PALM BEACH, Fla. — One of the more attention-grabbing takeaways from the NFLPA Team Report Cards in February was that the Patriots’ team plane is so dated that it still has ashtrays in the armrests.

According to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, that is not true.

“First of all, let me just correct, there are no ashtrays on the plane,” Kraft said. “That goes back 30 years ago. I don’t know, anyone gone on a plane with ashtrays? There’s no ashtrays. And I’m willing to take a bet with anyone who says that.”

Patriots players said in the survey that they wanted an upgraded team plane.

“The current plane is too small, there is no Wi-Fi available, and there are seats with ashtrays in the armrests,” the report card stated. “Players specifically responded that ‘our plane is the worst thing – size, space, safety’ and ‘it is not conducive to preparedness for athletic performance.’”

Kraft acknowledged Tuesday that, despite there being no ashtrays onboard, the planes could use a refresh.

“Think, we bought those planes to make it easier for our team to travel,” Kraft said. “It was very hard pre-Covid to get planes. And we’re in the process of trying to update and improve that. We want everything we do to be top-of-the-heap and first-class. Rather than having to go out and charter and everything, we wanted control. We let the planes be used by different charities. They’ve done a lot of good. But we do need an upgrade.”

The Patriots ranked 31st out of 32 NFL teams in the NFLPA’s report card.

Kraft called the marks “eye-opening.”

“And then I put it in context that in 31 years, going through these last two years and the way things were and the culture that was there, it really opened my eyes in a way,” Kraft said. “We think we’re bonded and we have things but it just was not a good environment. We want to do everything we can to make this the feeling that this is one of the best places you can go. I think we had that for quite a while in terms of winning and people wanted to come here. And then the last couple of years changed it.

“And now it’s management and ownership’s job to do everything they can to create the culture that this is a place where people want to come to. I really believe it’s happening. Now we’ve got to produce on the field and get people to want to be in this environment. We’re trying to do the different things we can to make that happen.”