Jaunted

Tags: In-Flight Comfort / Singapore Airlines / First Class Travel / First Class / In-Flight Amenities / Seats / Fashion Travel / → All Tags

Designer Airline Seats: Does Your Butt Even Know the Difference?

The airline consistently ranked as best in the world for service, is also tops when it comes to fashion and amenities. Of course we're talking about Singapore Airlines, and we just realized that not only do they have sweet ipod hook-ups to the in-flight entertainment, but that all of their amenity kits and the first and business class bedding, pajamas and dishware are all from French luxury fashion house Givenchy.

We've spent years craving the Marc Newson-designed pajamas in Qantas first class, the Shanghai Tang togs on Cathay Pacific and the Anya Hindmarch amenity kits in British Airways first class, but Givenchy is miles above those.

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Tags: Retro Travel / American Airlines / Airlines / First Class Travel / American Airlines in 1959 / → All Tags

In 1959, In-Flight Entertainment Included Sending Telegrams

Sit down, shut up, and buckle your seatbelt—this is the motto of modern air travel it seems, and now it's so hard to believe that flying used to be a pleasure, a privilege. There are few legacy carriers left who remember the days of airplane cocktail lounges and Mad Men-esque style, but we managed to dig up an old "Welcome Aboard a 707 Jet Flagship" pamphlet handed to passengers flying on American Airlines in 1959.

Follow along with us this week as we peek back at air travel as it was fifty-plus years ago thanks to this discovery, and unearth some real shockers.

We sure hott and holler over in-flight wifi a lot these days, but with all the of the technological advances made with regard to in-flight entertainment over the year, it's really the next logical step. But while we log on at 35,000 feet, let's take a moment to reflect on the days when you only had a choice between reading or writing a telegram, and when cigarette lighters were to be kept in your pocket on flights...

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Tags: Private Jets / Holiday Travel / First Class Travel / Luxury Travel / → All Tags

For The CFO Who Has Everything, A Private Jet Gift Card

We're continuously impressed by the sheer versatility of private jet portals—companies like FlexJet, NetJets, and InJet that rent out time slots to CEOs and CFOs—in creating new pitches. In a world of heightened oil prices and sharpened environmentalism, these organizations still manage to get corporate giants to book their charter jets by the hour, presumably because first class on an airline is just too plebeian. These planes are the SUVs of the civilian aviation world, and yet they're constantly coming up with new ways to sell themselves raw.

The latest innovation comes from Injet, which is joining more quotidian retail outlets this season by pitching customers on a holiday gift card. The Injet Touch 10 Jet Card will allow the lucky jet setter in your life to book 10 hours of charter jet services "without a large capital outlay." There are three tiers of value, ranging from $42,000 for a light jet, $54,500 for a midsize jet, and $81,000 for a heavy jet.

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Tags: Qantas / Airline News / First Class Travel / → All Tags

Changes At Qantas: Less Fancy Seats, But No Annoying Check-In

Qantas is not standing still: even with Christmas fast approaching, they're full of big plans and promises. First up, they're cutting the number of business and first class seats on long haul flights because they think the slump in demand is here to stay, and they can save a pack of money that way. Since we don't usually get to fly those classes for that distance (though we'd like to), that doesn't bother us too much.

The next big Qantas plan sounds like something that is either very ambitious, or has already been done before—we can't figure out which. It's all about automating check-in, and therefore making it twice as fast, at least. They're spending A$40 million on a deal with IBM to get the first phase of the new system rolled out in Australian airports through 2010 and 2011, starting in Perth.

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Tags: The Inhumanity of Airlines Today / Track Suit Guy / Corkers / Fashion / Airlines / United Airlines / Track Suits / Dress Codes / First Class Travel / → All Tags

United Was Wrong to Deny Track Suit Guy His First Class Seat, But Still, a Track Suit?

Did you hear the one about the guy who was denied a first class seat on a United Airlines flight because he was wearing a track suit? It's a corker. Armando Alvarez (not pictured), an executive at Best Buy, used his frequent flier miles to upgrade to the front of the cabin for a flight from Washington Dulles to Connecticut on October 26, but a gate agent took one look at his Puma getup and deemed him unworthy of the fancy seats, insisting he sit in coach with the riffraff instead. United has come out and said it was all a big misunderstanding, and that the agent apparently thought Alvarez was an airline employee - and thus required to follow a dress code - but not before the story became the latest example of the inhumanity of airlines today.

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Tags: Camping / Rich Travel / Luxury Travel / First Class Travel / Travel Gear / → All Tags

Would You Camp In A Tent Shaped Like The Sydney Opera House?

There's a certain class of people who enjoy the idea of being in nature but are less than enthusiastic about the "dirt" and "sleeping on the ground" and "being outside" parts of the experience. Their idea of roughing it involves a covered caravan, a $750 credit card bill at REI, and a case of white wine. Not red wine, because that would be too luxurious. Within that group, there's a certain subclass of folks who also have something of an nouveau riche air about them. In addition to actually "camping" in decadent comfort, they need to look like they're camping in decadent comfort. The new Opera capsule caravan, styled after the Sydney Opera House, is designed with them in mind:

We can't believe we're saying this, but this "tent" has a wine cabinet and more. Find out what else after the jump.

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Tags: Train Travel / India Travel / First Class Travel / → All Tags

India Re-Imagines The Orient Express For $950 Per Night

If you know even the littlest bit about train travel, then you've probably heard of both the Orient Express and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Both luxury trains associated with the gilded age, they are now shadows of their former selves, carrying fannypacked tourists on shorter or altered routes instead of the evening gown-wearing, long cigarette-smoking moneyed classes who indulged in a leisurely trip between Paris and Istanbul, or through Mongolia and into Moscow.

Luckily for those who have romanticized these luxury trains, there is a country that still embraces the idea: India. In the new few months, two new opulent trains will launch on routes that aim to cover some of the most famous sites in India, including the Taj Mahal and Varanasi of course. Per person, per night prices for the trips—the shortest trip being a week—begin at a staggering $500. But you'll be getting your money back in spades with these choo-choos...

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Tags: Open Threads / Business Class / Airlines / First Class Travel / → All Tags

What Airlines Boast The Best Business Class?

Everyone knows the allures of ponying up the extra cash to fly business class: free drinks, more attention from the flight attendants, use of business class lounges which usually have more free drinks and sometimes free wifi, extra seat space, and—if you're lucky—in-flight entertainment when coach has none.

Since we were just upgraded to business class on a two-hour flight and we know very well how it feels to walk through the business class section during deplaning, with the free flight kits and plush blankets abandoned and mocking us, we're wondering on what airlines would it be worth it to go for business class. We're thinking Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, because long hauls would give us ample time to drink our fill of bottomless wine and then pass out on a semi-flat bed.

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Tags: Airplane Food / Virgin America / In-Flight Meals / First Class Travel / → All Tags

It Sure Beats a Turkey and Cheese Sandwich: Virgin America Unveils New Menu

We've always dug the snacks, meals and libations on the flights of Virgin America but did you know the menu options were seasonal? Yup, just like a real restaurant changes its menu based on seasonal ingredients that are available, Virgin America has announced their new fall menu for both the main cabin and First Class.

While a reader recently wondered if VA was skimping on snacks in First Class, the menu's meals (created by Chef Luke Morgan) have been given a boost with herb omelets on grilled challah bread, filet of beef with mushrooms, naan Tandoori chicken and a roast turkey breast with sage stuffing. Of course, the options vary from route to route and we're gonna go ahead and say you won't get Tandoori chicken on a an-hour long flight from SFO to LAX.

Additionally, folks flying First Class in the morning will have freshly baked croissants to snack on. The folks immediately behind them in coach will probably want to kill them for flaunting such buttery goodness in their face, but the Main Cabin is getting some new additions as well.

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Tags: Hot Yachts / Yachting / Richard Branson / Ships / First Class Travel / Virgin / Virgin Charter / → All Tags

Play With Richard Branson's New Toy For $88,000 Per Week

When we aren't out jetting around or hopping a high-speed train, we like to fantasize about that other form of transportation: the almighty ship. So to allay our own curiosity as much as yours, we're spotlighting yachts with either notorious owners or histories...or both. Know of a bootylicious boat? Let us know.

Who doesn't dream of owning a lush private island in the Caribbean? Perhaps Virgin Group head honcho Richard Branson, who has been living the dream since 1979, when he purchased Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands and turned it into a private resort.

If you can't afford to take over the whole island for your vacation, at a cost of $47,000 a day, then how about chartering his new catamaran yacht, the Necker Belle, for a mere $88,000 a week? She'll be fresh from a makover (she used to be the Lady Barbaretta) in February 2010, just in time to catch the end of the rich exodus to the Caribbean in winter.

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Tags: Celeb Travel / Brad Pitt / Super World Travelers / American Airlines / First Class Travel / → All Tags

Look, It's Brad Pitt on a Plane!

It no longer seems as if first class is safe for mega-celebrities like Brad Pitt. A stalker passenger on a United flight from LAX to JFK last month found himself sitting across the aisle from Brad and decided to film the Super World Traveler and send it off to Star Magazine. Star promptly posted the video on their website. Ahh, the perils of an iPhone with video capabilities.

Brad doesn't seem to be doing anything too unusual--just eating, drinking, trying to get some sleep, hitting up the lav, reading a magazine, scratching his nose--so this video is purely voyeuristic. That is, if you can get over the shock of finding out that Brad Pitt flies United.

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Tags: Airport Photo Shoots / Celeb Travel / Bradley Cooper / Virgin America / No Fly List / First Class Travel / → All Tags

Bradley Cooper is Obviously Not on The No-Fly List

Hmm...perhaps we should start traveling with hunky Hangover star, Bradley Cooper? The so-hot-right-now actor and possibly Renee Zellweger romance was spotted checking himself into first class on Virgin America over the weekend, bound for NYC.

Unlike our recent travel partner, Bradley was able to actually check-in at one of the airport kiosks, something that the folks innocently listed on the No-Fly list no can do.

Another perk for Bradley? Flying first class ensures that he doesn't have to pay any extra checked baggage fees. The folks in coach however, now have to cough up a $20 fee. Main Cabin Select passengers--those who pay a little bit more for legroom, free movies and food--also skip paying the checked baggage fee.

Related Stories:
· No-Fly List Drama And Baggage Fee Trauma At United's 'Easy Check-in' [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]