airport

Reserve Space in a Luxury Airport Lounge

Once reserved only for first class and frequent fliers, there are now private airport lounges in England where anyone can reserve space, ensuring that their time in the airport is much more pleasant than an ordinary wait in the main terminal. The lounges typically offer comfortable seating, TV, snacks and drinks, and the amenities at some can include digital music listening stations, sports lounges and bars. At Simply Lounges and Holiday Extras, travelers can book space at any one of sixteen different airports and Holideck, at Heathrow, is a lounge that has lots of family-friendly features. Travelers typically pay for a set number of hours, so it's best to book if you have a layover of more than only an hour or two.

Source

Tags: airport, airport lounge, fly, frequent flier, healthrow, lounge, travel, uk

$1 Million Jewelry Theft at Heathrow

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Lindsay Lohan was leaving Heathrow Airport on Thursday when she noticed that her orange Hermes Birkin bag was missing. The bag itself might have gotten only a moment or two of mourning from the young celebrity, but the theft is now under investigation by Scotland Yard because that bag contained about $1 million worth of jewelry. Lindsay left it on her luggage trolley and must have turned away just long enough for someone to snag it. She is asking for the return her things, but given the value of the items taken, it seems unlikely that the thief will comply.

Update: Looks like someone actually found the bag and turned it in!

Source

Tags: airport, birkin, celeb, celebrity, heathrow, hermes, jewelry, lindsay lohan, steal, theft, tmz

Bahrain Airport's Posh Dilmun Lounge

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Bahrain Airport's Dilmun lounge recently received an award for being one of the best Priority Pass airport lounges in the world. What sets this lounge apart? Fine antiques, engraved glass walls and a one entire wall covered in gold leaf are part of what make this lounge so sumptuous. Tony Hutton Associates was responsible for the design right down to the staff uniforms. The lounge cost $3.3 million to create. More pictures of this elegant space after the jump.

Source

Tags: airport, airport lounges, bahrain

Continue reading “Bahrain Airport's Posh Dilmun Lounge”

Color on the Go Luggage

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

One of the worst things about traveling is checking your luggage. It is a drag to wait in line to drop off the bags and standing at the baggage claim after the flight, when all you want to do is get in your car and go, is even worse. The main problem is that it can be difficult to identify your bag on the carousel - especially if they're black. Diane Furstenberg's Color on the Go Luggage set completely solves that problem. The bags are made of durable polyester twill and come in either vibrant Turquoise or Fuschia, all with white, lizard-embossed faux leather trim. There are four bag styles to choose from and the rolling bags have in-line wheels and telescoping handles. It's all on special right now at Neiman Marcus, so there's really no excuse to be stuck with boring black bags.

Source

Tags: airplaine, airport, bags, diane von furstenbeur, furstenberg, luggage, travel, traveling

Changi's Luxury Airport Terminal

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Changi Airport in Singapore is scheduled to open the world's first luxury airport terminal in August. The terminal is the equivalent of a first class cabin on the ground. Fliers can pay an additional fee to gain access to the terminal, where they will be treated to the ultimate travel experience, with people to take care of luggage and procure their boarding passes for them, as well as quickly get travelers through security procedures, sans lines. The CIPs (Commercially Important Persons) will be able to lounge in the terminal's comfortable facilities, spared from having to interact with the ordinary travelers, and when it comes time to board their flight, they can even pay to have a limo drive them onto the tarmac and directly up to the plane. Prices have not yet been fixed for the use of the terminal, which cost $10 million to build. It expects to start off with approximately 50 travelers per day.

[Image Channel News Asia]

Source

Tags: air, airport, fly, flying, journey, luxury, singapore, terminal, travel, travelers

Piaggio Aero P180 Avanti II

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

I've bandied about the term "Ferrari for the skies" before but this is the real deal. Italian company, Piaggio Aero is owned by the Ferrari family and the the Maranello racing team has been flying the Avanti since 2000. The Avanti is also the preferred choice of President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, general manager Jean Todt and world champion Formula One driver Michael Shumacher.

The P180 Avanti II is the world's fastest turboprop business aircraft. It has a midsize cabin that can hold nine people and is over 6 feet wide and 5 feet 9 inches tall. The plane also uses fuel efficiencies that are nearly 40% less than most business jets and 25% less than the most efficient twin turboprops. The plane sells for around $6.195 million. Check out the interior after the jump.

Source

Tags: airplane, airport, avanti ii, business plane, ferrari, piaggio, plane, turboprop, wings

Continue reading “Piaggio Aero P180 Avanti II”

Flying In The Fast Lane

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Would you pay to get through airport security faster? The plan to offer a security pass that will let you go through a faster security lane is picking up steam. The Registered Traveler program would require travelers to pay a fee, pass a government background check and submit ten fingerprints. It is expected that as many as 20 airports will have the program in place by 2007. A yearly pass through the Clear registered traveler service sells for $79.95. They currently operate the program out of the Orlando International Airport.

Source

Tags: airline, airport, flying, security, wings

Design Q Airbus A319 Interior

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

I never tire of checking out what a whole lot of money does to a private jet. This latest one is from Design Q, an English design consultancy who has created a VIP interior for an Airbus A319 for a couple identified as family-conscious power couple in their thirties who travel as a family (PSFK thinks this sounds like the Beckhams and I have to agree). In designing for the individual client, Design Q creates a ‘Personality Map’ of the client's activities, styles and preferences. The result was an interior that integrates three basic needs: work, reset and play. There is an open-plan living area, lounger-style seating with a large projection screen, a bar and a central island which holds drinks and glasses. The upper cabin wall have ambient lighting. A small room in the back allows sleeping space and there is a meeting space for business. In the rear section there are seats for the entourage. This jet interior like the BMW one we covered last week will be on display at the Aircraft Interiors EXPO in Hamburg.

Source

Tags: airbus, airplane, airport, lufthansa, private jet, private plane

Survey Says Men Love To Shop in French Airports

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

A man traveling on his own becomes a more avid shopper. That's the results of a survey from the Aeroports de Paris. The study was carried out in January 2006 and found that a man traveling alone becomes more autonomous and likely to spend. The 50 million men who traveled through Parisian airports in 2005 spent an average 43 euros in the airports boutiques, an average 30 % higher than women's spending. They also found that men were more comfortable shopping for items like lingerie and perfume in airports. It's potentially good news for U.S. airports which are also seeking to boost shopping.

Source

Tags: airport, french airport, paris, shopping, travel

Luxist Crystal Ball: Wings 2006

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

It's been an exciting year for aviation and 2006 looks to be a break-out year. The aviation market seems to be moving in two opposite directions. First of all there are the megaplanes, led by the behemoth doubledecker Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777. These larger planes lead to the need for increased runway size. In fact several airports have had to lengthen runways in order to accommodate the A380. And while they are making the runways larger they are also making the airports more luxurious as well, adding additional features like better restaurants, spas, luxury shopping and lounges worthy of wiling away a few hours.

On the flip side are the little planes: the Eclipse, the Mustang, the Adam A700, and the Javelin are just some of the planes we have been tracking and which should end up taking to the skies in large numbers in 2006. Because many of these planes are geared for short distances we could see a rise in air taxi services and private ownership. There has already been an increase in private plane clubs. Fractional ownership, which we noticed was big last year, has increased even more and we have also seen the rise of fractional clubs for those who are interested in being pilots instead of passengers (a trend born out by celebrities likeAngelina Jolie taking to the skies). All this small jet activity has also led to the rise of more and more private airports, posh private hangars with amenities that resemble boutique hotels and even homes which are designed so that you can park your plane in the driveway.

What's in the future? As we've seen by the latest moves from Richard Branson and Virgin Galatic space flight is definitely on tap for the next few years. "Space tourism" is currently still pricey but it is expected that the prices will fall eventually. And with the creation of the Rocket Racing League, we may well have NASCAR in the skies. But what I am really excited about for next year is the VTOL, that is the Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicles. The most-talked about is the Moller Skycar which made the pages of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book this season but there are other vehicles such as the Bell/Augusta "impossicopter" and the Carter Copter that offer the advantages of a plane and a helicopter. And NASA is still offering that $250,000 prize for a flying car. Could this be the year of the flying car? Let me know your predictions for 2006 in the skies.

Tags: airplane, airport, eclipse, fractional ownership, nasa, private planes, sky car, space, trends, vtol, wings

← Previous Page

airport

Featured Galleries

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular

Also on AOL