The new Star Alliance lounge at TBIT is now open and sounds like a significant improvement over both the original lounges and the interim lounge used for the past 10 months.

Hopefully the other new TBIT lounges (for Sky Team, One World and unaligned airlines) are not too far away.

An FTer birthday this week - wish skye1 a happy birthday on 29th July.

Jenbel and chrissxb have set up a fantastic consolidated do thread.

New news - a bomb threat results in aircraft returning to origin aircraft and passengers remain onboard for 30 minutes. That is one way to draw attention to yourself :td:

A report on a trip - read about how Mr Pillows gets the boot.

Something from the talking heads, err Talk Board - voting is underway on a proposal to combine the destination forums for London with UK & Ireland. Discussion continues on a proposal to create a new forum for Virgin America.

Something random - are you using flightmemory.com/flugstatisk.de?

A sorry tale of miles forever gone, or are they?

What airport lounges are accessible by virtue of being landside?

With a variety of practices by the FFPs (charge all, charge some, no charge) it is nice to have a thread listing who charges what on awards.

A thread where someone complains that their compensation was too much. Check it out and see if you agree.

In the latest in a series of Lounge threads being launched on FlyerTalk, the Bonjour - the France Forum Lounge Thread has been launched by FlyerTalk member and moderator chrissxb.

You may post in either French or English. If you do not know French or English very well, do not worry - the forum participants will be more than happy to assist in helping you strengthen your language skills.

Please join in on the discussion today!

Virgin Atlantic EleVAte is open for business, and based on initial information appears rather different to the usual US-based frequent flyer program. Check out the discussion here.

An FTer birthday this week - wish pennineuk a happy 50th birthday on 23rd July.

Jenbel and chrissxb have set up a fantastic consolidated do thread.

New news - The sale of Alitalia is on the brink of collapse with Air One the latest and final bidder to withdraw from the auction. What does the future hold for AZ?

A report on a trip - a tale of an inaugural flight, flying low cost carriers longhaul, op-ups, and premium business class.

Something from the talking heads, err Talk Board - a new Finnair Plus forum has been created. There are new proposals for eliminating the Varig forum, combine the destination forums for London with UK & Ireland, create a new forum for Virgin America, and create a new forum for Jet Airways.

Something random - Febs2 is looking for advice on a planned road trip between New York and Las Vegas.

lifeonitsown is trying to understand why someone would pay for full fare.