What’s air travel like for you? If you’re like me, you get the cheapest coach ticket you can find, suffer through TSA lines and long waits at the gate, battle for overhead bin space, and get crammed into a too-small seat for hours while the guy in the seat next to you hogs the armrest.

The rich, of course, have their own way to travel. Private jets from private terminals, luxury at 30,000 feet… if you can afford it, that’s how to fly. But even by that standard, Playboy Magazine’s Big Bunny was something different. This was the Big Bunny:

That’s not how Chris travels to his shows. Not as far as I know, anyway. I could be mistaken.

The Big Bunny was Hugh Hefner’s private jet, a specially-equipped DC-9-32. Gadling.com recounts the details: disco with lights and 8-track tape deck (!), conference room, bar, and movie screen with Cinemascope projectors.

And there was Hef’s room. Private entrance in the back of the plane. Elliptical bed. Shower. He wasn’t just a member of the Mile High Club, he was the President. And, yes, he had a crew of Jet Bunnies, trained at Continental Airlines.

But it didn’t last forever. The plane was christened in 1969 but already a financial burden by the mid-1970s, and it was sold and became a commercial jet, eventually retired in 2004. Next time you’re in coach and someone’s kid is kicking the back of your seat and screaming throughout the flight, close your eyes and imagine it’s 1969 and you’re partying your way around the world with Hef. Groovy, man.

HT: Gadling.com