A quiet belief in Angels

Airport Angel is a new service that gives you access to airport lounges around the world and will send you text messages when your plane is ready to board. The basic package starts at around $130 per year, with a $30 fee for per lounge visit. The UK-based service will tell you where and when to check in, how to get to your registered lounge and where to board when the final call is announced. Texts cost an additional $3 each. There is also an arrival service that ou can nominate someone to receive details like the estimated time of arrival and updates of any delays.

London Heathrow branded a "dump" by US airline executive

Despite its shiny shiny new terminal, London heathrow had been branded as the worst in Europe by Don Langford, head of customer services Europe for American Airlines.

According to a report
in today's Guardian of London, the executive with the world's largest airline has has said the overcrowded airport was no longer bursting at the seams because "the seams have burst".

He went on, "I would have to say that Heathrow is in many ways the worst of all the airports that my company flies to in Europe," he said in an interview with the BBC. Langford added that the airline's Terminal 3 base was "a bit of a dump" while the airport was "trying to put 10 pounds of sugar in a five-pound bag".

He then went on (and remember AA is a direct rival of BA) : "It has suffered from lack of investment over a period of time. If you look at the fabric of the building, if you look at where customers check in - missing light bulbs, duct tape on the floor."

Terminal failure

The eagerly anticipated launch of Terminal five (T5) at London Heathrow couldn't have been worse. Flights to Manchester, Paris, Brussels, Newcastle and Edinburgh were among those cancelled. As the Leader in the Guardian of London observed, "it would be no bad thing if they never resumed. The world's most overworked airport has become a bloated catastrophe, a transit point for travellers who could be carried more efficiently and environmentally by other routes. The chaos of the last few days has been awful for passengers and fairly humiliating for Britain, but it might in the end do some good if it leads to a rethink of endless airport expansion in a country where transport policy appears to be dictated by the needs of Fortress Heathrow."