Despite being the heir to the throne and a recognisable figure worldwide, the Prince of Wales has been known to board commercial flights without passengers even realising. His son, Prince William, has also frequently used commercial airlines for travel, both alone and with his wife, the Princess of Wales, often sharing the flight with regular passengers.
A notable instance was in 2015 when William was spotted on a Ryanair flight from Norfolk to Scotland as part of his training programme with East Anglian Air Ambulance. A fellow passenger managed to snap a photo of the prince disembarking the plane, telling The Sun: “I never expected to see him on Ryanair, but it refreshing to see a member of the Royal Family take a cheap flight.”
Another example was in 2019 when William and Princess Kate were seen flying to Balmoral with Flybe, with tickets reportedly costing around £73 per person.
The couple had their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, with them. A Royal expert explained how the royals manage to slip almost unnoticed onto regular flights.
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Royal correspondent Emily Andrews told Channel 5’s documentary Secrets of the Royal Flight: Kate and William on their 2014 tour to Australia travelled under the names of Mr and Mrs Smith and Prince George who was 8 or 9 months at the time was baby Jones.
The documentary also points out that the switch to commercial travel over exclusive jets and helicopters is most likely due to the younger generation of royals being “more media savvy” and “attuned to public opinion.”
Ms Andrews added that private flights will probably become less frequent in the future. She said: “I think that for their public duties, the younger royals will continue to travel commercially because it is more cost-effective.”
English