Flying and airport experience are constantly evolving. While some things are arguably getting worse, others are only improving. Here are two things to keep an eye on next time you’re travelling by air.
AirPortr
While I am loath to speak well of BA – their service has plummeted to rival a budget airline with an economy fare requiring additional fees to choose seats and food – one thing which deserves credit is their new porter service.
It’s a service that gets your bags to the airport without you, if you’re not travelling by car nor leaving from home. BA has teamed up with the app AirPortr, allowing its passengers to simply book a time on the app for luggage collection from home or work. Once you’ve booked the service, a member of the AirPortr team will come to you, weigh your bag, label it with a tracking code and place it in an anti-tamper bag. The porter service will get the luggage to the airport and even check them in for you, if required. At the airport, the bag is x-rayed and then passes through the normal baggage process before finally ending up on the carousel at your destination.
I have to say I wish I’d known about this when I dragged my large suitcase all the way from my house on a bus, train, and for a fifteen-minute stroll to work during rush hour last week.
While the service does come at a cost, £20–£40, it may well be worth it at times given the hassle it takes off your hands. Expect other airlines to roll out similar services soon as well.
Read more at The Standard
Plane picnics
While at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant, Plane Food, in Heathrow Airport last week – well worth a visit – I noted a few new things with interest.
First, the menu was based around quick and relatively cheap set menus, clearly in touch with the fact that most people at airports need to get in, fed, and out of the door quickly to make it in time for flights. They cater to the market by giving you guided times for how long your set meal will take to be brought to you.
Second, were three-course takeaway plane ‘picnics’. An alternative to the often lacklustre food offered on planes, and for a very reasonable price, you’re offered a choice of starter, main and dessert as a ‘picnic’ to take with you on your flight.
It’s one of those brilliant ideas that seems so obvious you wonder why no one’s ever done it before, and there’s no doubt other airport restaurants will offer similar plane picnics soon. As they say, when one door closes (or plate empties) another one opens (or fills). Your tray table will runneth over.
Find out more at Gordon Ramsay restaurants
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