Lobby Bar – April 29: Dancing in the Sky, a Flight and a Half, and How to Rickroll Somebody in 2016

Lobby Bar – A Surprisingly Special Summary of FBT News and Views

Grand slam. The 2016 Greg Spira Baseball Research Award winner has been named, and will receive $1,000 for his essay.  This year, we only accepted submissions that were printed out, crumpled up, and batted into the window of our offices in midtown Manhattan.

Learn from history. Time to find out how many of our readers are up to date on their travel news knowledge. Those who failed the test will need to see the teacher after class to clean the erasers and then complete paperwork for retaking the course this summer. Reading assignment: FBTW newsletters, you will be tested on this!

Ride like the wind. Jonathan Spira’s long-awaited book about brother and FBT co-founder Greg Spira entitled “Meditations and Reflections on the Loss of a Sibling: A Brother’s Lament” has been published.  If you’d like a copy of the book, simply send us a Venmo payment and we’ll dispatch Jesse on his road bike to hand-deliver a copy. If you can’t wait, Jesse, at a modest additional charge, will use his time machine to deliver the book last week. Take that, Amazon!

Stick it to the man! We caught a performance of “School of Rock” at the Winter Garden Theater, where fifth graders performed classical rock ballads. Stay after the curtain call for a surprise appearance by Jack Black, who will play a mini-set of popular Tenacious D songs for 18+ audience members.

Rickroll of the future. Take a look at our six favorite Apple Watch accessories for yourself or as a gift for your Apple-loving amigo.  Our favorite add-on is the Ritzer Remote, which lets your watch send out IR blasts to control nearby devices, such as playing Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on your buddy’s phone… over and over.

So much room for activities. Turkish Airlines has increased the sizes of its business-class cabin on its Toronto-Istanbul route.  With the extra room, the Airline will install Dance Dance Revolution machines exclusively for business travelers.  The leaderboard, however, will be shared on screens across all cabins.

Half is more. Virgin America launched new loyalty program benefits giving members 50% more points and rewards.  This means that, when flying, members are entitled to a glass and a half of champagne, 1.5 cookies, a 50% larger pillow and blanket, and an additional 30 minutes of in-flight Wi-Fi per hour purchased.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)