Detroit Lions

Matthew Stafford Criticized for Flying First Class While His Family Sat in Coach

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford got some major side-eye on a recent flight with his family of six.

Stafford, 37, his wife Kelly, and their four daughters—twins Sawyer and Chandler, 8, Hunter, 6, and Tyler, 4—traveled to Texas last week to visit his parents and sister.

On their way back to Los Angeles, Kelly, 35, said they chose a Delta flight instead of more costly travel options.

“I told Matthew, ‘Point A to point B. There’s a flight. Let’s take it. It’ll be fine,’” Kelly said Thursday, May 29, on her podcast, The Morning After. “There were three first-class seats. I put him there. I booked us in the back.”

Kelly didn’t share the seating plan with Matthew “until check-in time.”

“He said, ‘I’m going to look like the biggest a**hole,’” she recalled. “I told him, ‘If people care that your 6’3″ frame isn’t back with us 5’3″ people, that’s their issue.’”

Still, Kelly admitted other passengers didn’t hide their reactions as they boarded the plane.

“As we got on, you could see the stares,” Kelly said. “Like, ‘Oh, you came on with them, but you’re up here.’ Then they’d look for us in the back.”

Even if fellow passengers pitied her, Kelly said she and her daughters handled things like pros.

“I’m used to flying with the kids now,” she said. “They understand how it goes. They’re great. It’s no problem.”

Kelly also said their low-key travel style has become their family’s norm.

“We flew Southwest like a month ago,” she shared on her March 27 podcast. “[Matthew], me, and the girls. Sometimes, you just do what’s needed.”

That travel experience will likely be helpful this fall, as the Rams head to London to face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley. Kelly said on a recent episode that the whole family will be going.

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