a team bus.

No matter how you figure it, the travel schedules of all three teams qualify as heavy-duty.

It is true that when the teams fly, all three take specially chartered flights, which eliminate many of the problems most travelers have to handle. That is also generally true of most other sports teams these days, since very few have their own planes.

Still, the logistical advantages far outweigh the unspoken risks.

Apart from issues of price, reservations, team privacy, security and in-flight amenities, the biggest advantage is that the charter's schedule is determined by the needs of the team. It won't depart until everyone is on board, and if the game goes into overtime or extra innings, the flight will wait. That permits travel planners to schedule the teams' journeys for efficiency and convenience, factors that are getting increasingly difficult for regular travelers to rely upon.

Incidentally, although seating on most team-chartered planes is comparable to coach class and is seldom reconfigured to accommodate passengers who may be considerably taller or larger than average, players are generally allocated 1 1/2 seats each, which is accomplished by raising the arm rest between seats. And while the in-flight food and beverage service on charter flights is more abundant than the meals served -- or in most cases, not served -- on scheduled carriers these days, it is by no means opulent.

Still, as anyone who has flown anywhere in recent years is well aware, the requirements of fortifying our airways against terrorism have made air travel considerably more hectic, involved and time-consuming. What impact have these regulations had on traveling sports teams?

Plenty. Sports teams are not exempted from security procedures.

Generally, players and personnel meet at their stadium or arena two hours before the flight's departure and travel together by bus to the airport, while their baggage and equipment go on a separate truck. In the past, the team vehicles were permitted to drive directly onto the runway, where everyone and everything could be loaded right onto the plane.

Now, according to recently reformulated guidelines, charter passengers, their luggage and their equipment are required to clear the same security procedures as everyone and everything else.

Charter flights for the Steelers and Penguins generally depart from the Fixed Base Operations Aviation Center located on the grounds of the old airport terminal on Business Route 60, and the same Transportation Security Administration passenger security procedures and equipment have been installed there. Luggage vans are still driven onto the runways and off-loaded directly on to the plane.

The Pirates, on the other hand, flew exclusively on Delta Airlines charters this season, and those planes departed from the main terminal's Concourse D. That meant that all players and personnel had to pass through the landside terminal's main security area, along with all other passengers, although they were permitted to use the lanes reserved for flight crews and airport workers.

They were subject to the same inspection, screening and wanding procedures, emptying their pockets into the plastic bins and tiptoeing in their stocking feet through the metal detectors. Players quickly came to understand the same precautions regular travelers have adopted to minimize the chances of being singled out for closer inspections, but it still happens.

So far, the Pirates luggage and equipment have been delivered directly to the plane, but that also may change in the future so that gear can be inspected electronically. It's a good thing that major league bats are not made of metal.

Another wild card is that these security procedures vary from airport to airport, and they also can change on short notice. This introduces a degree of uncertainty into the travel equation, at least for the team's traveling secretary and equipment managers.

Still, although all three teams report that traveling has become more complicated, none report that clearing security has been overly onerous, and, like other frequent travelers, they're appreciative of the sense of safety the extra precautions provide