PM flies club class

Who would have believed it? Gordon Brown's carefully crafted image as the earnest son of the manse may never recover after he brought his own piece of British bling to the United States this morning.

Yes, the most exciting element of the prime minister's trip to the US so far was his decision to fly into New York on a specially chartered jet which normally ferries premiership football players around the world.

Titan Airways flight ZT 2251 touched down at New York's JFK airport shortly before 4.00am this morning (London time) with a relaxed prime minister.

And so he should have been after being pampered on board the Boeing 757-200, which is fitted solely with business class seats.

Downing Street decided to break with the old (Blair) ways by dispensing with the usual chartered British Airways Boeing 777 which used to fly prime ministers around the world.

It may have been a bit showy for Blair to turn up on a plane which normally carries 300 passengers. But how about a glitzy plane decorated with silver stars on a black backdrop on its tail fin?

A large Fanta-style orange is slapped across the centre of the fuselage as the black and silver stars give way to white at the front of the plane.

As Brown walked up the steps of the plane at Heathrow airport's royal suite shortly before 8.00pm last night for the flight to New York, he was in for a surprise.

The Titan crew directed his party to seats with a large table in the middle. "It was obviously a footballers' plane when Gordon was shown to the card table," one wag said.

The crew looked relieved to be catering for such a well behaved party. They normally look at the scores in the Champions League to see which premiership side they will fly around Europe.

Either Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United will use the plane -- a hand-me-down from a Spanish airline -- for the final of the Champions' League in Moscow.

Brown, who arrived at his central Manhattan hotel shortly before 5am BST in a true US-style 18-vehicle motorcade complete with an ambulance, will be up bright and early for an interview on Good Morning America at 12.30pm BST ( 7.30am in New York).

If he looks relaxed, then Titan Airways can feel proud that its entertainment will have calmed his nerves.

This is what was on offer:

* Ten audio channels. The best were Fly FM, offering "a mix of the very best Dance and R&B currently lighting up the dance floors around Europe" and Jazz Club offering "contemporary jazz and fusion hits for listeners who like their music cooooool!"

* Six television and movie channels. The best was Retro TV showing Buck Rogers, the Incredible Hulk and Kojak

All this could be enjoyed with a giant ITOUCH screen called a MEZZO player.

The prime minister probably can't wait to board the plane again which will fly him round the east coast of the US for the next three days.

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