Tray Tables to the Stars : Airlines Strive to Keep High-Paying Hollywood Customers Happy

The movie actress was flying first class, and the usual airline meal was not acceptable.

For starters, she needed to eat at a specific time and on her favorite china. The lettuce had to be rich in vitamins and minerals. Oh, and please peel the cucumber.

The airline, for the most part, complied with her demands. And why not? Flying celebrities is a lucrative and important business.

Despite cutbacks in travel spending, show business--like no other business--remains hooked on first-class travel and the pricey perks that pump up airline profits. In fact, many Hollywood guild contracts guarantee first-class travel for members.

American Airlines estimates that 40% of the first-class and business-class passengers on its popular Los Angeles-to-New York nonstops work in the entertainment industry.

“I don’t know of a business other than entertainment that allows the majority of their people to fly first class,” said Gayle Locke, director of business travel operations for American Express.

A large pool of first-class passengers went up for grabs at the beginning of this year when MGM Grand Air discontinued its Los Angeles-to-New York service in favor of the more profitable charter business. The airline was well known for its gold-plated passenger list and for catering to the whims of people who expect to be treated as royally in the air as they are on the ground.

One actress and MGM regular routinely reserved a private passenger compartment to shuttle her dogs and household staff between the coasts. When the late Sammy Davis Jr. was on board, the crew stocked his favorite raspberry soda.

First-class MGM fares were steep--more than $1,000 one-way. The entertainment crowd, however, “didn’t seem to be very particularly sensitive to price,” airline President Charles Demoney said.

The airlines have a long-running association with Hollywood, whose silent-film stars rode alongside sacks of mail during the early years of scheduled passenger service in the 1920s.

Entertainment travel grew as Hollywood expanded and merged into global media companies headquartered in New York, London and Tokyo. Concert tours and location shooting for films and television programs also generate substantial amounts of airline traffic to and from Los Angeles.

Airlines see celebrity travelers as prestige boosters.

“It’s not like flying an IBM executive,” said Iris Okun, a travel agent at Mark Allan Travel in Hollywood. “When an entertainer gets up on the stage, they might say, ‘I was just on American Airlines.’ ”

Even when studios have the equipment to hold video conferences, Hollywood executives still prefer to meet face-to-face to cultivate valuable relationships.

“That’s very important in our business,” said one studio travel manager. “Everything seems to be based on relationships, on who you know and how well do you know them.”

The nonstop flights between Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s Kennedy Airport take top billing in the world of entertainment travel. The flow of Hollywood heavy-hitters was one reason American upgraded its first-class cabins--where a round-trip ticket fetches $2,660--and added business-class seating on Los Angeles-New York flights.

“They are demanding,” said American sales manager Trissie Rost of entertainment fliers. But, she added, “it is worth it.”

The airlines are eager to please high-profile entertainers, who are greeted at the curb, checked in without a wait and sequestered in private lounges away from autograph hounds.

Hollywood celebrities “are more open and more aware and more verbal about their likes and dislikes” than your typical frequent flier, said travel agent Johnna Hiatt. “They know they want seat 3-A, and they will pay to have somebody moved from that seat.”

Many studio executives have notorious reputations when it comes to travel. Some ask for the impossible, such as a nonstop flight to New York at a time of day when none exists.

“Their egos are so big that they can’t understand it can’t be done,” said one studio travel planner. “They just want it.”

But many entertainment travelers are getting their wings clipped as a wave of cost cutting has hit the industry. Hollywood studios have begun to shop around for the best deals, often pitting one airline against another.

The cost cutting can also lead to the messy matter of revoking first-class privileges for some studio executives.

“You end up getting into confrontations,” said one studio travel manager, who dreads the response to another possible round of first-class cutbacks this year. “It’s not pleasant.”