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Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky teammates flew on a commercial flight to Dallas for their May 15 WNBA regular season debut against the Dallas Wings.
Reese made her feelings about flying commercial clear in an Instagram Story posted during the trip.
“Just praying that this is one of the last commercial [flights] the Chicago Sky has to fly….,” Reese wrote in an Instagram Story captured and tweeted.
Reese concluded her caption by referencing an earlier tweet by teammate Brianna Turner, “Like Breezy said “Practicing gratitude & patience as the league introduces charter flights for all teams.”
A week earlier, on May 7, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert had said during the Associated Press Sports Editors Commissioners Meetings in New York that the league was close to launching a program that would charter flights for all 12 WNBA teams, “as soon as we logistically can get planes in places,” per USA Today.
“We intend to fund a full-time charter for this season,” Engelbert added. “We’re going to as soon as we can get it up and running. Maybe it’s a couple weeks, maybe it’s a month … We are really excited for the prospects here.”
Caitlin Clark’s Chartered Flight With the Indiana Fever
A May 13 ESPN article reported that “multiple teams told ESPN they have not received word from the league on when they will be permitted to charter as the WNBA prepares to kick off its 28th season Tuesday.”
That said, both the Minnesota Lynx and the Indiana Fever flew chartered flights to their WNBA regular season opener.
The Fever’s X account posted a video and multiple photos of players and staff members on their chartered flight.
“Fifteen years I’ve been in this league, and this is my first chartered flight,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said in the video.
Although the ESPN article also noted that “teams that have started chartering are still waiting to find out if they’ll charter for subsequent away games, a source said.”
The league’s chartered flight plan will cost $25 million per year over the next two seasons.
WNBA Issues in the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (where the Chicago Sky flew into on May 14) has been the center of the WNBA’s security concerns regarding commercial flights.
A May 2 video shows light security as Clark walks through baggage claim at DFW. And in June 2023, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was harassed in that same airport by a YouTube personality named Alex Stein, per ESPN.
On June 10, Stein tweeted a brief video clip of him yelling at Griner as she walked through the Dallas airport.
Later that day, Turner, then a member of the Mercury, posted on X, “Player safety while traveling should be at the forefront. People following with cameras saying wild remarks is never acceptable. Excessive harassment. Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.”
According to the USA Today story, “the WNBA’s decision comes as the league is seeing unprecedented growth, ticket sales and interest.”
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