The Jetset Crowd

Great article from the NYT...... where do I sign up for this job ?

Celebrity Wrangling, Without the Jet Lag
By LORI LEVINE
Founder, Flying Television Productions, New York

You could call me a celebrity wrangler or a talent executive or whatever. My company is in the business of the care and feeding of celebrities we book for special events. I travel a lot, sometimes 45 out of 60 days.

I left for Europe on June 18 and I was in Paris for five days. Then I flew to Geneva, picked up a rental car, drove to Evian, drove to Milan, to Portofino, back to Milan, back to Geneva and then flew back to New York. The plane landed, I rushed into the city, picked up the dog, and got driven out to the Hamptons because we were doing Puffy's White Party that day.

I don't believe a whole lot in jet lag. If I'm tired, I sleep. And I never feel a trace of jet lag when I go to Los Angeles, because I keep myself on New York time the entire time I'm there - which means I'm up at 5 a.m. and ready to work.

When I fly to Miami, which I do about every other weekend, it's always JetBlue because it's always the same gates and the same flight numbers on both sides of the trip.

You go to J.F.K., go to the ticket thing, shove in your American Express, get your boarding pass, and go up through security to the same gate every single time.

But when I fly to Los Angeles or Las Vegas or Europe, it's got to be business class or first. It's way too long a flight to sit in the middle seat in the middle of coach. When I go to Europe, it has to be a night flight so you get there early in the day.

When I fly to Los Angeles, I leave in the early afternoon because of the time advantage. You leave at, like, noon, and when you get there it's 2 in the afternoon. It's awesome; you haven't lost the day. But when I fly back it's the red-eye only. You get on the plane and go to sleep. When you wake up, you're in New York, and you've already gotten your six hours sleep. It's like time travel.

A lot of people ask if all celebrities travel by private jet. Not true. A couple of weeks ago, when I flew back from Los Angeles, Nicky Hilton was sitting directly in front of me. I think the idea that everybody flies on private jets comes from the "Fabulous Life" show on VH1. Really, it depends on who's picking up the tab. Most celebrities fly commercial.

When our company has huge events in which we're flying in multiple people from one location, it can be more cost-effective and more desirable to do a private jet - say, one from Los Angeles and one from New York. In that sort of thing, the numbers work out fine, but the problem is trying to get everybody on the jet at the same time.

I fly 150,000 to 200,000 miles a year. I've never had a problem with airport security. I am really, really respectful of the job they have to do there. I'm jovial. I smile and ask the screeners how they are. Getting through the metal-detector thing I look at like a game. Before I go through I think, "O.K., you got everything? No metal to set off the alarm? Are we good? Ready to go for it?" Then I sail through without a problem and I'm thinking, "Score!"

As told to Joe Sharkey.