Lobby Bar – October 3: Obama Flies Virgin, Boeing is Born, Food Flights, and Travel Innuendos

The Lobby Bar – A Sweetly Crude Weekly Summary of FBT News and Views

Nomadic convenience. What’s 3.6” long and useful at home, in the office, and on an aircraft? Jeremy Del Nero (hey!) answers this question – I promise it’s G-rated.

Correlation is causation. Paul Riegler opens a book for once. Inside the deftly crafted, delicately written, and wonderfully on-point the Language of Food, Riegler discovers why “fresh food” printed on menus in fact means that there are most certainly rats in the kitchen.

Bold and beautiful. Finnair is partnering with Finnish chefs to create new menus for its long-haul flights, introducing “bold flavor combinations.” Phew, at least it isn’t “fresh.”

Luxury 4 all. Imagine a world where everybody already knows your name and you’re treated like royalty. Virgin Atlantic wants to create this world, although for some delusional reason staff kept referring to our editor as “Mr. President.” While he didn’t correct them, I’m sure he would’ve received the same treatment if he had.

Young again. Jonathan Spira steps past the red tape at BMW of Manhattan and snaps some photos of the beyond. We’re still not sure exactly what’s out there, mostly because Spira got distracted at the car wash sector and insisted on riding through the wash over and over again, no doubt making up for his parents’ nixing his attempts to go on a flume ride as a child.

A cut above. Jesse Sokolow boards his time machine and travels through past Octobers, searching for interesting moments in travel history. Not many people can say they’ve witnessed William Boeing’s birth, which means Jesse has a new résumé booster.

Traffic be-gone! Ahead of the Paris Motor Show opening, automakers are beginning to show off some of their newest creations. One previewed car, the Infiniti Q80, is “born to disrupt the premium sedan category,” meaning it comes with a portable EMP device to disable other cars on the road – great for rush hour traffic.

Unsurprise party. Air China unwrapped its first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental jet this week. It wasn’t too much of a surprise – Air China execs knew something was up when a 100,000-pound package the size of small house arrived via DHL on Tuesday.

2D Hotel. The first Mondrian hotel to be located outside of the U.S. has officially opened in London. Modeled after art from the Dutch painter, the hotel is adorned in white, red, blue, and yellow tones, every room is differently sized but perfectly rectangular, and there is only one very wide floor.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)