Well, maybe he won't be collecting miles on his travels, but the Pope's travels from DC to New York and on to Philadelphia, and then home to Rome will be on a chartered American Airlines 777. He flew from Rome to Cuba and then to Washington on an Alitalia plane. Each of the planes is temporarily christened "Shepherd One" as a flight identifier.
According to AA, the plane was chartered by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and will carry and AA crew with representatives from around the country and representing different religions. The plane will go back into regular service after the Pope's return flight. It's not the first time American has carried a Pope; John Paul II flew American from Denver to Rome in 1993.
The charters are needed because the Vatican has no planes. Crux, a Catholic news site owned by the Boston Globe, says that papal flights usually carry around 100 people, including about 70 journalists, whose publications pay for them to be on the plane. Their fares help subsidize the cost. According to Crux, that's about $2300 per person. So again, if the Pope doesn't get AAdvantage points, do the journalists?
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