The WNBA is still working through its chartering program as opening night of the regular season tips off Tuesday.
The Indiana Fever flew charter to Connecticut for their season opener against the Sun, as seen in a video Fever guard Erica Wheeler posted to her Instagram Story.
“We on the charter baby! This is nice!” Wheeler said in the video, which featured her teammates, including Caitlin Clark — the Fever’s No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA last month — on a private plane.
The Minnesota Lynx told ESPN they traveled via charter to their season opener in Seattle vs. the Storm on Tuesday.
But not every team has been as lucky.
The Chicago Sky took a commercial flight to their season opener against the Wings in Dallas — as did the Atlanta Dream, who kick off the 2024 season against the Sparks in Los Angeles.
“It’s a good problem to have because we got here and we’re talking about charter travel,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN on Monday. “Now, in this moment, the league has found its pathway to yes. It just seems that the pathway has a few more bumps than perhaps were needed.”
Liberty star Breanna Stewart said her team was taking a charter bus to Washington, D.C. for its opener against the Mystics.
“2 out of 5 WNBA teams traveling today are on WNBA charters — and that’s a win. It could be a bigger one if the W allowed teams who were not offered League charters to secure their own until a full 12 team solution is ready,” Stewart wrote on X.
The Liberty will then fly commercially from D.C. to Indiana for their matchup with Clark and the Fever on Thursday.
“I think in the implementation there’s an opportunity for us to be transformational together,” Jackson said. “And I think there’s still time for us to do that.
“… It seemed as, if they were concerned about a competitive advantage, that they would have rolled it out differently.”
The WNBA announced in a press release Thursday “a full league-wide charter program that will be phased in beginning with the start of the 2024 regular season,” adding that the program “will be primarily operated by preeminent sports charterer Delta.”
Two days prior, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league was moving to full-chartering “as soon as we can get planes in places.”
The WNBA’s full-chartering program will cost $25 million per year over the next two seasons.
Before the league’s new travel plan, teams were only allowed to charter during the postseason and for regular-season games on back-to-back days requiring air travel.
It’s unclear how the Phoenix Mercury traveled to Las Vegas for their opener against the Aces.
The Mercury were said to be traveling more via JSX public charters last season due to security concerns over Brittney Griner, according to ESPN.
Multiple teams reportedly have yet to receive information from the league on when the charter program will begin league-wide.
Sophie Cunningham, the WNBPA representative of the Mercury, said last week that a conference call among the player reps for all 12 WNBA teams was scheduled for May 13.
“We haven’t had that conversation yet with the union,” she said during the team’s media day on May 9. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it. That meeting is coming on Monday. So, next time you can ask me. But I just want to say we’re grateful that we’re going to be treated like we should’ve been the past 10 years.”
The league’s full-chartered program was announced a few days after Clark and the Fever made headlines when they were filmed walking on a public concourse after a commercial flight during the WNBA preseason.
The WNBA did not have a comment, per ESPN.