William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, arrived into Boston Logan Airport on Wednesday afternoon after a short transatlantic hop in British Airways First Class.
William And Kate Arrive Into Boston On British Airways 777 In First Class
Eschewing private jet travel, the Royals flew British Airways flight BA213 from London (LHR) to Boston (BOS) on Wednesday. The flight, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, departed London Heathrow 19 minutes ahead of schedule at 9:44 am and touched down at Boston Logan Airport (BOS) at 12:40 pm, eight minutes ahead of schedule.
Onboard BA213, passengers reported on social media that the William and Kate were very friendly, making small talk and posing for pictures with other passengers.
FIRST GLIMPSE! Passengers on the British Airways flight to Boston. said the Royal couple was “utterly delightful.” The Prince and Princess of Wales spoke briefly to the others in first class — explaining why they are coming to Boston. #wbz (Courtesy: Brent Suttles) pic.twitter.com/h7sdby0IUl
— Tiffany Chan (@TiffanyChanWBZ) November 30, 2022
Passengers I spoke with applauded the Royal couple’s decision to fly commercial.
They’re in Boston for the Earthshot Prize — highlighting positive environmental causes. #wbz
Brent Suttles sat 2 rows behind Prince William and said the pair looked just like they do on TV. pic.twitter.com/Mk6WQgHWbw
— Tiffany Chan (@TiffanyChanWBZ) November 30, 2022
Upon arrival Prince William released the following statement:
“Catherine and I are delighted to be back in the United States and are extremely grateful to Governor Baker and The First Lady of Massachusetts for their warm welcome into Boston.
“On this, our first overseas visit since the death of my grandmother, I would like to thank the people of Massachusetts and particularly of Boston for their many tributes paid to the late Queen. She remembered her 1976 bicentennial visit with great fondness.”
The Royal couple have not visited the United States since 2014 and will be using Boston to award the Earthshot Prize, awarded to five winners each year for their contributions to environmentalism.
CONCLUSION
As Kate and William promote their environmental initiatives, flying first class on British Airways presents much better optics than flying private. The couple was apparently very friendly and approachable onboard and will be in the USA for the next few days.
It’s somewhat ironic for the royals to be on a visit to Boston when Boston is where the American Revolution started.
William’s mother flew BA regularly and she was well liked by the inflight crew and those of us at JFK.
How do I get on their return flight
Imagine that cost them $12k each return. Couldn’t they sit in economy and sponsor 9 more scholarships in exchange for 8 hours of flying 🙂
Pushback 19 minutes early at LHR is unknown, they NEVER allow early pushbacks unless of course there is a VVVIP on board.
One night at JFK we put the jet bridge back on to the aircraft for Sarah Ferguson.
THAT is the definition of VVIP…:).
Considering Prince Charles flew Business Class while Tony Blair flew First on the way to release Hong Kong, Kate and Will should be happy……
Oh, but he didn’t. Then Prince Charles was in the business class (Club World) cabin for practical reasons more than anything else, and even then, he had some awesome enhancements. He flew on the upper deck of a 747, which he had to himself + security, with a guard posted at the bottom of the staircase to prevent anyone without clearance from heading upstairs. And a couple of rows of seats were removed to install a proper bed, so, like I say, not your run of the mill BA business class experience.
Eleven months ago I flew AA in business DFW-LHR, then LHR-ATL in BA first. I preferred AA’s mini cabin with both better food and better service. Go figure.
@Matthew did they have security with them?
Unclear, but I would suspect (and hope) so.
Flying First still creates more emissions than Business, or gasp, Economy. Or they could pull a Greta and sail.
I am quite impressed that the Prince & Princess flew commercial to Boston. Many other people that fly private could learn from their example. Security can no longer be an excuse. The most famous couple in the world flew commercial.