Airplane cabin designs that could change the way we fly
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — In travel news this week: award-winning aircraft interior designs and the world’s best airports for 2025. Plus, what it’s like to live in a US town completely surrounded by Canada.
Award-winning design
An in-flight entertainment system that can project content on tray tables, windows or wherever passengers want to watch. A fully recyclable overhead storage bin that could advance sustainable travel. An in-seat interface that allows you to check lavatory availability without getting up.
These are some of the seven innovative airplane interior concepts to have been honored by the Crystal Cabin Awards this week in Hamburg at the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2025.
The entries range from ready-to-launch, airline-backed designs, to experimental and as-yet-unrealized projects.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific and Germany’s Diehl Aviation were both double winners, with Diehl impressing with its smart design for an accessible airplane lavatory with wide doors and foldable sinks. See the full list here.
Also getting their flowers this week were the aviation hubs honored in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2025. Singapore Changi, renowned for its indoor waterfall, dinosaur theme park, butterfly garden and copious other delights, won for the 13th time.
Paris Charles de Gaulle was named Best Airport in Europe, Vancouver International was Best in North America and Cape Town was Best in Africa.
Passports and politics
Some US citizens are worried about traveling abroad during the Trump administration. “It feels terrifying,” said one travel blogger who is afraid of a hostile reception internationally.
The US trade war and anti-Europe rhetoric have some Europeans choosing to skip US travel. “It’s like our friend started a fist fight with us,” one Copenhagen resident told CNN.
For the people of Point Roberts, a 4.9-square-mile peninsula in Washington state that belongs to the US but is only accessible by land through Canada, growing anti-American sentiment is a concern. Here’s what it’s like to live there.
Meanwhile, many Americans planning to travel domestically are anxious and confused about the REAL ID deadline looming on May 7. Here’s what you need to know in order to meet the new identification standards for US air travel.
Finally, a Nigerian woman who was attempting to break the world record for the fastest time to visit every continent was thwarted in her mission by flight delays and visa issues. She succeeded in her other goal, however, which she says was to highlight “passport privilege.” She says there were “access and options” denied her on her journey and extra checks she faced because of her “low-mobility” passport.
Tech and travel
Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram, is transforming the travel industry for younger adventurers. Locations that offer unique photo ops, such as basketball courts with great views of the Hong Kong skyline or paintwork on a wall in Seoul, have become huge tourist draws because of the app.
On the opposite end of the scale, an American game streamer and his YouTuber buddy are ditching the smartphones that are the staple of their generation and attempting to cross Japan by motorbike without so much as a guidebook. They’re relying on basic Japanese and asking directions from locals.
For an easier way to do old-school travel, our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have this round-up of the best vintage-inspired luggage and accessories.
Mega-huge, mega-expensive
Florida’s Universal Orlando Resort will open its third and newest theme park, Epic Universal, on May 22 and it’s one of the largest, most expensive theme parks ever made.
CNN got a sneak peek inside the first major theme park to open in the state in 26 years.
In case you missed it
Jonestown, Guyana, was the site of an infamous 1970s mass murder and suicide.
CNN was among the first visitors to be taken there by tour guides.
A 76-year-woman and her parrot, Plucky, were denied boarding on a Frontier Airlines flight.
Here’s how Plucky got unlucky.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the man she’d glimpsed when her ship visited a remote island.
Then he wrote her a letter.
Passover begins April 12 and the Thai New Year begins April 13.
Here’s what you need to know about the Passover Seder meal and Songkran water celebrations.
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