Jaunted

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Jaunted Originals: Inside Five Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses

What's that saying? Ah yes, "the best camera is the one you have on you." Since we're never without a camera and hardly ever not traveling, we've managed to capture a serious collection of travel photos in our numerous Photo Galleries.

Here at Jaunted, we devote a lot of enthusiasm to exploring the the premium airline lounges of the world, but time and time again we're asked about what behind the doors of the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses. Must be the mystique, or you know— the fact that their cocktail list is legendary.

Now is as perfect a time as ever to share their interiors with you—the ones we've been inside, at least. That includes the Clubhouses of London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, San Francisco, Newark-Liberty and the very spicy, very new digs at New York-JFK. Just keep in mind that, coming this October, the Newark lounge reopens with a completely renovated design, with the aim of evoking Manhattan's downtown vibe.

Without further ado:

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Inside British Airways' Revamped Galleries Lounge at Newark International Airport

There are very few things that'll make us consider flying out of Newark-Liberty International Airport versus JFK, but having a superior airline lounge experience would be one of them. After all, the few hours of pre-departure time can be the most critical for enjoying your flight and getting in the proper mood to fly long-haul.

Late last week, British Airways let us in to have a peek around their newly renovated Galleries lounge at EWR's Terminal B. This lounge, which is double the size of the old one, only reopened with the new furniture, new layout, new tech and new food and beverage options in late April, just in time to introduce it to flyers before the rush of Summer Olympics travel.

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Chen Guangcheng Flew to the United States in Style, Sort Of

United Airlines Flight 88 is a direct, 12.5 hour Beijing-PEK to Newark-EWR flight flown by a Boeing 777-200. Seatguru says that United's particular 777-200 configuration has 8 First Class Suites, 40 new Business class flatbed seats, and a 3-3-3 configuration in economy. So far it just sounds like your average trans-Pacific flight, right? There's comfy accommodations in first and business class, and an economy cabin where people wake up 8 hours into the trip, realize they've still got 1/3 of the flight to go, and want to kill themselves.

But last Saturday this very route became a focus of international attention. It was boarded just before takeoff by blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng (in a wheelchair), plus his wife and their two children. The family had been driven across the tarmac by Chinese officials and deposited into an elevator, which took them up to the skywalk and onto the plane.

The mini-drama marked the beginning of the end of a standoff between American and Chinese diplomats, stretching back to last month when Chen escaped the Chinese guards who were keeping him under house arrest—as China likes to do with "dissidents"—and fled to the U.S. embassy.

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Man Causes Newark Airport Security Breach to Wait for Family Member's Flight

Well, it was a good run and now the streak has been broken. Up until last week, the last time some guy walked the wrong way through security at Newark-Liberty Airport was January 2010. In that case, the airport was evacuated and all passengers re-screened just because some guy had gone too far to get a goodbye kiss.

This time around, it was a 64-old British man who made it past a "distracted" TSA agent and "do not enter" signs to wait at the gate for a family member's arriving flight. Airport personnel didn't even figure out he wasn't where he was supposed to be until a gate agent he had talked to realized he wasn't a departing passenger. Thanks, security cameras.

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It's Official, Just Blame Your Airline Delay Squarely on New York City

The next time you’re stuck in the terminal—or on the tarmac—with nowhere to go, there’s now officially someone to blame for your delay and disturbance. It’s actually not a person but more of a place, as it’s New York City that’s likely the spot causing all of the trouble.

The New York Times looked into the causes behind a lot of these airport and airplane inconveniences, and they found that the city’s busy air traffic and multiple airports are the places to blame. There’s been different flight plans from the FAA and even less planes overall thanks to the dip in the economy, but that still hasn’t helped the congestion up in the skies above the greater metropolitan area. Apparently the city’s three major airports—along with the airport in Philadelphia—accounted for around 12 percent of all the country’s domestic flights, but those few flights created like half of all delays.

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This Week in TSA Slip-ups: Sex Toys and Loaded Guns

Oh TSA. It seems like just yesterday when we were talking about how we don't like to pile on the organization, partly because we say that a lot but mostly because it really was just yesterday. But this week is turning into a rough one for the agency in charge of protecting the nation's airport security, and we'd be remiss as travel bloggers if we didn't cover the latest news.

Plus we let a whole month go by before posting this morning's Halloween sex travel story, and we'd like to make that up to you by posting a second one.

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Steaks on a Plane! Frequent Flyer Tweets, Gets Special Delivery at Newark Airport

Sit back and listen to this tale of social media customer service gone right, where frequent flying combined with brand loyalty and humor equaled genuine surprise:

Peter Shankman is as frequent a flyer as you'll ever find; following him on Twitter you'll quickly get a sense of this, plus his preference for Continental Airlines and Newark-Liberty Airport.

Yesterday, as Shankman relates in his blog post, he flew to Miami for a business lunch and dreaded the hunger that would gnaw upon returning to Newark Airport that night. So he tweeted about it:

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Today's Travel PSA: Charging onto an Airport Tarmac with a Knife Will Get You Arrested

Remember that story we did around Easter, when someone dressed up as a giant pink rabbit and attacked a TSA agent with confetti, and then was promptly arrested because that's something you're not allowed to do? This story is kind of like that, except we also get to use condescending lines like "there are certain people who shouldn't be allowed to run with sharp things."

For reasons that are currently being probed by the psychologists conducting his evaluation, Xiang Xun Shao of Manhattan decided that it would be a good idea to put a knife in his pocket, jump over a barrier at EWR, and run onto the tarmac.

From there things proceeded about how you'd expect, and he was very promptly tackled by a Port Authority policeman somewhere around Terminal C. It all happened so fast that the airport didn't even need to delay any flights, which is quite an achievement given that EWR officials once shut down for a day because someone decided to jump into the sterile area and steal a kiss from his girlfriend.

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The TSA is Racial-Profiling at Newark Airport? Color Us Surprised. Not.

Two things to keep in mind as you read this story. The first is our most recent discussion of racial profiling, where we emphasized that "random screening" doesn't actually exist in the real world. TSA screeners always have the option of profiling. Random screening just lets the agents on the ground choose who to pull aside instead of giving them explicit rules, which gives bad apples the opportunity to abuse their authority: "Why did you tag that African-American gentleman / blonde cheerleader / Cowboys fan for extra screening?" "They were fidgeting."

The second thing is that TSA is on the record saying that EWR screeners are some of the best in the country.

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Is New York City Getting Another Airport Nearby JFK?

Everyone knows that the New York City area could use another airport—or at least a major revamp of the existing facilities—but the problem is that there’s just no darned space to construct what's required. Well apparently there’s some underutilized property in Brooklyn that could be the area’s third airport—or fourth if you’re cool counting Newark. Floyd Bennett Field was once home to famous aviators like Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes, and now some want it to reopen as a hub for the modern traveler.

The old airfield sits on Jamaica Bay with JFK Airport not too far off in the distance, so it’s in a pretty decent location to help out all those airplane traffic jams. With the new advances in air traffic control technology, the thinking is that this spot could be used without interfering with all the comings and goings at JFK. The only issue is that the airport is hardly ready to go, as runways would need to be lengthened, terminals would need to be built, and Uncle Sam would need to hand it over to someone like the Port Authority.

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Five of the Best (and Newest) Airport Restaurants

We’re usually all over new routes, but before jetting across the globe you need something to eat. Lately new airport restaurants seem to be everywhere, so we thought we’d round up a few of the new and coming-soon sort for your culinary pleasure:

· Smashburger at EWR
One of the country’s best burger chains has yet to invade NYC, but it has debuted in one of the city’s airports. Newark Liberty International Airport just got its very own Smashburger, and after sampling their burger masterpieces in the Midwest, we have to say that this is definitely a good thing. It’s kind of like Five Guys—but with a little more fanciness—and should satisfy any greasy cravings you might have at the airport. Find the burgers, and their specialized New Jersey menu, within Terminal C3.

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Hopping Between London and New York is Easy as Taking a Bus, Except It's an Airplane

By the beginning of next week, it's going to be easier than every to hop across the pond from New York City to London. The reason? Starting March 27, an "enhanced relationship" between American Airlines and British Airways will mean 15 daily flights between the two world capitals; it's almost like hopping a bus, but not really since it costs hundreds of dollars and travels at 35,000 feet. You know what we mean.

The departure airports for the increased flight schedule (up from 11 daily flights) are London-Heathrow, London-City, Newark-Liberty and New York-JFK. Here's a little bit of what to expect thanks to AA and BA becoming super BFFs:

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