Sky Heist

The good-ol’ days of fine dining and glamour aboard luxury aircrafts may have gone the way of bargain hunting and cost-cutting, but airline’s haven’t lost all their class. It’s the small pleasures now that make the ride not-so-stale. From cutlery to teapots, enjoy service in the sky with these delightfully designed objects—perfect for pinching.

Concorde Cutlery
Designed by Raymond Loewy for Air France’s 1973 Concorde, this stainless steel and plastic cutlery set is eternally stylish. It’s been forty-years since first class passengers enjoyed actually tasty airline meals with these streamlined forks, spoons, and knives. They went out of use when the Concorde stopped flying, but you can still easily find and buy these collectables online for a steal.

Even economy class eats in modern style with this friendly, plastic Cathay Pacific tableware set,

Courtesy Cathay Pacific

Orville and Wilbur Fly Again
These insanely adorable Virgin Atlantic salt and pepper shakers flew for twelve years before retiring in 2011. Nicknamed after the famous inventors of the airplane, they became keepsakes early on when admirers started snatching them. The airline simply added “pinched from Virgin Atlantic” to their bottoms and let the kleptomania continue. These guys were only temporarily grounded. Brought back this year by popular demand, Orville and Wilbur now come in black and silver.

Rice Bowled Over
Even economy class eats in modern style with this friendly, plastic Cathay Pacific tableware set, introduced in 2007. The rice plant-inspired design motif on the bowls represents a celebration of Asian culture. Both the airline and the tableware’s creators, Milk Design, are based in Hong Kong.

Aussie Eatery
Renowned Australian designer Marc Newson has generated an incredible repertoire of brightly-colored, curvaceous objects. But when Qantas Airline commissioned high-end tableware for first class, he went all-white. No need to fly all the way to the outback to swipe, though. This certain-to-be-classic bone china dinnerware set is also available for purchase.

Finnish Touches
Only fitting that Finnair would commission Finnish design house Marimekko for the ultimate infusion of bold and brightly colored iconic style to sky travel. Starting in spring 2013, passengers will be enveloped in Marimekko’s classic patterns and prints, from teapots to textiles to tableware. The airline really went the distance with their new collaboration—even the outer bodies of two aircrafts will get a signature floral wrapper.

On the House
Travel on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and receive a complimentary “on the house” drink—in a house. Each year the airline presents intercontinental Business Class passengers with a white and blue miniature replica of a real Dutch house filled with gin, called the KLM Delft Blue house. This year’s commemorative house, the SieboldHuis, is the 93rd in this infectious collection.