Heathrow Airport

Eating at airports: 2 ideas to steal from Heathrow

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For a trip to London this week, I had the great treat of getting an upgrade (both ways, thank-you!) to Virgin Atlantic’s swank Upper Class cabin.

That’s not what I want to crow about today.

Instead, I want to mention two great dining amenities I spotted at Heathrow Airport.

At Spuntino, an airport outpost of a popular London restaurant known for its Italian/American comfort food, prohibition era-inspired cocktails and its great blues soundtrack, there was sign outfront that let customers know how long it might take to get served once they sat down and ordered.

That’s exactly what most travelers want to know when deciding between sitting down in a restaurant, grabbing something from a shop or just winging it with what’s offered on the airplane.

I hope this is adopted by more airport restaurants.

Another great amenity, offered at Spuntino and many other Heathrow airports during holidays and school vacation weeks (and year-round at a few restaurants), is a Kids Eat Free Menu that includes one free kids entree for each adult entree offered.

Great ideas!!!

Heathrow’s charming bears are back for Christmas

Holidays, Movies, ,

Heathrow Airport’s heartwarming story of the bears named, appropriately enough, the Bairs, are back for another season.

We first met the Bairs in 2016. They were so popular that they were featured again last year, in astory that showed how Doris and Edward Bair meet and fall in love on a flight out of Heathrow Airport in 1967.

 

This year’s installment shows the next chapter in the Bair’s lives.

They are now retired in the United States; in Florida. But as the holiday season rolls around, the couple realizes that Christmas just isn’t the same without their loved ones in the UK.

So, they head home to London, arriving in the exact spot where their love story began 50 years ago – at Heathrow Airport.

Charming!

British Airways & Heathrow Airport honor Freddie Mercury

Baggage, Music, , , ,

Before he sang with Queen, Freddie Mercury was a baggage handler at London’s Heathrow Airport.

And today, September 5, 2018 – on what would have been Mercury’s 72nd birthday – Heathrow Airport and British Airways came up with the idea to put modern-day baggage handlers together with choreographers to create a performance of Queen’s “Break Free.”

If you happen to be in Heathrow Terminal 5 today, keep an eye out of these baggage handlers performing the dance in person during the airport’s “Freddie for a Day” tribute.

Or watch a video of the dance here.

Want more Queen and Freddie Mercury?

On September 5, passengers at Heathrow will find Queen songs on the Arrivals boards in Terminal 5.

Also on September 5, any travler named Freddie, Frederick or Farrokh (Mercury’s real name) departing from Terminal 5 will be invited (along with their traveling companions) to use British Airways’ First class lounge.

And on November 2, Twentieth Century Fox will release a film about Queen and the life of Freddie Mercury, called “Bohemian Rhapsody,” in the U.S. (The UK opening is October 24.)

Heathrow Airport’s Pride flag made of 6,000 kisses

Fun Stuff, ,

Photo courtesy Heathrow Airport.

To celebrate Pride London, Heathrow Airport commissioned a unique version of the iconic rainbow flag: this one is made entirely of colored kisses planted by 6,000 international passengers.

The flag started coming to life in Terminal 2 on 1st July, in the departures area, where passengers were invited to stamp their kiss in a choice of vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick, onto the blank canvas. After the passsengers donated kisses, airport staff added more as the flag made its took a tour of the control tower, fire station and BA Crew Centre, before being sealed and placed on the flag pole.

Here’s a video Heathrow shared about the making of the flag, which will be flown over Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal until the end of July.

 

Heathrow Airport, Madame Tussauds get Royal Wedding fever

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Royal Wedding fever is getting, well, feverish.

When Prince Harry and Megham Markle get hitched on Saturday, Heathrow Airport will make sure passengers don’t miss a thing.

The airport promises that on Saturday all TV screens in the terminals will be tuned to BBC News 24, which will offering live wedding-day coverage.  Giant TV screens tune to BBC1 will be set  up in Termionals 3 and 4 as well.

Inside the terminals, arriving passengers will be treated to 1,000 ”royal’ lemon and elderflower cupcakes, which are inspired by Harry and Meghan’s break-with-tradition lemon elderflower wedding cake with buttercream frosting and fresh flowers.

Special Royal Wedding cocktails are being servied at the United Club this week and over the weekend at Heathrow as well.

For those who can’t make it to Heathrow, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has revealed a (funny-looking) bobblehead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

And, back in London, Madame Tussauds has added a Meghan Markle wax figure standing beside a refreshed Prince Harry.