When University President Mary Sue Coleman goes to the airport, she takes her shoes off at the security checkpoint, puts all her gels and liquids in plastic bags and stows her luggage in the overhead bins – just like everybody else.
Coleman takes commercial flights when travelling on behalf of the University and doesn’t upgrade to first-class seating, said University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen.
“She’s very down to Earth,” Broekhuizen said.
Broekhuizen said University of Michigan’s presidents have never chartered flights. But not all university presidents blend in with the masses of people rushing through the airport to catch a connecting flight or go on a family vacation.
David Hodge, president of Miami University, can use the college’s 681 Aero Commander airplane for business travel as long as he gives the college a month’s notice, said Adolph Haislar, the school’s senior associate vice president for finance and business. Miami University has owned a private plane for transporting its employees since 1959.
Coleman hasn’t considered buying a private plane for the University, University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said.
Although Coleman has endured the winding lines of people at luggage counters, the University Athletic Department often allows its athletes and top officials to avoid the hassle of security screenings and random body searches by using charter services.
The hockey team usually flies commercially, but it took a charter flight to Denver, Colo. for this year’s NCAA Tournament, Athletic Department spokesman Bruce Madej said. The University’s football team and basketball teams have chartered flights for years, he said. Sometimes, they get to use planes belonging to the Detroit Pistons or Detroit Red Wings.
But flying like Pistons star Chauncey Billups isn’t typical for them.
Madej said the University uses commercial flights for recruiting trips and sports teams fly commercially 99 percent of the time.
And although University Athletic Director Bill Martin has a pilot’s license and occasionally flies himself to meetings and events, the University rarely charters a plane for individual use, Madej said.
“I don’t even know when (football coach Lloyd Carr) used a private plane last,” Madej said.
LAUREN SLETE