Austrian Airlines has topped a list of the best business class in-flight wines from US-based Global Traveler magazine.

It beat Qatar Airways by only 0.28 of a point to take the award, which the magazine said “was not dependent on one or two high-scoring blockbusters pulling the rest of its wines into the winner’s corner.”

Instead, the wines selected by Austrian’s 55 sommeliers scored consistantly highly across all categories, with its Champagne, both its white wines and one red wine all placed in the top ten lists for their respective categories.

International hotel chain Radisson is to launch a “business class” service for customers, the firm confirmed March 3.

The chain, which has 422 hotels globally, aims to introduce a premium tier of service for its top-level guests.

The “business class” offering will include the best available room, breakfast, a turn-down service, upgraded bathroom products and a 3-hour laundry service.

Accompanying the new service tier, Radisson announced that it is to roll out five room themes globally, further standardizing its properties.

The themes will include “And Relax,” “Naturally Cool,” “New York Mansion,” “Ocean” and “Urban” and will all feature a “vibrant and contemporary” design.

There has been a severe drop in the number of people flying premium, business or first, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), prompting some to ask whether the days of champagne and free toiletries are behind us.

For most travelers, reclining into a leather seat and sipping champagne at 35,000 ft is the epitome of frequent flyer sophistication.

From the introduction of “premium economy”, to the advent of the fully flat bed, to the new Emirates on board shower, it seems that there’s something we just can’t resist about luxury in the skies.

Australian carrier Qantas has the world’s best on-board wine selection, according to the Cellar in the Sky Awards presented February 9.

The airline took four awards, including Best First Class Red Wine, Best First Class Fortified / Sweet Wine, Best First Class Cellar, and Best Presented Wine List.

Its parent Oneworld Alliance also took the prize for Best Airline Alliance, beating Star Alliance in second place and Sky Team in third.

UK daily the Telegraph reports that an Israeli woman paid the El Al airline USD32,000 to allow her dog to travel with her in business class from Paris to Tel Aviv.

The woman, identified by the paper as Rivkah, 60, took up an entire compartment to ferry her, her boxer “Orchuk” and a vet on the four-hour flight.

Airline El Al had to remove several seats to make room for Or’s cage.

Continental Airlines Inc. on Monday showed off new fully reclining seats that it will put in business class of some jets beginning next year.

The airline said that the seats would go into Boeing 777 aircraft used mostly on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes beginning in fall 2009, and later on Boeing 757 and 787 jets.

Continental unveiled the seats at a travel convention in Los Angeles. Airlines have been sprucing up their first- and business-class cabins, especially on international routes, to compete for lucrative business travelers.