A crazy idea made in Taiwan that Stansted has been practising for many years

Fancy a (virtual) holiday? A Taiwan firm is offering travel-starved customers “pretend flights” to feed their habit. You head to a real airport in Taipei, queue for fake check-in, passport control and security and even board a plane. But the plane just sits on the runway. We are told that 60 punters signed up last week, sitting on a grounded A330 and chatting to cabin staff before disembarking again. No word on rows with other halves about who has to sit with the children. Please don’t feel forlorn if you’re

British and hankering after the same. All you have to do is book a flight from Stansted, which, in my experience, is also exceptionally keen on making its customers sit for hours on the tarmac.