Elaine Thompson, Associated Press Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren speaks at a news conference at the team hotel in Dearborn, Mich. Click photo for larger image.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Nothing against USAirways, the preferred airlines of the AFC-champion Steelers set to arrive this morning, but Air Allen sounds like the way to travel to Super Bowl XL.

A television every four seats. Every seat a first-class, plush, wide chair. DVD players aplenty. Good eats.

And a No. 12 on the side of the personal Seattle Seahawks carrier, representing the 12th Man fans (though recent litigation brought by Texas A&M may have some effect on that designation).

"We have it really tough," Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said sarcastically at a news conference last night, soon after the Seahawks party arrived on the Boeing 757-200 purchased by club owner and Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, believed to be the only team-held jet in the NFL.

"He has all the electronic gadgets on it, so we can get live TV, movies. Every seat is a first-class seat."

"The food was good, as always," continued defensive end Bryce Fisher. "It isn't the normal plane food."

"Let me think," MVP halfback Shaun Alexander added. "We watched 'Coming to America,' we watched a couple of basketball games. ... We go first class in everything we do, from hotels to travel to home."

Baseball's Seattle Mariners have been known to charter the plane from Allen's company.

And, by the way, did they mention first class?

Hamlin update

Starting Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin has been reduced to the role of a sideline cheerleader.

Hamlin has been out since two assailants attacked him Oct. 17 outside a Seattle nightclub, leaving him with a fractured skull, bruised brain tissue and a blood clot near his brain.

He spent three days in intensive care and nearly a week in a Seattle hospital.

"There's disappointment for me, his teammates and everybody who knows him," Holmgren said of Hamlin having to sit out and watch the Super Bowl. "It was a sad thing that happened to Kenny. The good thing is, he has his health up. I can't tell you what his football future is. But he will be there Sunday. He had an emotional impact on this team before his injury and after."

Hamlin had 79 tackles and four interceptions in 16 starts last year.

Playing the respect card

Does everybody here feel snubbed?

While the Steelers harp about shocking the world and proving wrong their legions of disbelievers, their Super Bowl foes are plucking the same chords on the violin: We get no love.

"Where we're located, Seattle, and the TV exposure we get, I think not a lot of people know what kind of football team we have," Holmgren said. "This team is fairly unknown to the rest of the country. I told our players that's OK. Ultimately, [the respect the Seahawks receive] will be determined by how we play Sunday."

On a mission

The national media asked, and Holmgren answered: He said the medical mission on which his wife, Kathy, a nurse, and daughter Calla, a perinatal specialist in Utah, leave Thursday "is a lot more important than what I'm doing this week."

They're heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his wife first served on a similar mission 35 years ago.

They are part of a 10-member delegation from a church-related Pacific Northwest non-profit and are scheduled for a 17-day trip.

"I'll tell her the score when she gets back," Holmgren added.

Grand plans

Holmgren outlined a schedule for his team the rest of the week. Today will be a light workout. Tomorrow will be an off day, with the massive media-interview scheduled for Ford Field.

"The last time I was in one of these games," Holmgren said of a Super Bowl XXXII that his Green Bay lost, "I practiced them hard Tuesday, and I'm not sure that was the thing to do."

Wednesday through Friday will be the normal game-week routine.