Travellers' ChecksLangkawi welcomes Malaysia’s first Ritz-Carlton resort

Malaysia’s first Ritz-Carlton resort property has just opened on the island of Langkawi, two years behind schedule. The website says that its 90 rooms and suites and 29 villas (Beach Villa above) are located “on expansive grounds overgrown with a 10 million years old [sic] rainforest”, so that might explain the delay.

Four Seasons Resort Langkawi designed for both families and couples

The timing is, in fact, quite fortuitous for Ritz-Carlton, though, as the old Datai Langkawi, just to the north, has just closed for a 10-month renovation.

Over and out

American carrier United Airlines will be marking the end of an era next month, with the last flight of its long-serving Boeing 747 fleet. United is now the longest-running operator of the 747, which it first put into service between San Francisco and Honolulu in July 1970, six months after the first commercial 747 flight (flown by the late, great Pan Am from New York to London).

Absorbed by United several years ago, Continental Airlines beat United to Honolulu by a month, in June 1970, with a 747 once renowned for its fantastic Polynesian Pub (below) on the main passenger deck. This joyfully kitsch in-flight lounge seems to have been loosely based on the amazing Hawaiian Lounge, which United had installed on its double-decker Boeing Stratocruiser flights to Hawaii in the 1950s.

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“The Hawaiian theme dominates the entire interior,” noted Boeing Magazine, describing the Stratocruiser’s bamboo and pandanus leaf décor, with abstract pineapple-and-fish-patterned curtains. “The mere act of stepping aboard,” it was noted, “gives the immediate sensation that one already has set foot on Hawaiian soil.”