A view of the new bar in the First Lounge in Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport. The Lounge is accessed via a dedicated wing of the terminal

You shouldn’t feel nostalgic for the gilded jet set era when air travel was supposedly more romantic, says Darius Sanai. In truth we have never had it better – and if you’re a Gold card holder of British Airways, based in London, you are in one of the most privileged positions of all

Do you feel a pang of nostalgia when you look at ads and videos from the early decades of jet travel? Superbly turned out 1950s and 60s stewardesses (always stewardesses) fussing over relaxed passengers wearing their Sunday best for the flight?

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Don’t get too nostalgic. Jet travel then was loud, less comfortable, less reliable, and less efficient. The lounges were nothing like what we have today, there was no such thing as a flat bed, and in-flight entertainment was a communal movie when it worked.

And the service? Well, that can be pretty impressive today also.

The British Airways Concorde Lounge, part of the First Wing at Heathrow’s T5

Take my recent experience on British Airways, an airline some on travel forums love to hate, from London to India recently. Before I go any further I know some readers are thinking “luxury magazine editor being positive about an airline – must be a free trip and hoping for another”. For the avoidance of doubt, this trip was fully paid for by me. I haven’t had a free trip from British Airways in my life, and I haven’t even asked the airline for an upgrade since 2011 (premium economy to business, to Montreal). My entire BA experience, as a Gold member, the highest regular tier, has been paid for over the years by me, Condé Nast and LUX, the companies I work for as an Editor-in-Chief.

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Back to the journey. People rightly wax lyrical about the convenience of airports like Zürich, Hong Kong International and Singapore Changi. And they are all excellent. But none of them offers the service of the British Airways First Wing at Heathrow. Jump on the Heathrow Express, 20 minutes later walk into the terminal and through the dedicated First entrance and security and straight into the British Airways First lounge. There could be chaos in the rest of the terminal, and sometimes there is, but you wouldn’t notice. It takes, on average, 50 minutes from my office in Mayfair to my seat in the Lounge, and it’s frictionless. Pretty good.

The British Airways First cabin, an upgrade from luxury air travel of previous eras

So far so normal for any British Airways Gold card holder.

The next part, though, is quite exceptional. As I was passing through the dedicated security, the lady from British Airways (you’ll find out her name later) wished me a happy trip to Mumbai and asked (as airline staff have to) to check my visa.

This was all in order, and I went through the barrier, but then she came back to me and asked if I had a printout because in her personal experience it can sometimes be challenging otherwise at the other end, even though a confirmation email is technically all you need.

I hadn’t thought to print it out, I said. Caroline said she strongly recommended it. Once I got to the Lounge, just a few metres away in the First Wing, and was relaxing with my preflight glass of champagne (a very nice De Castellane rosé) she popped up and guided me on my phone through the rather complicated process on the Indian visa system website, of turning the visa confirmation into a PDF that could then be printed.

The Club World cabin offers essential comfort for business travellers on long haul and overnight flights

She then emailed it to her own office and disappeared behind the scenes at the First lounge, emerging triumphantly with the printout around 10 minutes later. Like a member of a particularly indulgent royal family, I hadn’t moved at all except to visit the food area for some nori seaweed, miso soup, bulghur salad and slaw.

And on that point: British Airways first has evidently been listening to feedback because there is now a superb array of healthy, vegan, lactose free and other options rather than just the previous hot food buffet.

At this stage, after my third glass of champagne, I wasn’t feeling particularly worried about having the printout of the visa but thanked her nonetheless and wandered off to the plane.

‘A Heathrow First experience and Club World overnight leagues ahead of what our forebears would have had’

After a good night’s sleep in the new British Airways Club world configuration, we started our descent towards Mumbai. The new beds are better in every way than the previous configuration which had the irritation of forward and backward facing seats next to each other, so you would spend the first and last 15 minutes of your flight staring slightly uncomfortably into the face of your neighbour before one of you summoned up the nerve to pull the screen shut or press a button to raise it. Although the new configuration is slightly less romantic if you are in a window seat as you don’t quite have the same sense of being cut off from the rest of the plane, with two windows to yourself. Oh well.

Read more: The Badrutts Serlas Suite in St Moritz

Anyway, after landing in Mumbai, mind focused by coffee and the tropical heat outside, I wondered if Caroline‘s efforts would be proven to be an overabundance of caution. The experience of the traveler in front of me proved otherwise. I listened carefully to the interchange with the passport control man. Where are you coming from? London. Do you have a visa? Yes, here’s the email (shows him phone). But did he have a printout? No, it didn’t ask for a printout. Oh. That’s a problem.

The poor traveller was sent back, past the back of the queue, out of sight towards the plane to deal with what sounded like a vague but slumbering Indian bureaucracy – added to which, it was a Sunday morning. I never saw that traveller again; even after a 20 minute wait for baggage. Who knows if he was even allowed in.

‘The new beds are better in every way than the previous configuration’

My own entry was extremely smooth. Passport, visa email, and, in my hand, visa printout. Thank you to Caroline for providing the same level of service as in our nostalgic collective memory from the 1960s – and British Airways for providing a Heathrow First experience and Club World overnight leagues ahead of what our forebears would have had, with their upright seats.

That may sound trivial to some, but for international business travellers it is extremely important; sleeping in an upright chair is not anything any of us would try at home, yet that is what you would have to do in the Golden Age of air travel. I don’t think they had miso soup, wakame seaweed and bulgur salad either – those roast trolleys being trundled down the first class aisles in the old pictures look fun, but think about it, do you really want to be eating roast lamb and roast potatoes on a long haul flight?

My uncle was a senior executive at BOAC, the international precursor to BA (the one with the cool bags) in the jet-set heyday of the 1960s and 70s. I can think of all kinds of ways his quality of life was better than mine in general, starting with not having to check his phone 24/7, and being safe in the knowledge that his fun times on international trips would never be recorded for social media.

When he retired, he was given free First Class travel on the nascent British Airways for life. But, when he flew to Hong Kong or Mumbai, as he frequently did, he spent his overnights in an upright chair (with a bit of recline), in his suit. And when he checked in at Heathrow (Terminal 3 for intercontinental departures back then), he’d stand in line alongside the other check in booths, and go through the main security lines like anyone else, and then work his way, airside, to a much less extensive lounge, with beef and gravy and sausages available.

The bar at the British Airways First Lounge has an excellent rosé champagne available for free pour, made by the owners of Laurent-Perrier. although LUX searched without reward for a fine white Burgundy

I have written before in GQ about the slight contradiction of British Airways economy class, and short haul business class, not delivering what the airline’s brand in the First lounge promises in terms of seats and comfort. And that, conversely, the Gold Card holder’s experience is even better in many ways than flying private. You can read that article here, but only after finishing this one.

The economy class experience is unlikely to change given the competition in those sectors. And it’s a shame that their previously superb wine selection has been cost-cut (with the exception of the champagnes), although BA is not unique in this. At Qatar Airways (cited by many as the world’s best) flagship Al Safwa First lounge in Doha, the wines are a shadow of their former selves just 10 years ago. Airlines know that business class travellers will tolerate pub-level sauvignon blanc, it appears, which is a little cynical: a decent white Burgundy adds a touch of class that no gooseberry-and-kiwi Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc could dream of.

But all in all, as a Gold member living in London, flying long haul, I can certainly testify that, in the words of another famous Brit, “You’ve never had it so good”.

Read more: Inside Diriyah, Saudi Arabia’s new-old cultural city

Meanwhile, a previous iteration of Caroline may well have existed in the 50s and 60s: but thank goodness she does so now.

Darius Sanai has been a Gold card holder of British Airways since 2012,. He accepted no complimentary or discounted flightsor  hospitality from the airline during those years or for this article

The comfort of the club suites has been improved by the recent introduction of bed linen by the White Company. Image by Nick Morrish/British Airways

British Airways has had a hard time from business travellers, some of it justified. But LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai rediscovered his fondness for the airline on a recent long-haul trip

In the world of the affluent intercontinental business traveller, there are various unwritten rules. One regards jet lag affecting your schedule: it doesn’t. (We recently found an HR manual from the early 2000s which specified a full rest and recovery day for employees on landing after any long-haul flight, which seems as antiquated as exchanging telegrams now.) 14 hour flight, straight into meetings whatever time zone your head is on, followed by dinner and an all nighter as you catch up with everyone in your original timezone. The next morning, kick off at 7 and work through until, and on, whatever flight comes next.

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Another rule regards local customs and language. For a while, pre-globalisation and social media, it was considered polite to learn a little about the country you are doing business in, and perhaps a few key phrases of language. Now, when any four year old can have instagram friends in Bolivia and Vietnam, local customs are for kids. As for language, speak English and just ask Siri. (An important exception to this appears to be China, which is gearing up for the reverse, its own global cultural expansion).

BA’s Club World has previously received criticism for its seat layout, but the new flatbed units are more private than in other airlines, says Darius Sanai

Both of these rules seems to have seeped into general business culture from the all-work-no-play USA, and specifically from companies like McKinsey and Bain, where a staff member who sleeps at all is an unproductive staff member with spare capacity.

And finally, if you come from or have anything to do with the UK, there’s the British Airways bashing. It seems to be de rigueur to use one fo the following stock phrases: “I had to fly BA, everything else was full,” “I actually prefer the service in (fill in airline) economy class to BA Club” or “(Fill in airline) business class is way better than even BA First”.

Well, after a period of flying long-haul business class on a number of other, acclaimed, airlines, LUX returned to the BA fold for a recent flight from London to Hong Kong and back from Singapore, and whisper it, but we beg to differ. (We should also state here that we paid full fare for all our flights, including the BA ones, and that LUX has, despite our top-tier Gold frequent flyer status, not taken any flights comped or subsidised by BA, or any favours at all from the airline, over the past five years).

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For starters, there is the pre-flight routine. Take any other airline out of London, and you have to either go through the normal security scrum or, in a handful of cases, get chauffeured to a dedicated check in. Given the traffic in London and around Heathrow and concomitant stress about arrival time, we would take our BA option any day: a 20 minute, tranquil Heathrow Express (always upgrade to Business First class), followed by dedicated security at the BA Wing of Terminal Five, which sees you walk from train station to lounge in three minutes (record) and six minutes (average), without having to deal with the main security melee or the crowds of shoppers on the other side. The First lounge itself is spacious and comfortable with open views and the wines and food are good (though not exceptional) – although the cleanliness (simple table wiping, hello??) still needs attention.

British Airways’ Concorde Room at Terminal 5, London Heathrow. Image by Nick Morrish/British Airways

Then, on the plane. BA’s Club World has received some flak over the years for its seat layout, where passengers in their seat-bed pods sit awkwardly facing each other in opposite directions at takeoff and landing, and where passengers in one row need to step over the feet of sleeping passengers in the next to access the aisle. I think this is partly justified, and have been known to deliver a hefty kick to one fellow passenger who kept waking me up by repeatedly whacking into my feet as he stepped over me to access the aisle (seriously, if you’re under 70 and can’t step over an obstacle 50cm high, you need to do something about your fitness).

The flip side is that the flatbed units are actually less exposed to the aisles than in other airlines, and that your head and upper body lie very cosily in the unit when you are asleep.

A big improvement was the recent introduction of bed linen by The White Company; I had thought this would be a superficial gesture, but the soft bottom mattress protector, smooth duvet and puffy pillow are superior to the offerings on any other airline I have flown. Meanwhile, all-new Club World suites are being rolled out shortly, promising a step change (excuse the pun) in quality.

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BA also seems to have made an effort to address an old gripe from long haul travellers, the service. This isn’t yet at the levels of the top Asian airlines, but staff have made a step change in service, willingness, and helpfulness, and, call me American, but it’s rather nice dealing with people who speak English as a native language and who have the same cultural references – a call for a late night KitKat brought the requisite chocolate bar, not a cuddly toy.

The accoutrements of the flights are also excellent: tablecloths, proper cutlery, nicely printed menus, a good choice of food and a cute snack bar with an array of fruit and snacks. The wines are still not up to the celebrated standards they were before the previous round of cost-cutting, but at least they are not getting any worse and contacts at the airline say there are plans to reinvest in them. (Tip: always drink the champagne. Although BA Club World no longer serves prestige Cuvée champagnes as standard, they are always good and you are drinking a much more expensive product than the wines, which typically cost a third of the price per bottle, or less, of the champagnes. This applies to almost all airlines.).

Club Class onboard dining choices are excellent, but the wine is still not up to previous BA standards

And while the BA Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow may not have the quality of bathroom as the American Airlines one, it serves a killer English breakfast with particularly superb mushrooms, in a tranquil post-flight atmosphere, and also has free massages available in its Elemis spa.

After my latest round trip, I asked myself if I would insist to my travel bookers on trying another long-haul airline first next time; and my conclusion was that I would ask them to try BA first of all, for a combination of the reasons above. As long as the airline doesn’t let things slip again as it did when current CEO Alex Cruz first took over (note to Alex: reinvest in the wines. People care and it’s important for your brand). And now comes the hard part: getting the long-haul business travel warrior community to talk about flying BA as a boast, not an excuse. You heard it first here.

For more information visit: BA.com

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MARCEL WANDERS IS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF DESIGNERS WHO HAVE  REWRITTEN THE RULES OF THE GAME IN THE PAST TWENTY YEARS. Caroline Davies GETS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH HIM

Marcel Wanders is such a design legend that a number of design-savvy colleagues were convinced he is dead, gone with fellow-countryman Bauhaus pioneers like Mies van der Rohe. But he is not dead. In fact, he is very much alive, sitting in front of me, describing the occasion when he ran naked across a conference stage in New York, throwing
sweets into the audience.

The rebel of staid Dutch design schools, Wanders has been creating his own unique strand of work since the 1990s. Relying on an offbeat aesthetic intelligence and a determination with the horsepower of a super yacht, he charged into the
design world with his own ethos; imaginative, bizarre and full on. His designs are everywhere. At 30,000 feet with his British Airways collaboration, in your back pocket on your ACME pen or at The MOMA in New York who proudly display his “knotted chair” as part of their permanent collection. The success and influence of his conceptual designs have permeated around the world; it is easy to forget that he is not yet 50.

On first meeting, Wanders appears surprisingly conservative. Upright and composed, with a cow lick flop of silver grey hair and designer stubble, a crisp white shirt and well cut suit, the only unusual feature about his appearance is a string of coloured beads and stones, lying neatly across the top of the small triangle of revealed chest. They are, I discover later, representations of different parts of his life, collected for their interesting back story; lava, meteorite, birthstones, Viagra. Not brash, but perhaps a little playfully subversive. Not unlike his designs.

His vase based on a mould of a condom filled with hard boiled eggs. The image of a half fish, half spoon decorating a hotel wall. His airborne snotty vases, a scan of small section of mucus in flight from a sneeze. No one quite designs like Wanders. Few are as conspicuous as him either.

“I want design to be more humanistic,” he says. “More human, more personal. If you think you can hide behind the rational you are not making humanistic things. I sign off my work, because I am human. It is not the best in the world, but they are my mistakes. If I want to do this then I think I should show my face, who I am.”

Who he is does seem closely linked to Wanders’ work. Expelled from his first design school, the Design Academy Eindhoven for “thinking outside the box”, Wanders graduated from the Institute of the Arts Arnhem in the late 80s. He joined Dutch design brand Droog, created his “knotted chair” and began to establish a reputation for fun, innovative design. Today he is the co-owner and artistic director of design company Moooi, although perhaps his most prevalent body of work is that created for his host of eclectic collaborations, from hotels in Miami to Marks Spencer’s, Puma to Mac, projects spanning the globe.

“I am very disappointed about my ability to change the world,” he says, with a small laugh. “But I think something has changed in design. When I started, it was cold, mathematical, noncommunicative, non-human, technocratic, cold, clean, whatever. Today it is more romantic, more beautiful, more communicative and a lot more important as it reaches way more people.”

Disparaging as he may seem about the past, Wander’s also has a respect for it too.

“In today’s design we create children without parents, which I think is a very cynical approach to life,” he says. “If we have more respect for the past we can make things today that still have meaning tomorrow.

“If we want to create a sustainable life, we need to change. We have to forget that new is better than old. It is our responsibility – it is my responsibility to change things.”

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