News and notes from around the interweb:
- The sad reality of much premium cabin travel
- A Washington National airport gingerbread house.
- American Express opening lounge in Mumbai
- Hyatt had been rumored to be in the market to acquire Belmond hotels (formerly Orient Express) but luxury megabrand holding company LVMH is doing the deal. At $2.6 billion they may be overpaying. (HT: @HH_Cash)
- Aer Lingus will start offering business class seats on some intra-European routes for aircraft utilization reasons. Normally the airline is all-coach outside the transatlantic market.
- The ACLU sued after passengers were required to show ID in order to delane a Delta flight a year ago. The government said the procedure was routine. The government wanted to dismiss the suit though, arguing that there’s little likelihood the situation will be repeated. The court ruled that’s a silly claim when the government says it’s routine.
- I’m shocked, shocked to find corruption in Chicago O’Hare airport contracting
The BI article is mostly comparing domestic to international first class. That’s comparing apples to oranges. What’s the point? I don’t think anyone expects your ORD to JFK flight in First to remotely resemble Emirates First on an A380.
I’m a little surprised that AmEx is opening a lounge in BOM. On one hand, it’s probably a mere fraction the cost of their other properties. On the other hand, the GVK contract lounge in that airport is insane — it’s the size of the old Turkish lounge in IST, and has multiple tiers of service included seated dining with very good wines, and included massage services.
@George W +1. My personal favorite is the Ryanair picture. I didn’t even know that they had a first class.
The Amex Lounge in BOM is opening on the domestic airside, not international. The GVK lounges on the international side will always remain the flagship lounges at BOM
To reduce political corruption, all communications by elected and public officials, should be monitored and deemed public domain, especially in Chicago. Body cams for politicians. Why not? Are private citizens the only ones that can be monitored by the gov’t? Add judges to the list. They are suppose to function in open court, not private offices, right?