Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition September 2018

I have my own “Letter to the editor” bugbear to share this issue. During the summer, I arrived at Madrid-Barajas Airport to check in for my 0850 flight to Rome, where I was unceremoniously informed that the flight was full and I had been put on standby... I was quite shocked. Instead of realising the flight was overbooked and seeking out volunteers who’d be happy to accept compensation to take a later flight, the Spanish airline in question (I couldn’t possibly name names, but it sounds like “Siberia”) simply denied boarding to the last few passengers – myself included. Add to that the rude and unhelpful staff, the total absence of an apology and no vouchers to make my enforced seven-hour airport wait any more bearable, and I was a simmering cauldron…

JEREMY TREDINNICK Jeremy Tredinnick is a contributing editor for Business Traveller Asia-Pacific. On a recent trip to Helsinki and Tallinn (page 32) he found that being jet lagged and wide awake at 4am was – for once – a real boon, considering the extra-long daylight hours of summer in northern Europe. “Exploring small cities like these just as they begin to wake up is a magical way to discover their charms,” he says. “Criss-crossing downtown Helsinki and wandering Tallinn’s Medieval alleys was a real delight.” JENNY SOUTHAN Former features editor Jenny Southan was a member of the Business Traveller team for ten years. Now freelance, she writes for publications including Mr Porter, The Daily Telegraph and City AM, and also runs her own online travel trend-forecasting magazine Globetrender (globetrendermagazine.com). In this issue she…

A MATTER OF COURSE CATHAY PACIFIC has begun rolling out its new long-haul business class dining concept to give more options to premium travellers. Business class passengers will be served plated meals from an à la carte menu, which will feature up to three appetiser choices and six mains. Smaller “supper plates” will also be available for those wanting a lighter bite. IN FOR THE LONG-HAUL ASIA’S competitive aviation market looks set to gain two new contenders, with start-up airlines Starlux Airlines from Taiwan and Bamboo Airways from Vietnam firming up big orders for new long-haul aircraft. Full-service carrier Starlux, scheduled to launch in 2019, has placed an order for 12 of Airbus’s new A350-1000 aircraft as well as five of its predecessor, the A350-900, with the hopes of operating long-haul services from 2022. Meanwhile, hybrid…

ASCENT: Cathay Pacific will launch non-stop flights to Seattle in March next year – the airline’s second new US route after Washington DC launches this month. China Eastern is giving London Gatwick a new Chinese connection with a thrice-weekly service to Shanghai starting December 7. Egyptair will link Hong Kong to Cairo starting September 17, flying twice a week via Bangkok. Korean Air is heading to Boston next year, connecting the city with Seoul five times per week starting April 12. DESCENT: Austrian Airlines is dropping its nonstop flights to Hong Kong at the end of October, just over two years after it launched the route in 2016. Delta Air Lines is pulling the plug on its Hong Kong services, with its sole flight to the city from Seattle set to end on October 4. Korean Air will…

Gasps filled the room last year at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) as “Pink Star” made its entrance. The flawless 59.60-carat diamond held the audience spellbound as the Sotheby’s auction got underway, and when the mallet hit the auctioneer’s block, history had been made. With a bid of HK$553 million (US$71.2 million) by Chow Tai Fook, Pink Star earned the title of the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction. Headlines of this nature are more traditionally associated with the grand auction houses of New York or Geneva, but for those who’ve been watching the Asian art scene over the past decade – it was only a matter of time before Hong Kong set the record. With its legacy as a melting pot of cultural influences and position as…

EXPLOSIVE REVELATION Berlin Schönefeld Airport had a saucy scare last month when security staff conducting x-rays of passengers’ luggage mistakenly identified a number of sex toys for a bomb, leading to the partial closure of the airport’s Terminal D. SNAKES ON A PLANE In July, a woman at Miami International Airport was intercepted trying to smuggle a python through the security checkpoint by wrapping it in a nylon stocking and placing the animal in a computer hard drive. TURTLE TROUBLE Two flight attendants for China Eastern Airlines were fined and ordered to leave the US recently after they were caught trying to smuggle dozens of turtles in their carry-on luggage from Los Angeles to China. FREE SEATING An American woman was dragged from a Korean Air flight bound for San Francisco last month after refusing to leave…