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London's New Multi Bajillion Dollar Thames Estuary Airport Hits a Snag

January 25, 2012 at 8:22 AM | by | Comments (2)

Not too long ago we were going on and on about the possibility of London building a pretty darn huge airport within the Thames Estuary. Well this is certainly still a possibility, but now that accountants and financiers have started to run the numbers and sort the spreadsheets, the bottom line is getting out of han.

Someone must pay for all the construction costs, costs which would be passed on down to the planes and passengers arriving at the new airport. Landing fees could be as high as £100 per passenger for the new airport—oof—a fact which may make the new airport—despite all its bells and whistles—a pretty hard sell. The thought is that the new airport could cost anywhere between like £50 and £80 billion to build, which is way more than what London-Heathrow is even worth (around £12 billion).

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Can't Ever Get Enough of Travel Photography

January 3, 2012 at 6:49 PM | by | Comments (0)


Some of our recent shots on Instagram

Yo. We already told you last week that we're now on Instagram (username: jaunted), but we thought we'd give you a fair warning that things are about to quadruple in awesome as we prepare for a late winter and spring insanely packed with international travel. That means more awesome, behind-the-scenes travel shots on Instagram from our writers...wherever they may be on this blue globe of ours.

Not only that, but here's a few additional updates we've noticed among the travel brands on Instagram:

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Can't Get a Ride? Other Ways to Reach Six International Airports

December 1, 2011 at 9:00 AM | by | Comment (1)

Just because Thanksgiving has passed doesn't mean that travel will dwindle much; Christmas and other holidays are now less than one month away, and of course travel to wherever you're heading for them will start sooner. If you're heading home or on vacation, and you can't convince someone to come pick you up from the airport, we might be able to help.

Throughout December, we'll be adding more guides on how to reach airports around the world via both public and private transportation, but for now, here are six guides we've already got for you:

· New York-JFK

· Paris-Charles de Gaulle

· Rome-Fiumicino/Leonardo da Vinci

· Tokyo-Narita

· London-Heathrow

· London-Gatwick (just the Express train featured)

[Photo: pro-zak]

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Shocker! Virgin Atlantic's Economy Food is Actually Pretty Decent

November 28, 2011 at 4:35 PM | by | Comments (0)


You may remember we told you a little while back about a rather underwhelming experience in Virgin Atlantic's economy class from London to Vegas. Luckily, we're pleased to report the food was much, much better.

First, a bit of background. This member of Jaunted is not a fan of airline food—even in business class. We were also seriously unimpressed with the meals consumed in premium economy a couple of years back, with the exception of a recent excellent Full English Breakfast. Alas, we still didn't have much hope for economy.

But what do you know...for economy, it was actually very decent.

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A Major Strike Will Gum Up the Works at UK Airports This Wednesday

November 28, 2011 at 2:43 PM | by | Comments (0)

Heading to the UK this Wednesday, November 30? Bring a book, a snack and loads of patience because for the second time this year, the UK Borders and Customs employees who stamp your passports will be on strike.

The last strike by the PCS Union was exactly five months ago, on June 30, and we just happened to fly into London-Heathrow and get stuck in the middle of it (and the line's 17 switchbacks). Although Heathrow had obviously prepared well by handing out both bottled water and kid activity packs, the nightmare of standing for nearly three hours in the most boring, bureaucratic environment ever still happened. Just listen for your flight crew to warn you about "industrial action," as our Virgin Atlantic FAs did, just to make sure we were aware what exactly was the holdup.

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Not Much Legroom, but a Cheeky Pilot: Flying London to Florence on Meridiana

Where: Florence, Italy
November 21, 2011 at 3:22 PM | by | Comment (1)

There’s always an aspect of holding our breath when we try a new airline, especially if it’s a lowcost one. Sometimes, though, needs must, which is why we found ourselves travelling from London-Gatwick to Florence on Meridiana.

We’ve known about Meridiana for a long time, but heard neither positive or negative things about it. Alas with most other airlines flying into Pisa (over an hour away by bus) or Bologna (90 minutes on the train), we bit the bullet.

Luckily, we had a rather nice surprise. Staff were friendly (though be warned, since it’s an Italian airline, they speak in Italian before English). They gave us a drink and cookies, which was not only free, but probably also better than the inedible snacks BA give out.

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Being Welcomed to Florence by Brunelleschi’s Dome

Where: Florence, Italy
November 9, 2011 at 2:55 PM | by | Comments (3)

Picture the scene: the end of a boring, two-hour flight from London-Gatwick to Florence on Meridiana. The plane is nearly full, the hour is bothersomely early, the turbulence has been hefty, and the cloud cover means that there hasn’t been a single thing to look at out the window for the entire flight. Oh, and we forgot to bring a book.

And then, approaching the airport for landing, we dip below the clouds and out of the ether springs Brunelleschi’s dome. And Giotto’s belltower. And the spire of Santa Croce. And the Baptistery and the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. What a view. Sometimes this is why it's worth the trouble to fly instead of take the train.

Know of a more iconic landing view? Let us know in comments below!

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Does a Cafe Have the Best Free View at Gatwick Airport?

Where: Gatwick, London, United Kingdom
November 7, 2011 at 9:35 AM | by | Comment (1)

The North Terminal at London-Gatwick is somewhere we find ourselves quite regularly, and up 'til now we’ve never been particularly jazzed about it; it’s a bit cramped, with too few bathrooms and too long walks to the gates. And, we always thought, it’s not as airy and fresh as more modern airports can be.

But we had something of a turnaround in opinion when we flew through this last weekend, because we discovered Café Rouge on the first floor of the departures area.

It’s a place we’ve walked by lots of times before, but ignored every time, largely because we never have time for a sitdown meal and its location next to the toilets makes us feel a little icky. But this time, lured by a £3.95 coffee and cake deal, we went in…

…And found what’s possibly (discounting the lounges) the place with the best views of the airport in the North Terminal. Think: a huge room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking some of the gates and the runway, without the need to pay for a lounge or present a Business or First Class ticket for access.

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London May Get a Whole New Airport: Isle of Grain International

November 7, 2011 at 8:51 AM | by | Comment (1)

When it comes to airline and passenger traffic, airport and government officials have realized that London is going to reach capacity around 2030. That means it’s time to start thinking about some creative ways to expand the city’s airports, but instead of bumping up the ability of Heathrow or Gatwick, there’s one group with a slightly different suggestion.

Out to the east of the city—like 45 minutes or so—sits the Isle of Grain and the Thames Estuary. The plan on the drawing board is to create one of the biggest airports in the world, so large that around 150 million passengers per year would use it. Apparently that’s like twice as many people that use London-Heathrow each year, so you can imagine the airport’s size and potential.

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Inside British Airways' New Home at London-Gatwick's North Terminal

Where: Gatwick Airport, London, United Kingdom
October 24, 2011 at 11:18 AM | by | Comments (0)


It may not have opened with the fanfare that accompanied the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5, but British Airways has just unveiled its new hub at London-Gatwick Airport, in the North Terminal.

According to Business Traveller, the airline promises a faster check-in experience by not allowing staff to sit down, plus they'll have self check-in kiosks and the requisite dedicated check-in space for premium passengers.

The terminal opened 14 October, and we happened to fly out from it four days earlier. First impressions of the unfinished product: very impressive. There are check-in kiosks as you come up the escalator to departures, then another line in front of the check in desks, and we waited about eight seconds before reaching bag drop.

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Air India's Epic Tarmac Delay Almost Triggers Full-Blown Riot

October 17, 2011 at 9:03 AM | by | Comment (1)

Air India can't seem to do anything right. The company tried for years to join Star Alliance—we covered some of their bumbling efforts last May—only to recently give up and suspend integration efforts. Star Alliance's minimum membership requirements, which other airlines seem to be able to meet just fine, turned out to be just too difficult for the Air India people to figure out. On its face, that's not a particularly encouraging signal of competence.

Now comes news out of London that the airline was responsible for a truly epic nine hour tarmac delay, which came at the end—not at the beginning, but at the end—of a long-haul flight from Mumbai.

200 passengers plus one Boeing 777 minus any food unsurprisingly equaled grumpiness. If you're saying to yourself, "I can't believe cops weren't called to put down a riot," you'll be interested to know that cops were indeed called to put down what almost became a riot.

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Inside the Virgin Holidays V-Room Lounge at London's Gatwick Airport

Where: Gatwick Airport, London, United Kingdom
September 8, 2011 at 2:49 PM | by | Comments (0)


It’s not often that we fly business class these days so it’s not often that we get the chance to hit up an airport lounge. But when we flew to Vegas last week, we were on a package with Virgin Holidays – the UK package company that’s part of the Virgin group. And Virgin Holidays is all about the little people – so it has its own lounge for economy passengers at Gatwick airport, the v-room.

Any Virgin Holidays customer can purchase a pass to the lounge for £20 (£12 for kids). For that price, you get free food, WiFi, seating, newspapers, a games room and telescopes to gawk at the runway (the floor to ceiling windows help with that too). Or, if you’ve booked a package staying in one of their Platinum (premium) hotels, your access is free.

We toured the v-room when it opened a couple of years ago, and were very impressed – so we were looking forward to seeing how it’s withstood the test of time. The answer? Extremely well.

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