Lufthansa doesn’t just have a lounge for their first-class passengers in Frankfurt. They have a separate terminal.

Many describe it as the best airport lounge in the world. Private baths. Sit-down dining. Dozens of complimentary single-malt scotches. Bellhop service for your bags. As a final luxury, you’re chauffeured to your flight in a Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes S-Class.

To get into the First Class Terminal, you have to be an “HON” member of Lufthansa’s Miles & More program (600,000 qualifying miles over two years) or flying on a Lufthansa first class ticket that day.

And remember: Award tickets count! Using your miles for an over-the-top experience like this is a good move, in my book. Sure, you could get from point A to point B in coach, too, with fewer miles, but for a few thousand more miles, you could be flying in real style.

I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, but thanks to Gary Leff’s recent post on the subject, we now have a video tour as well. Watch it below.

Want more lounge porn? Have another video. For those who understand German, or who just want more visuals of the first-class terminal, here’s a news report:

Still can’t get enough? Browse the photo gallery here.

Related:
- How to lounge in airports
- Don’t overpay for lounge access. Not even for the Amazing Beer Machine.

Upgraded and Downgraded: Virgin America to add inflight wireless internet …and voice
Virgin America will feature inflight wireless internet access on its planes, by working with AirCell (the same company that will roll out inflight wireless on American Airlines’ 767s). Jaunted reports that some unnamed features will be free, too.

Great, right? Well… there’s a catch. Skype is on the list of planned features. Hell is your seatmate shouting, “Guess where I am! No, guess! I’m on a plane!” Screaming madmen yelling at jilted lovers in faraway places could soon be sitting right next to you, laptops open, vocal cords ablaze. Bring the earplugs!

Upgraded: Singapore Airlines reveals its surprisingly spacious A380 layout
The Airbus A380, when packed to the gills with nothing but economy seats, could carry as many as 853 people. The normal three-class provision is estimated at 555 seats. But Singapore’s layout will only feature 471 seats, thanks largely to a boatload of extra-wide business class seats, much like the ones pictured here. To get a glimpse of the seatmap, Click here. Note that the economy class seats on the lower level are configured 3-4-3 and the upper level has them at 2-4-2.

Upgraded: The UK’s Travelodge
Downgraded: Home
An elderly British couple has been living in a Travelodge motel room for over twenty years. Talk about extended stay! Travelodge in the UK is not the same company as in the US. I’ve never stayed in the UK variant, but for their sake, I hope it’s better than the stateside chain. (via BoingBoing)

Capital One has launched a money market account that offers miles for saving your money. But is it a good deal?

The offer sounds good on its surface: A decent yield for no minimum deposit, and an opportunity to earn some points by saving your cash. Today’s yield is 4.66% APY, and you get 1 mile for every $20 average balance in your account per month. So an average balance of $5000 should yield 250 miles. (You get a bonus of 2500 miles to start up the account with $500 or more.)

But these aren’t airline miles. They’re Capital One miles. And not even that many of them.

As I’ve argued previously, you don’t want to bother with Capital One’s proprietary points if travel is your goal. Your maximum value is 1 cent per mile.

So you’re not getting points that are worth a lot, and you’re not even earning that many miles to begin with. Plus, you’re taking an interest rate cut in lieu of the miles. The non-mileage earning account at Capital One gives a 0.44% higher rate. You could do even better elsewhere.

If you want to earn airline frequent flyer miles for your savings, UFB (who?!?) offers savings and checking accounts that earn American AAdvantage miles. But it’s a lousy deal: You earn less than 1% interest, and you don’t earn miles on running balances. To really earn AA miles with UFB, you need to be using direct deposit and bill-pay services.

Continental Airlines has also partnered with Chase and First Hawaiian Bank to earn you miles via a checking account, but you only earn miles when you use your debit card.

You’re far better off using your savings to make money, rather than collect miles. Credit, that’s another story. But don’t let a few piddling miles make your investment and savings decisions for you.

Related:
- Reader mail: Can I use credit card miles to upgrade a ticket?
- Reader mail: What kind of point-earning credit card is best?

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Granted, this isn’t a Spirit Airlines style non-apology. But when I read press reports proclaiming that Southwest had apologized to Kyla Ebbert, the publicity-seeking, ultra-short skirt-wearing Hooters waitress they harassed a few weeks ago, I stopped, read the company’s actual text, and thought, “No, they didn’t apologize at all!”

Sure, they say they’re sorry, but only after belittling the issue and making references to hot flashes and great legs. Cute folksiness? I think they’re winking at everyone saying, “We’re apologizing, but we don’t really mean it.”

Read the actual text of their apology:

From a Company who really loves PR, touche to you Kyla! Some have said we’ve gone from wearing our famous hot pants to having hot flashes at Southwest, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we both know, this story has great legs, but the true issue here is that you are a valued Customer, and you did not get an adequate apology. Kyla, we could have handled this better, and on behalf of Southwest Airlines, I am truly sorry. We hope you continue to fly Southwest Airlines. Our Company is based on freedom even if our actions may have not appeared that way. It was never our intention to treat you unfairly and again, we apologize.

Then they go on to declare a “Mini-Skirt Sale.”

Now, Kyla of the short skirts is really milking this thing to the hilt, and I have lost just about every smidgen of sympathy for her. But I still feel that airlines shouldn’t be in the fashion police business unless there’s truly a Sharon Stone “Basic Instinct” moment at hand (update: my wife tells me that Sharon Stone references are too dated… will you accept a panty-less Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears reference instead?) In which case, just hand her a blanket.

So the company finally caved to the pressure to apologize, and this is the best they could do. But they’re not sorry they hassled her. They’re sorry they got called on it.

And for those who need a reminder of Southwest’s own less-than-prude heritage, or who just want a little slice of airline cheesecake, enjoy these photos of Southwest’s flight attendants, back in the 1970s. Would those uniforms pass muster today?

Next thing to worry about in flight: Ozone
Like “sick building syndrome,” you can now start worrying about the plane’s air. But not because of the germs. It’s the ozone. Not holes in the ozone layer, either, but ozone levels in the cabin. Most interestingly, narrow-body flights are more prone than wide-body planes to higher ozone levels. Yet another reason to love the jumbos.

Korean Air shows off its Airbus A380 interiors
Singapore Airlines may be the first airline to fly the A380 mega-uber-hyper-super-jumbo-jet (and tickets are finally on sale for Sydney-Singapore flights, which start October 25, by the way), but you can get a photo tour of Korean Air’s A380. Lavender??! Who’s their interior designer? Yuck! (Thanks, Jeff!)

First class fare sale… if you’re traveling tomorrow
I know that airlines like to put out the e-fares and net-savers for weekend travel, but this offer from United struck me as odd. First class fares are on sale for travel on Saturday, September 15 only. Fly there in first, fly back in coach, savor the difference? Fares are less than regular paid first, but the bulk of fares are for really short flights where paying cash money for first class is bonkers.

Business class fare sales to Europe
All-business class L’Avion is flying Newark to Paris for $1398 roundtrip, pre-tax. Maxjet is doing London to New York or DC for $998, also roundtrip, also pre-tax. Both are through the end of 2007, but not every date may be available. (Thanks, Michelle!)

More dangerous shirts
I don’t know what to make of this. “Your liver is evil. It must be punished.” Har har har. But Continental Airlines wasn’t laughing when they kept Edna and Frank Taylor from getting onboard, because of that shirt. What’s with this “What Not to Wear” airline trend?

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Farecast, the airfare prediction site, has expanded its predictive abilities to hotel rates. Sort of.

Instead of offering a prediction about the direction of room rates, as they do for airfare, the site offers an analysis of how relatively good or bad the rate is. They offer a star rating (1 to 5) for how good the rate is, historically.

That’s helpful, but not a forecast. Essentially, Farecast is now a hotel rate aggregator, comparable to Kayak or Sidestep.

The historical ratings are interesting, but are they really helpful? Depending when you’re trying to book, and depending on occupancy rates, you might not do well to hold out for a five-star rate at the hotel you’re looking at.

A rate prediction might be on the horizon, but I wouldn’t count on it any time soon. The reason may be the variation in rooms. As I wrote in a review of hotel rate aggregators nearly a year and a half ago:

Hotel searches are trickier than airfares, for the most part, because not all rooms are created equal, and hotel location is less standardized than air travel routes. Finding a low rate isn’t helpful if you have strong preferences for two queen beds vs. one king bed, or smoking vs nonsmoking, or if you need to be within walking distance of a particular location.

Add to that the large blocks of rooms that can be taken up by conventioneers, wedding parties, or any other large group.

Knowing that rates are good or bad may make you feel better or worse about your reservations, but will they stop you from making the booking? After all, most hotels will let you cancel and re-book if a new, lower rate appears.