Arsenal fly in business class but Bayern Munich make do with premium economy as both head Stateside

ARSENAL’s players were treated to luxurious business class seats on their flight to America today – while Bayern Munich had to make do with premium economy.

The Gunners stars looked to be having a great time aboard their 11-hour flight to the US ahead of two friendlies on their Stateside tour.

Arsenal will take on the MLS AT&T All-Stars in San Jose on Thursday, before playing Chivas de Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

While the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and new £35million man Granit Xhaka were treated to the comfort of huge, comfortable seats, Bayern’s stars appeared to be in premium economy.

But one star who wasn’t on the flight was Per Mertesacker, who, Arsenal confirmed, will be missing the US tour due to a knee injury.

Bayern have a huge 11 days ahead of them, playing three big friendlies in three US cities, so their players would’ve no doubt liked to be in as much comfort as possible ahead of their nine-hour flight to Chicago.

Frist off, the German giants will take on AC Milan in Chicago on Wednesday, followed by Inter Milan in Charlotte on Saturday, before finishing up against Real Madrid in New York on August 3.

But the players looked quite happy, if a little more cramped than their Arsenal counterparts, on their Bayern-decorated Lufthansa flight.

Franck Ribery and Philipp Lahm looked particularly pleased posing for a picture outside the plane, but perhaps they hadn’t seen in the inside!

It’s not a massive surprise to see Arsenal travelling in slightly better style than Bayern as Gunners boss Arsene Wenger takes his travel plans very seriously.

He once revealed the team always fly back on the night of an away Champions League game “no matter where” they have been playing, whether it is Ukraine, Cyprus or London.

Wenger told Arsenal’s official website: “After the game we always like to come back to London straight away. Some teams stay the night in the country they have played, but we always return immediately after the game, no matter where we have played.”

“I do that because we play late at night, and there is always an excitement there. If we stay behind in a hotel afterwards, the players won’t sleep until three or four o’clock, and some won’t sleep until five or six because just after a game it can be difficult to sleep.

“So if we do that, and travel back the next day, you would need to wake them up at about eight o’clock in the morning, just when they are starting to sleep. So then you lose the next day as well because you won’t arrive home until one, two or three o’clock in the afternoon.

“But if you come home straight away, even if you don’t get to bed until 4am that night, you can leave them in bed until midday and so you don’t lose sleep, and you don’t lose the next day. I always found it better to recover that way.”