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Tags: Celeb Travel / Victoria Beckham / LHR / In-Flight Fashion / Fashion / → All Tags

Beckham Goes Caped Crusader For Transatlantic Flight

Last week, we had a perfect demonstration of how not to look and how not to handle your passport when Twilight star Kristen Stewart traveled through LAX looking a mess and barely holding onto her passport. But trust good old former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham to trample through London-Heathrow in a black cape-y thing and giant shades and put in-flight fashion back on track.

No, we're not necessarily endorsing going pantsless with only a cape to keep you warm, but if you're flying first class from London back to the States as super world traveler Beckham is, you're welcome to look a little over-the-top. And that is why Victoria also gets a pass for toting a blue bag with a black outfit—at least she's also got her passport under wraps.

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Tags: Airport Lounges / Lounges / Etihad Airways / LHR / → All Tags

Etihad Airways Rolls Out Luxe Airport Lounges With Free Limo Service

After a long snooze in one of Eithad Airways' crazy fancy suites, you are going to need to eventually stumble off the plane, like it or not. That’s why the airline is starting to expand its offerings when it comes to matching fancy schmancy lounges. The airline opened their first lounge outside of the United Arab Emirates over the summer in Frankfurt, and now they have their eyes on the comfort prize in London.

Along with moving their flights from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 at London-Heathrow, a new lounge will open for the classiest of fliers on September 30. Give them a call now and book your private treatment room where you’ll be pampered by treatments from the Six Senses Spa. The foot and leg massages will be quite a relief after an overnight long-haul flight. ANd if you’re hungry after a rubdown, just swing by their five-star dining facilities where you can watch your dinner being cooked through an open kitchen.

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Tags: Airport News / LHR / London Travel / Literary Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

London-Heathrow Airport Has A Writer-In-Residence This Week

As travelers, we all have our sleeping-in-airports stories, ones that usually involve all the drama of finding a comfortable sleeping position with several armrests fighting against you, and which rarely are remembered fondly. The ever-philosophical and brainy writer (and author of The Art of Travel) Alain de Botton is out to change all this, however, by becoming writer-in-residence at London-Heathrow while preparing to write a book about the beauty of his experience in such a place of transience.

The book, coming in September and to be called "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary," is being written in Terminal 5 by Alain as we speak. The Faster Times has an exclusive excerpt, and it's just as full of airplane personification and Sunglass Hut mentions as we hope it would be.

Are you walking through Heathrow's Terminal 5 this week? Watch out for the bald writer who is positively aching to turn you into a dreamy character in the book. We dare you to stop and chat with him, so that maybe then he can dedicate a chapter to the smallness of the world.

Related Stories:
· TFT Exclusive Excerpt: Alain de Botton Reports Live From Heathrow [The Faster Times]
· TFT Guest Alain de Botton First Airport Writer-in-Residence [The Faster Times]
· Literary Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: The Faster Times]

Tags: AIrport News / Airport Transportation / LHR / London Travel / Technology / → All Tags

Passengers Don't Need Drivers at London Heathrow

London's busy Heathrow Airport is way down the list of our favorite airports – yes, it's the airport named worst in the world recently, but there is something brewing there that we really do love.

Last year we heard about the cute driverless vehicles that should form a Personal Rapid Transport system by sometime in 2009, and now they're really here. Each of the 21 pods carries four people and their luggage from the car park to the terminal; at the moment, it seems, just to the much-maligned Terminal 5.

Heathrow is promising maximum waiting times of one minute, although we've kind of learned to ignore Heathrow's promises already. Just the same, we still think these travel pods are damn cute.

Related Stories:
· Heathrow Airport Rolls Out Driverless Travel Pods [news.com.au]
· We've Fallen For Heathrow's Cute Vehicles [Jaunted]
· London Heathrow Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / LHR / A380 / London Travel / → All Tags

Picnicking and A380 Plane Spotting At London-Heathrow

We love airplanes, you love airplanes, so let's go look at airplanes! In our Prime Plane Spotting series, we'll let you in on all the best spots to whip out your cameras and binoculars for a piece of the aviation action.

Alright, let's talk Airbus A380s for a moment. They are currently like the holy grail of airplanes to be spotted, and although it is totally possible to watch the behemoths during takeoffs and landings as well as on the tarmac, maneuvering their butts around, you've got to do some planning to catch them.

To spot them in action, we recommend popping a squat with your camera outside of London-Heathrow Airport's nearby Tube stop at Hatton Cross. As well as a parking lot and easy connection to the city by underground train, Hatton Cross has a grassy area where diehard plane spotters already spend their weekends propping their telephoto lens-cameras up on tripods and drinking milk tea from a thermos.

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Tags: Virgin Atlantic 25th Anniversary / LHR / Virgin Atlantic / Richard Branson / Kate Moss / → All Tags

Live @ Virgin Atlantic's 25th Birthday Bash in London

Sir Richard Branson and Kate Moss just did a photo shoot on the wing of VA's Lady Penelope here at Heathrow. The two were later joined on the wing by Branson Next, Sam and Holly. Kate Moss? She is British right? Guess that explains her appearance on the wing.

Today is Virgin Atlantic's 25th birthday and the celebration, which is now ongoing in London goes trans-atlantic later this morning. While the 1984 inaugural VS1 flew from Gatwick to Newark, today's birthday flight will go from LHR to EWR.

Branson just announced that Virgin Atlantic has placed an order for $2.1 billion worth of Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Delivery of 5 planes will be in 2011, while the second 5 will arrive in 2012. These planes are 10% more fuel efficient than todays and will all have USB ports and power sockets as well as email capabilities.

New Virgin Atlantic destinations were also just announced: Beijing, Vancouver and Cancun were mentioned by Sir Richard at his LHR presser today. Furthermore, Branson noted that it is "likely inefficient big carriers will disappear, and in a sense they should. In a forest, when some big trees die new saplings can get going." The VA founder went on to lament that upstarts like his Virgin America can not get additional slots at JFK because of legacy carrier squatting at NYC's biggest airport.

Tags: Airport Lounges / Lounges / Delta / Delta Sky Club / LHR / → All Tags

Delta Opens The Doors To Its Newest International Lounge In London

If you just happen to win a free trip to Europe, why not spend a little of your own cash for access to one of the airport's stellar departure lounges. This is especially tempting if London's Heathrow airport is on your itinerary as passengers flying aboard Delta or one of its many partners like KLM or Air France, as they'll soon be enjoying a new two-level luxury lounge. The fresh digs will have a minimalist, contemporary-style feel to it, so you might easily imagine that you’re at the local spaceport rather than airport.

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Tags: Airport Transportation / LHR / London / Airports / → All Tags

On the Road Again: How to Reach London-Heathrow

Your flight has landed, you've claimed your luggage and now you're trying to get the hell out of the airport. To erase confusion and get your on your way, all week long at Jaunted we will be detailing the various ways to get to and from major airports, and what those modes cost, from cheapest to the big blowout entrance. Got any tips or an airport suggestion? Let us know.

· The Underground, aka The Tube: If you're a typical London tourist, you'll be going underground many times during your visit, so why not start early by getting familiar with the system from the airport? Catch the Tube at any terminal, and it'll run you right into town, with usual stops at places like Victoria Station, Kensington, West End, and Paddington Station.
Total cost: £4.00 ($6.19) per person, each way
Total time: 45 minutes

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Tags: Airline News / World's Most Dangerous Airports / LHR / Dangerous Travel / New Routes / Iraq Travel / BMI / → All Tags

BMI Anxious to Begin Corkscrewing In For a Baghdad Landing

Has that pesky little Iraq war been upsetting your Middle East travel plans? If British airline BMI has any say in the matter of increasing air passenger traffic to the good old Baghdad International, then your dreams of family reunions in Fallujah and spa weekends in Basra may not be pipe dreams much longer.

Thanks to a rousing meeting last week between Iraqi officials and UK businesses, British investment in the rebuilding country is looking imminent, and maverick companies will need an airline to shuttle them back and forth between deals in London and Baghdad. The Financial Times breaks the news that BMI is not only considering operating flights between the two capitals, making it the first to successfully re-connect the Isles to Iraq in almost twenty years, but that it would like to do so as early as next spring.

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Tags: Weather / London Travel / LHR / Public Transportation / Travel Hell / → All Tags

London is Closed for Business

What the Blitz and terrorists have failed to do, the weather has done. London is on its knees today (or at least buried up to its knees) under a whole seven inches of snow.

Three of the five London airports are shut, mainline trains are down, only two of the 11 underground trains are running properly and all 5 million buses have been taken off the roads.

And because of (read: thanks to) that, there’s barely anyone about. Ever diligent, we made it into work this morning, to be confronted with tumbleweed blowing around the office. London Underground staff were using commuter paper Metro to mop up the water this morning, while afternoon paper thelondonpaper* reduced its print run from 500,000 to 150,000 to compensate for the lack of readers about.

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Tags: Airport Photo Shoots / Celeb Travel / David Beckham / Victoria Beckham / Posh Spice / LHR / → All Tags

Heathrow's Brimming With Beckhams

When the Beckham clan touched down at Heathrow on Wednesday, it was a veritable head-covering hoedown, with Victoria rocking a fashion-forward Trilby and David sporting a high-perched pork pie.

Middle son Romeo James got in on the action, too, with his hoodie pulled up in true English fashion.

While there's no explaining the part of Victoria's outfit below the neck, the rest of the fam looked well dressed to deal with both the London cold and the frigid interior of an airplane. Layers are key, people, 'cause heaven knows you won't be getting a free blanket to cozy up with--not that you'd want to cozy up under a scratchy, recycled throw anyway.

Related Stories:
· Airport Photo Shoot: Makes 'Em Easier to Spot [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees and Why We Pay Them [Jaunted]
· Southwest Sexy Flier Number Two Surfaces [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Tags: Airport Photo Shoots / Mary-Kate Olsen / Ashley Olsen / Gwyneth Paltrow / LHR / → All Tags

Airport Photo Shoot: A Celebrity Pack in the Wild

Left to its own devices, the American celebrity (celebritus Americanus) finds its own kind and moves among them in a herd of Blackberrying fingers and venti skinny lattes. Here, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Gwyneth Paltrow stick to their own kind at London Heathrow.

Last week we knocked Mary-Kate's oversized and understyled luggage, but she was probably hauling around her ideas for the clothing line she shares with her twin, Elizabeth and James.

It didn't make it into London fashion week this year, but maybe next season!

Related Stories:
· Airport Photo Shoot: Seriously? A Duffel? [Jaunted]
· Comic Con 2007: No Costume For Gwyneth Paltrow [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Faded Youth Blog]