British Airways plans 1st-class upgrade at JFK

British Airways plans 1st-class upgrade at JFK

NEW YORK — British Airways plans to spend $30 million trying to make its terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport a snazzier place for first-class passengers.

Some of the new features to be installed at JFK’s Terminal 7 over the next 18 months include an exclusive, curbside drop-off area and separate check-in pavilion for the deep-pocketed members of the airline’s Executive Club.

There will also be new lounges and terraces for first-class customers who don’t feel like spending time in the food court while they wait out a flight delay.

Grand Canyon visitors test shuttle service

PHOENIX — Grand Canyon National Park visitors are testing a free shuttle service that’s designed to ease traffic in one of the busiest spots along the South Rim.

The National Park Service is running the shuttle between the nearby community of Tusayan and the park’s main information plaza.

It will run every 20 minutes from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Parking is a perennial problem at the Grand Canyon. During the busy summer season, about 6,000 cars enter the National Park and compete for less than 2,000 spaces.

The shuttle service will be available through Sept. 1.

Depending on the shuttle’s success, the park service says it may offer the shuttle program during the summer of 2009.

Marketplace offers taste of Colonial Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A giant hotel and retail center near Washington will include a taste of Colonial Williamsburg.

A Colonial Williamsburg store is one of five shops in the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center that opened in Maryland’s Prince George’s County.

The $865 million combined hotel and convention center bills itself as the largest on the East Coast.

The Williamsburg Marketplace can be found in an 18-story climate-controlled atrium that is enclosed by a huge glass dome.

The store is owned and operated by Gaylord under a partnership that is a first for Colonial Williamsburg, which chooses the merchandise and designed the store.

The store will sell colonial products and collectibles associated with Williamsburg, along with food and tavern items.

Oscar the alligator will go on display

WAYCROSS, Ga. — The most famous resident of Okefenokee Swamp Park — an alligator that attracted the stares of tourists for decades — will soon be immortalized nearly a year after his death.

The skeleton of Oscar is being assembled and will be put on display like a museum dinosaur. The 14-foot, 1,000-pound alligator had roamed the swamp from the time the park opened in 1946.

As his bones show, Oscar was a tough customer, surviving a shotgun blast to the face, at least three bullet wounds, broken bones and arthritis. By some estimates, the geezer gator was 95 to 100 years old when he died last summer.

The display also will include what park officials found in Oscar’s belly — including a plastic dog collar, a dog’s tag, a penny and the top section of a flagpole.

Completion is postponed for tallest skyscraper

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world’s tallest skyscraper under construction in this Gulf city-state will take longer than planned to finish, its builders said, putting off the opening planned for the end of this year.

The Burj Dubai tower stands more than 1,700 feet tall. The state-owned developer Emaar Properties said completion would be postponed until sometime in 2009.

It did not give specifics, but the newspaper Gulf News and the online news site ArabianBusiness.com said the delay would be four months.

Associated Press