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Ralph Lauren 4-D Experience at New York City Store.

Ralph Lauren 4-D Experience at London Store.

The Making of the Ralph Lauren 4-D Experience.

(c) 2010 Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.

British Airways is returning to the super luxury service between London and New York targeting passengers that used to fly the airline’s Concorde service.

British Airways will offer twice daily service on Airbus A318s with flat beds and access to the internet. Round-trip fares will start at around $3,00 but go up to nearly $8,000 for more flexible tickets. Flights leaving from London will be forced to make a brief refuelling stop at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland because the London City airport’s runway is too short to handle an A318 aircraft with a full fuel load. In order to ease the journey, BA is arranging for passengers to use the Shannon stop to clear US customs and immigration.

However the fact that the airline will fly just 32 passengers on an aircraft normally fitted for 100 people doesn’t sit well with some environmental groups. The Guardian reports that environmental group Plane Stupid will stage a protest at London City Airport tomorrow as the maiden flight launches, angered by the fact that recently British Airways CEO Willie Walsh had pledged that the airline would do its part to fight climate change. The layout of the plane means that each passenger is basically responsible for three times the emissions of a regular flight.

British designer Paul Smith has collaborated with Evian to create several limited edition bottles of Evian’s world renowned water. The bottles designed by Paul Smith feature his signature multicolored stripes around the neck of the bottle which are printed with biodegradable ink so the glass bottles are fully recyclable. The bottles have five different bottle caps each in a different color and featuring Paul Smith’s initials. The bottles will be available from certain restaurants and stores this autumn.

Virgin Atlantic is attempting to woo high-spending business travellers with up to £200 in John Lewis vouchers for qualifying return flights taken before the end of November.

The offer is open to passengers travelling on fully flexible Upper Class, Premium Economy or Economy tickets (in booking classes J, D, W or Y) between September 5 and November 30, 2009.

Passengers in Upper Class will receive a £100 voucher per flight, those in Premium Economy a £50 voucher and those in Economy a £25 voucher. The vouchers have no expiry date and can be used at John Lewis department stores or at Waitrose food markets.

To qualify, travellers must join or be existing members of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club frequent flyer program and register for the promotion before taking their first qualifying flight.

Airlines use their frequent flyer programs to incentivise corporate travellers to take more expensive fully flexible fares. This new offer goes considerably beyond that since travellers will be able to use the vouchers for their everyday expenditure rather than forcing them to amass miles which can be hard to redeem.

More information at www.virginatlantic.com/enjoy.

Tiffany & Co., London

Tiffany & Co., The luxury US jeweler, said on Friday that demand was starting to improve for its offerings, in spite of falling profits, signalling renewed appetite from US consumers for discretionary items such as diamonds and necklaces.

Luxury retailers have been pummelled by the recession, with shoppers focused on necessities. But Tiffany & Co. has held its prices steady while slashing costs and the company says it is beginning to see the benefits.

“It appears the tide may be slowly turning in our favour,” Mark Aaron, vice president of investor relations, said in a conference call with analysts.

“Tiffany’s brand management has been excellent during the slowdown,” said David Schick, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. “They’ve been through the Great Depression, so they have a great heritage.”

Tiffany & Co., Madrid

Sales in the US have been hit the hardest, plunging by 25 percent, while those in Europe and Asia were off by just 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

“While economic and retail conditions remain challenging, we were encouraged to see many stores achieving either smaller year-over-year rates of sales declines or modest sales growth compared with the past two quarters,” Michael Kowalski, Tiffany’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Within the US, sales in the New York area have suffered from widespread job cuts in the financial sector. Sales were off by 30 per cent in the nine store New York region and at the flagship store in Manhattan. Jewelry priced above $50,000 has been the hardest to sell in the last year, while items with more “accessible” prices have seen smaller declines in sales, the company said.

Mr Kowalski noted that Tiffany is working to trim costs in the face of weaker consumer demand, but that it would continue opening stores in hopes of capturing a greater share of the market while other luxury retailers struggle. The New York-based company operates 211 stores across the world and said it would expand by a modest 6 per cent this year.

Tiffany & Co. website click here.