Three rooms, a private bathroom, private bedroom and a private living room. Sure, that sounds like a fine apartment. Except we’re talking about United Arab Emirates’ Etihad Airway’s new first-class residence in the A380 Airbus. A one-way ticket costs $US20,000, and one man is trying to crowdfund his way in.
First, let’s talk about the Residence — Residence with a capital R, so you know it’s official — which is draped up and dripped out in more luxury than you’ll probably ever experience. There’s one Residence on each A380 Airbus plane. Each is 12 square metres and is evocative of a suite at a W Hotel or something of equal calibre. Except it is a suite that flies between Abu Dhabi and London, comes with a private freaking butler, and is outfitted with the same leather as a Ferrari.
All the other first-class seats (below) on the this flying penthouse are called apartments. Apartments! Honestly, they look like luxe private train cars in and of themselves. And if you can’t afford an apartment, the next logical step is… yes, a studio. These even look like what (I would imagine) first class on American or Delta might be like. The seats still fully recline for the paupers in this class, by the way.
And then there’s the guy with the idea you wish you had thought of first. Ben Schlappig writes about and reviews planes for a living is on a quest to Kickstart his trip in the Airbus A380 residence, and it would be incredibly off-putting if he didn’t actually seem to grasp how ridiculous his crowd-funding project actually is. Unlike some other people.
He’s already reviewed every first class cabin of every A380 in service, so, at the urging of his readers, he felt he just had to give the same treatment to Etihad’s flavour of splendor. In his own words:
It’s totally ridiculous and there are so many better ways you can spend your money. At the same time, people spend money on entertainment all the time, and if this is something that you think would amuse you…my feelings won’t be hurt if you don’t. This is quite possibly the most ridiculous Kickstarter campaign ever, and I figured it would be entertaining if nothing else.
The residence? Ridiculous. A plane blogger’s quest to score a trip on it for FREE? Even more ridiculous. But you kinda can’t blame the guy. You can, however, be exceedingly envious. [Kickstarter, BoardingArea]