Airborne Prima Donna and Cabin Crooners

Good morning Madam, your tanning butler awaits

The new breed of elite traveller can afford to indulge any whim. Our luxury correspondent has their tales of excess

Susan d’Arcy Published: 28 September 2014

Travel is becoming an increasingly bespoke affair. We can select our plane seats, pick from a pillow menu or order a candlelit dinner to be served on the beach. But while most of us get excited about a £100 upgrade to premium economy, there is a class of travellers who want rather more: in fact, they require the instant fulfilment of whatever crazy whim has come into their heads, for the simple reason that they can afford it. The hoteliers, airlines and agents to the elite have given us the most outrageous examples. Want to know how the other half travels? Read on.

Airborne prima donna

He could have opted for back-to-back Quentin Tarantino films. But when one billionaire London property developer wanted to stay awake for the entire nine hours of his private jet flight to the Bahamas, he instead chose to hire three opera singers to serenade him through the 4,350 miles. For a Puccini fan, the encore was a no-brainer — Nessun Dorma (“None shall sleep”). The performance cost £25,000 through Incognito Artists (incognitoartists.com), an entertainment agency that can arrange for stars from the Royal Opera House and the West End to give private performances.

Cabin crooners

A retail entrepreneur arranged to surprise his wife on a flight to Cyprus by booking three of Incognito Artists’ performers (incognitoartists.com) to dress as the pilot and flight attendants, come into the cabin shortly after take-off and break into Fly Me to the Moon, one of his better half’s favourite tunes. She loved the rendition so much that the husband asked the trio to stay on at their hotel. Two nights at the five-star Anassa (anassa.com.cy), and a few turns on the mike, cost the happy couple a total of almost £40,000.