If you never had the chance to experience Pan Am’s first class service, you might finally have your chance. No, Pan Am is not coming back, and no I’m not talking about riding on a Pan Am freight train. Anthony Toth has recreated the front cabin of a Pan Am 747 in his garage, and I had the chance to go visit.

Walking up to his house in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, you wouldn’t know that anything was different about this place. But once you walk in, and head to the garage, it’s a different world. Anthony, who is the Director of Global Accounts at United these days, has painstakingly reassembled the nose section of a Pan Am 747 over the past 20 years, and he’s not done yet.

Take a look at some of these pictures. He built a frame in the garage and then bolted the panels on to the frame. (These are actually DC-10 panels, something he hopes to upgrade when he finds better ones.) Due to space constraints, he has cut out one row at the back of the cabin, and the nose is somewhat wider than in reality, but everything else is incredibly accurate.

Anthony has found real first class seats, and he has all the galley items you could want. I was treated to a 7-UP in a Pan Am glass with a Pan Am napkin. He even has peanuts in Pan Am packaging that he created himself.

He has inflight magazines, safety cards, and even old elegant menus from the bygone era. He put a flat screen TV at the front so he can relax and watch videos in there. He even wired the seats to work with headsets (Pan Am originals, of course).

This is truly a step back in time, and it’s just an incredible recreation. Anthony is always looking for some help here, and he has a wishlist of items that he needs. Here is his top 5:

1. First Class pneumatic headsets from the early 80′s…picture at right … I want like 14 of them…one for every seat!
2. Swatch of the clipper class fabric (you can also see this at right).
3. Upper deck screen with the ship etched in gold on it.
4. Clipper class headrests
5. Trays. The fullsize ones used for Clipper and First meals.

If you can help, or if you’d like to donate to the cause, please email Anthony directly at ajtoth@earthlink.net. If you’re lucky, he might even take you on a tour.

See all my photos on Flickr

I’ve got a backlog of Ask Cranky questions here, but there’s been so much news lately I just haven’t had time to post these things. Today appears to be quiet, and I have four Cranky Concierge clients traveling, so I thought it would be a perfect day to clear some of this out. A reader contacted me with a very interesting predicament, and I thought it would be worth throwing out to you all to get your thoughts.

On 8/5/09 I booked a flight from Palm Springs to Orlando. The return was United flight 8717 leaving at 6:27pm from Orlando to Denver for a connecting flight. Two days before departure, I rebooked the trip on flight 710 leaving at 3:38pm and connecting in Denver at 6:50pm. I paid the $150 change fee.

The day of the flight, flight 710 was delayed due to “Aircraft Servicing” and did not leave Orlando until 6:15pm, close to the original time. Because of the delay, I did not make the early connection in Denver, which was the reason for the fee change and I was rescheduled on my original Denver to Palm Springs flight.

I have called United Refunds, Customer Service, and emails but to no avail. My next step is to put the charge into dispute. Any suggestions?

The good news is that before I even had a chance to reach out to United, he received a very nice note from the airline apologizing for the experience. The customer service rep included a $150 voucher. He was happy, so kudos to United are certainly due. But this doesn’t necessarily answer the question about how this should be dealt with going forward.

It seems like an easy argument, right? If you bought a ticket, changed it, and then ended up on the same flight you originally had, then you shouldn’t have to pay for it. To me, it seems rather obvious, but what if you ended up on a flight that was 2 hours later than your original? Should you get a partial rebate? This could get ugly really quickly, and that would be unmanageable.

I think this is the kind of thing that needs to be handled on a case by case basis, but if you pay for a change and end up back on your original flight, a refund should be a pretty easy case to make. Anyone disagree?

Right now, I should be in London eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s flight back from London/City on British Airways. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Instead, I’m laying on the couch fighting off an ear infection, drifting in and out of consciousness. That’s a huge bummer, but it doesn’t mean I can’t talk about this new service from here. I still think it’s a great idea (despite Virgin Atlantic’s sniping), and from what I’ve heard from someone who has already been onboard, it’s worthwhile.

If you don’t remember the details of the service, read my original post on the announcement and my interview with Woody Harford, formerly of BA. Now, before people start filling the comments saying that London/City isn’t convenient for them, remember this isn’t for everyone. It’s actually not for very many people at all. If you work or have meetings in or near the Docklands (eg financial types) and you fly business class, then this is great. If not, it probably shouldn’t even be in your consideration set. That’s why each airplane only has 32 seats – it’s a relatively small target.

The buzz so far is that BA is delivering (except for that mechanical delay yesterday). You can see a lot of what people are saying on Twitter under the hashtag #bacity. (And you can see an interior shot here.) The airplane is equipped with OnAir mobile phone service, so the UK folks on the first westbound flight were tweeting away in the air. Unfortunately, US mobile subscribers can’t use their phones yet, but according to BA, T-Mobile subscribers will have access by next spring. One thing to note – voice calls aren’t allowed – web and SMS/MMS only.

Now the big question is whether enough people will be interested in this service to shift their business from Heathrow. There is enough financial business in Canary Wharf for that to happen, but will the suits make the switch? Let’s think about this.

On the eastbound, it’s easy. Both flights are nonstop from New York, so if you have business in the Docklands, you can get there much, much faster. Even if you’re in row 8 (the last row on the plane, funny), you’ll still be off the plane and in your office in less than 30 minutes. And now BA has partnered with the nearby Marriott to offer complimentary gym and shower access to make up for the lack of arrival lounge. So you can now freshen up first if you want as well.

I’m even told that you’ll fly through customs and immigration on arrival because they do some sort of pre-clearing based on the passenger manifest. When you arrive, they just need to make sure you actually are the person on the manifest.

On the westbound, the value proposition is a little dicier since it involves a stop in Shannon. In fact, Virgin Atlantic decided to throw down on Twitter on the first day of operation:

@British_Airways #bacity #VS45 is about to overtake you! We left London 90 mins later than you but we’ll be at The Peninsula bar ,NY first!

Only one problem with that. It wasn’t true.

@VirginAtlantic VS45 lands: 16:28 BA1 lands: 16:39. After immigration, BA will be at Peninsula well before you! Not so smug now? #bacity

Yes, the BA flight arrived early, and after they have a better handle on this, they might adjust block times. But let’s break it down for someone in Canary Wharf using conservative numbers based on block times.

It’s effectively a wash . . . if all goes right. But there are tremendous advantages to the BA service since there are fewer things that can go wrong.

You don’t have to worry about traffic problems getting to Heathrow or the inevitable Tube delays either. You can also arrive at London/City much later than at Heathrow so you don’t have to wait around. Lastly, when you arrive in New York, you don’t have to worry about the varying times required for customs and immigration on any given day. You just walk off the plane and you’re there, so the arrival time is more reliable. Don’t forget that you’re also on a plane with only 32 people, so it’s like having the same privacy you get on the upper deck of a 747 without the riff-raff below. Pretty sweet.

By the way, the only reason I’m singling out Virgin here is because they seem to want to pick a fight. The same comparison applies to BA’s service from Heathrow as well. If you’re in Canary Wharf and you’re going to fly in business class, this service seems like a no-brainer to me. BA may steal from their own Heathrow passenger pool, but they should also be able to steal from their competitors as well.

So now that the early reviews are positive, it remains to be seen if enough people will actually use the service. I would imagine that word of mouth should help in a situation like this. I only hope I get the chance to try it myself sometime.

[Original Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eisenbahner/ / CC BY 2.0]