Presenting 10 gift ideas for airline enthusiasts
Valentine's Day is just a little over a week away. If you're still wringing your hands over what to get for your sweetheart, who's just plane nuts like we are, or you just want to spoil yourself, here are some suggestions:
1. We love the retro Pan Am bags sold by Pan Am One (www.Panamone.com) sporting the now-defunct airline's iconic logo in classic blue and white. They're pricey, however, starting at $52 for a tote-like flight bag and going up to $135 for a gym bag.
2. For something of a newer vintage, American Airlines sells logo items in its gift shop (www.crsmithmuseum.org/giftshop), including retro carry-on totes from the 1940s and '50s starting at $40. Its T-shirts are not that attractive, however, in our humble opinion, but we do like the Blue Raised Logo Cap at $16.50 with the classic AA eagle logo in red, white and blue.
3. Over at style-conscious JetBlue (http://shop.jetblue.com), you'll find dozens of items subtly decorated with the airline's logo, such as a laptop computer sleeve ($35), or a dog collar with the airline's blue windowpane treatment ($9.99) and a pack of 50 stickers of various designs ($11.50).
4. Or how about a Delta Air Lines crew tag or a nifty mug with a retro Delta logo ($4.99) from the Delta online store (www.crewoutfitters.com) for crew and passengers? You'll find a ton of Delta logo items and other useful gifts.
5. By far the best selection of airline logo T-shirts we've found is the Interspace180 (www.interspace180.com) selection. Last we checked, 16 tastefully reproduced logos from past and present carriers are represented, each selling for $12.99 (we especially like the bright blue KLM model). There are dozens more airlines represented on its eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/Interspace180_Aviation.
6. Then there are posters, of course. Real (as opposed to reproduction) vintage airline posters sell for hundreds of dollars from shops, such as International Posters in Boston (www.internationalposter.com), Fort Lauderdale-based Art and Posters Worldwide (www.art-and-posters.com/Aviation) and New York's Chisholm Larsson Gallery (www.chisholm-poster.com). However, you can buy high-quality reproductions for much less. Flyingclippers (www.flyingclippers.com) sells some classics (we'd give almost anything to own the originals, but many of them are almost impossible to find at any price), as well as selling aircraft models, books and videos.
7. Books are another good idea. We got a kick out of "Airline Design" by Peter Delius and Jacek Slaski ($18.96 from Amazon), a beautifully illustrated tome showing the best and sometimes worst of airline uniforms, cabin interiors and other design elements over the years. Or there's Eric Ericson, Johan Pihl and Carl Reese's "Design for Impact: Fifty Years of Airline Safety Cards," chronicling 50 years of seat-back safety and "seat occupied" cards ($30 from Amazon). For the little ones (or even curious adults), there's the "Noisy Airplane Ride" by Mike Downs and David Gordon ($6.95 from Amazon), which explains all those curious sounds an airplane makes before, during and after takeoff.
8. Or how about an airplane model for the aviation enthusiast? An Airbus A380 would cost you millions for the real thing, but a 1:200 scale model from Herpa Wings will set you back a mere $62.50 at Just Plane Fun (www.justplanefun.com).
9. Authentic vintage memorabilia, such as cabin service dinnerware and uniforms, also make great gifts. One way to find items is to do a search on eBay ("BOAC Bag," for example, or "Pan Am Crew Tag"). You can also buy them on sites such as Cabin Class Collectibles (www.cabinclass.com). A recent search came up with a framed American Airlines stewardess silver-enameled wings bracelet and photo of the original owner, circa 1946, in fine condition for $149.99. A vintage Continental Airlines woolen blanket sells for $59.99.
10. None of these ideas fuels your jets? You'll find lots of other great ideas by following the links in the aviation memorabilia and collectibles area of Thirty Thousand Feet (www.thirtythousandfeet.com/memorabi.htm).
Happy romancing.
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Reach George Hobica athobica@gmail.com, Kim LiangTan at KimLiangTan@aol.comor log on to www.airfarewatchdog.com.