This is getting crazy. Virgin America is upgrading their in-flight entertainment again. They don't need to! The RED system is awesome already! They're miles ahead of others in many ways! And it's precisely for all these reasons that VX is putting its head down and charging forward to the future; they want to stay at the head of the pack.

Have you spotted the special #nerdbird plane in the skies yet? Yes, it's a plane with its own hashtag—correction, the first plane with its own hashtag. The #nerdbird (tail number N841VA) is a Virgin America standard Airbus A320, but it's also the testing ground for all the fancy stuff the airline has up its sleeve for the rest of the fleet, which, from this month on, now includes playing around with Lufthansa Systems' "BoardConnect" hybrid entertainment technology. What the what?]]> JetSetCD 2011-09-13T14:54:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/6/30/11484/5420

Virgin America officially celebrated their international launch yesterday, of flights to and from LAX/SFO and Toronto, by naming the plane in honor of hip hop artist, Toronto native and most importantly, "DeGrassi High: The Next Generation" star Drake.

Here's a look at Air Drake complete with a mention of his new album, Thank Me Later, which just dropped on June 15. Ok, you still don't know who he is but check out Wikipedia for a brief introduction.

Onboard the flight was also Richard Branson, CEO David Cush, The Governator (just for the LA-SFO leg), Giles Martini (aka the Naked Man from Sex and the City 1), Eric Roberts, Audrina's ex-BF Ryan Cabrera, Cheryl Burke and hotelier Jason Pomeranc whose new hotel in Toronto--The Thompson Toronto—everyone onboard shacked up at later.]]> juliana 2010-06-30T13:26:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/3/18/11127/0066
Best photo of Cush ever?

We weren't the only ones waking up early this morning, anxiously awaiting the now-released news that Virgin America is adding routes from SFO and LAX to Orlando and Toronto this summer; Virgin America CEO David Cush was up bright and early too, and he gave us a call to see how we were taking the news that our favorite city for a new route—Vancouver—didn't win...yet.

While chatting wtih Cush, we learned some exclusive new details about Virgin America's plans not only for the rest of 2010, but on into 2011 as well. And things might get a little more international than just Toronto...

Find out what's in store for Virgin America, after the jump ]]> JetSetCD 2010-03-18T11:14:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/11/121423/70

This morning, Virgin America released their third quarter financials, and things look on the up-and-up for the young low cost carrier with a sexy side. However, we're still anxious for them to draw more lines on their route map so that in-flight WiFi and mood lighting are options for travelers around the country. Plus, it's been a few months since we talked with them.

Hungry for any information on when we can expect new destinations, we gave VA CEO David Cush a call to talk about Christmas plans, Vegas' hotness, 2010 hopes, and of course Chicago. Read on to hear Cush's take on the future of Virgin America.

On the desire to add flights Chicago:
It seems like Virgin America has had the roughest time with cracking slots at Chicago's O'Hare airport, and yet Cush is optimistic that Chicago will be Virgin America's next destination: "We're still focused on Chicago as our next city; we'll be securing four new aircraft in the second quarter of 2010, with 2-to-3 of those allotted for Chicago."

On plans for cities after Chicago...
]]> JetSetCD 2009-12-11T12:57:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/14/105327/400

Where there's a party, there's usually a Virgin America logo.

We're used to attending all sorts of parties for Virgin America whenever they launch a new route or service but on Friday night, we were able to catch Virgin America and its sister airline, V Australia celebrate something different--the kickoff of The Sunset Strip Music Festival at the old Riot Hyatt aka The Andaz West Hollywood.

Celebs that showed up and worked the red carpet for the start of the three-day rock event on the Strip included Chris Cornell; legendary music producer Lou Adler (yes, father to Cisco); The Donnas; Caridee English; Taryn Manning;the Swedish "sleaze rock" band Vains of Jenna and Kristen Bauer from True Blood.]]> juliana 2009-09-14T16:58:52-05:00 34.0952395 -118.37280 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/11/94938/1897

This morning, Virgin America not only announced that their 10th destination would be Fort Lauderdale from SFO and LAX beginning in November, but they hinted at other cities soon to possibly pop up on their route maps.

Curious to get the straight dope, we gave VA CEO David Cush a call to talk fun in the sun, international routes, and of course Chicago. Read on to hear Cush's take on the future of Virgin America.

On the addition of Fort Lauderdale:
Cush understands that "everyone is excited for new routes," but this one especially so since it's their tenth and only the beginning of a period of southern expansion.

On how they are deciding on future destinations:
"If you look at Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 corporate bases, those are pretty good places to start. You've got Atlanta, Dallas with their telecom, the semiconductors and computer companies in Austin and even on to Newark and Philadelphia." We also made sure not to forget about good old Raleigh-Durham, which Cush assures is an option as most corporate cities are fair game for them right now. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-08-11T09:49:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/12/8/91514/9958

Just three days after scrapping plans to touch down at Chicago O'Hare, Virgin America has announced it will start flights to Boston Logan on February 12, 2009. Three flights a day will connect BOS and LAX, and two round-trips daily will link Boston to San Francisco. Sorry, New York: No shuttle flights for you just yet.

While hyping low fares (starting at $149 each way for BOS-LAX) and the fact that this is the carrier's eighth city (!), Virgin also managed to get in a few digs at Chicago, the city that apparently couldn't bully the majors into giving up a few of their precious gates at O'Hare. Says CEO David Cush:

We thank the state, city and airport for their support and warm welcome, and we can’t wait to introduce our upscale, high value service to Boston travelers--especially on the SFO-BOS and LAX-BOS routes that until today offered no low fare competition.

So while Boston will likely now see fares drop, passengers flying out of O'Hare will continue getting hosed. If you're looking for someone to send those angry letters to, Chicago, your Department of Aviation commissioner is Richard Rodriguez--and here's how to get in touch with him!

Related Stories:
· For Lack of Gates at O'Hare, Virgin Cancels Chicago Flight Plans [Jaunted]
· The History of Virgin America's "Expansions" [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-12-08T09:17:56-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/