Naomi Campbell has been arrested at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Just the sort of seminal event that may be an inflection point for the beleaguered new terminal. Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been arrested at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 for allegedly spitting at a police officer, Sky News television reported Thursday… …In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant while making a film in Canada in 1998. Under an agreement with prosecutors, Campbell expressed remorse and was released without punishment or a criminal record. In January 2007, Campbell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for throwing her mobile phone at her maid in a dispute over a missing pair of jeans. So it seems that now T5 is ‘just like every place else.’ (Hat tip Dan.)
The Italians are More Efficient Than the Brits!#?$?
Via Online Travel Review, Heathrow is now so backed up with lost luggage — they can’t handle any more — that they’re shipping bags en masse to Milan and hope to sort out the mess over there. I’m not touching Terminal 5 next week, but I am transiting Heathrow with BA. Egads.
ATA Ceases Operations
Via Joe Sharkey, ATA has ceased operations. I’m fortunate never to have had to fly the airline. And they withdrew from my home market some months back anyway. But the disruption is never helpful. I pass this along only because it may be important for some readers, one person emailed me that they only learned about Aloha’s demise from this site and they had travel booked in three weeks. Fortunately new intra-island fares remain not all that expensive, and they were able to purchase new ticket… Good luck to all those booked on ATA, and may the carrier rest in peace.
A Second Trip Through Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
Friday, March 28, 2008 The First Class Terminal is eminently walkable from the Sheraton, although it did involve being outside on a rather crisp morning. Back across the passenger bridge to Terminal 1, downstairs to the arrivals level, to the very end of Hall A and out by the hotel shuttle pickup we just continued walking against the direction of vehicle traffic and there was the First Class Terminal, lower level. We buzzed the entrance and someone came down to meet us and let us in. Back up the elevator and through ever-so-polite security, and now I’m ensconced in here a bit before 8am with a bloody mary in hand. Here’s a view outside the terminal, where staff were washing the cars: We arrived a full 5.5 hours before flight time, but figured it was…
Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers
We cruised through immigration with not a single person in line ahead of us and walked over to the departure level and up again to the escalator to the pedestrian bridge, and across the way to the Sheraton. I had reserved the hotel on a cash and points award, US$60 + 4000 points a night. Walked up to the check-in desk, though I suppose we could have headed up to the Towers lounge on the 9th floor for checkin. We were given a room on the club floor. I asked if suite was available as a platinum upgrade (not that I cared, actually, on a one-night stay at the airport). The woman checking me in said “We don’t normally do that.” I asked, “Are you sure, I thought that if a standard suite was available,…
Lufthansa First Class – Beijing to Frankfurt
Beijing, China (PEK) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) 11:25 am Lufthansa 0721, Boeing 747, First Class, Seats 81C, 81A Scheduled Flight time: 10h 10m This was my best Lufthansa flight out of my four long-haul First Class segments – best food, best service, I didn’t sleep on the flight but the ten hours just flew by. We had a 10 minute departure delay which the captain came on to tell us “was not because of the new terminal.” Rather, a checked-in passenger didn’t board and they had to offload bags. Load in F was 5/16, and this time we had a wonderful crew eager to provide service and quick with every request. In fact, they were happy to adjust the speed of each course or provide things whenever you wished. The man seated in row 82 took…
Instant Gold Status from Marriott?
Marriott is sending Air France-KLM Flying Blue elite members an offer to sign up for a new Marriott Rewards account with instant gold status. The offer includes triple Flying Blue miles through June 30. Gold status should last for the first program year of enrollment. Signing up through this offer will generate an account number right away, but the actual signup will that 3-5 days to process, and it won’t be possible to create an online account until that’s completed. So perhaps there is a process in place for checking Flying Blue accounts against elite status, although this isn’t clear, so it remains to be seen whether anyone can use the link to sign up with Gold status. As they say, “your mileage may vary.”
Beijing’s New Teminal 3
Thursday, March 27, 2008 After breakfast in the lounge we checked out (removing the 8RMB opt-out charitable donation, as I’ve noted elsewhere I take my charity seriously and make gifts on my own, and don’t participate in these sorts of arrangements; separately my understanding of the empirical research is that the corporate giving level remains the same independent of guest participation, so the contribution really amounts to a contribution to the company rather than providing incremental dollars to a charity) and left for the airport around 8:30am. Traffic was bad getting out of the city, but clear afterwards, and we pulled up at Beijing’s new Terminal 3 at about 9:30am. Cab was 103RMB. Beijing’s new terminal is certainly impressive. It’s an architectural marvel, if a little bit sterile, and it’s opening was certainly smoother than…
One Day to Tour Beijing
Beijing Tour in One Day: Ok, I grant you most will find it crazy to fly up to Beijing to spend just one full day. But we packed a good bit in, had a nice time, so why not? At the suggestion of Flyertalk.com member AZ Travels the World we booked a lovely and knowledgable tour guide named Alice. He had warned me that she wasn’t especially responsive to e-mail, but actually if I waited a couple of days she’d get back to me. I really do prefer to work by email rather than phone. She called us at the hotel the night we arrived, and confirmed the time we’d be meeting in the hotel lobby. She did ask something we hadn’t discussed earlier – whether I’d have a car. I rather assumed she would! No problem,…
Aloha Airlines Ceases Operations
Well that was quick, they just went back in bankruptcy on March 20th. Joe Sharkey points to United’s statement about their partner’s collapse. For customers who are flying on a United ticket, United will rebook them on an alternate flight where space is available, for no additional charge. For customers traveling on an Aloha ticket, United is offering discounted one-way fares through the end of April that will make it easier for them to return home.United will continue to honor reservations that AlohaPass frequent flier members have on a United flight. United will refund frequent flier miles at no additional charge to United Mileage Plus members who have an award ticket reservation on an Aloha flight. Apparently Aloha’s cargo operation remains profitable and will continue operation, being auctioned off in April. Update: Hawaiian is making…
