The Lobby Bar – An Irreverent Weekly Summary of Frequent Business Traveler News and Views

Terminal Man.  Jonathan Spira attempts to reenact Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal” in the very empty and not quite open Heathrow Terminal 2, The Queen’s Terminal.  Unlike the Tom Hanks character, he does get to sit down with Her Majesty for crumpets and tea.

Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn.  Christian Stampfer gets confused and drives Audi’s James2025 virtual cockpit back to Munich from the CeBit show in Hannover.

Meanwhile, in Geneva….  Apple launched its CarPlay interface that brings iPhone functionality into the car.  Our European editor told Siri to drive him to Hannover and, well, you know the rest….

A Plane That Grows in Philadelphia.  After a week of wild rumors and prognostications about the fate of the still missing Malaysia Airlines 777, a plane crashed in Philadelphia in plain sight and with no reported injuries.

Suriname. Play our new game, “Where in the World Are You Going.” I chose Suriname to see if I could influence global tourism markets.

Hey, where did my soaps go? JetBlue plans to sell its LiveTV for $400 million. If you find you don’t get any reception on board, it’s okay: it’s just another strike in France.

Avoiding crowds.  JetBlue will launch nonstop service from New York City to Cape Cod this summer. This is great news for people with agoraphobia, because both of those places are totally under-populated during July and August and clearly need a boost in tourism.

Global warming.  Even the idea of a parallel universe has been invoked in the investigation of the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, in addition to the usual suspects of weather, mechanical failure, and pilot error.   One thing hasn’t yet come up…. But what could it be?

This Lobby Bar included attempts at humor from Basilio Alferow, Jonathan Spira, Kent Fremon, Paul Riegler, Robert Yee, and Karin Sun.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)