But 707s Were Never THIS Swanky...

While the US domestic airlines use their creativity to find new ways to strip down service, foreign airlines buying the Airbus A380 superjumbo are working on suites with double beds, and first-class bathrooms with showers. After all, airliner with almost 50 percent more cabin space than a Boeing 747 was bound to become a designer's playground.

But unlike Singapore Airlines and Emirates -- which have each made big splashes with the lavish first-class amenities in their A380s -- Qantas is focusing most of its attention on business class, which is traditionally the most profitable section of most long-haul aircraft.

Famed Australian industrial designer Marc Newson is Qantas's creative director. His job includes designing the A380 interior, as well as first-class lounges at Sydney and Melbourne Airports. The New York Times reports Qantas signed him after evaluating a new, thinner, carbon-fiber seat for the coach section, saving an inch of legroom per row.

So, when the Qantas A380 begins regular commercial flights in October, what else will be inside? The Times reports the plane devotes much of its extra space to business class, where seats will be 20 inches longer than the ones in Qantas's 747s. First-class seats will be six-and-a-half inches wider on the A380.

LED cabin lighting will be programmed to change colors subtly during your flight, helping create an ambience appropriate for sleeping, waking or eating, fighting the effects of jet lag.

The overall style will be retro-futurist, but use conservative beige for first class and shades of red, orange and green for the rest of the cabin. Items like bathroom fixtures, doorknobs and dining trays emulate what Newson calls "the old airline aesthetic" of the 1960s, but in an updated look.

The Times reports some travel bloggers have called the look "overly austere..." but we think that's a relative term, and one those bloggers should probably reserve for traveling on US Airways, United or Northwest, upon hearing "that'll be five bucks for the Wheat Thins!"

FMI: www.qantas.com