Update: All ten offers have now been redeeemed. Keep your eyes open for the ticket giveaway on Jaunted soon!

Alright, who wants to board that plane right now and just take off? Everybody? Yep—we thought so. Here at Jaunted, we're absolutely into fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel, and on this lovely Friday, we going to help you get where you wanna go.

Here's the deal: Virgin America sent out an offer to all of their "founding eleVAte members" (and you know we are) to have ten of their friends or contacts receive 20% off flights booked before November 6 for Main Cabin travel before February 10. And you're our friend, right? So click here now to score one of those ten 20% discounts while they last.

Now for the good stuff: when you guys use all ten discount offers from that link, we'll receive a code for a free roundtrip flight, which we'll then pass on to you via a Jaunted contest to come. So get booking so we can devise an exciting contest! Remember that Virgin America begins flying direct between LAX and SFO to Fort Lauderdale in November, so you could always use the discount to sweeten a trip to Florida. Book away!

Related Stories:
· Stay Golden [Virgin America]
· Virgin America coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Limaindia / Wiki Commons]]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-30T16:20:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/21/8153/5713

Late last year, work began on renovating Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport. The terminal used to be the gateway to foreign lands, but after all the new paint and fancy lighting it will be primarily used for domestic adventures. The airport is shelling out nearly $400 million to revamp things, and when complete, it will probably make all the other terminals jealous. Virgin America is especially excited over all this construction, because this will be their official home when all the dust settles.

There will be 14 gates at the new terminal, which should leave a little extra room if another carrier or two wants to sneak into Virgin America’s home turf. The gates will be designed for narrow body aircraft, but they will have the capability for some bigger jets—just in case. Some of the cool new stuff that travelers will experience while waiting for flights includes a wine bar, spa, and over ten restaurants. The airport is even looking to recruit some slow food vendors to ensure travelers are eating healthy, locally grown food—does this include Cinnabon? There will be lots of public art, and for fans of green, the facility expects to get silver LEED certification. ]]> kjb 2009-10-21T09:01:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/20/155738/23

Ever the innovators, Virgin America is testing a new boarding scheme for speed and efficiency. They've ordered agents at targeted airports to let people without bags board the airplane first, the idea being to seat them and then let everyone else slow down the line while fighting for overhead space. It's the kind of thing that, if you run it through your mind, seems just crazy enough to work. So naturally everyone, us included, is trying to come up with reasons why the new policy is doomed to failure.

Travel blogger Cranky Flier is worried that overly ambitious, roll-a-board toting business consultants will try to sneak onto the plane along with legitimately carryon-free travelers. That would put gate agents in the awkward situation of either having to contradict a customer or letting them cheat. It's not that these passengers would be jumping the line in the strict sense—they have more of an incentive to do that in the status quo, where they're not assured that the people ahead of them will leave overhead space—as much as a "what do you mean my 'backpack' counts as a carryon?" kind of scenario.]]> Omri 2009-10-20T17:08:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/105959/37

Hurrah! Big news that could be game-changing for holiday travel plans, if you aren't already put off by the extra fees being levied on holiday flights by some airlines. Just announced today, Virgin America is making their in-flight WiFi—which they have on all of their airplanes and routes—free during the holidays.

Actually the deal extends a bit beyond the holidays to somewhat reward passengers for even choosing VA at all during this season: "From Nov. 10, 2009-Jan. 15, 2010, guests on all Virgin America flights will be able to check email, gift shop online, stay in touch with family and friends via social media, or just go wherever the web takes them – all for free." Virgin's WiFi provider is Gogo, who usually charges between $5.95-$12.95 for access during a flight. Whether this added tech bonus plus the lack of extra "holiday fees" on Virgin America tickets persuades the leagues of winter flyers to change to Virgin from their usual Christmas carrier remains to be seen. Still—free in-flight WiFi all around!

Related Stories:
· Virgin America coverage [Jaunted]
· In-Flight WiFi coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Virgin America]]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-19T12:10:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/9/14921/9197

Virgin America, the California-based airline that paid too much for their ubiquitously-plastered slogan "on a mission to make flying good again," is launching a new class of fully-refundable, fully-transferable flight options. The "Main Cabin Refundable" fares will obviously cost a little bit more but, in addition to allowing you a wide range of ticket changes, they come with perks like checking in a bag for free (no small perk these days). This is basically a travel insurance-plus fare.

Main Cabin Refundable tickets are fully refundable up to the literal minute of departure. Ditto for transferring the tickets to a different name. There are no blackout dates, no minimum or maximum stay requirements, and no advanced purchases required. They really seem to be going out of their way to make these fares usable and attractive, even refunding the differences between old and new tickets to your credit card.]]> Omri 2009-10-09T14:51:31-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/5/105253/337

Hopping a Virgin America flight between LA and Vegas might be easy and affordable enough, but what about the hassle of getting from LA to Johannesburg, switching between airlines, and hoping for in-flight internet for at least one leg? Well, now thanks to an interline agreement between Virgin America and South African Airways, getting from one coast to a whole other continent in this manner can be easily done.

What this means is that the one-third of transatlantic air traffic bound for South Africa that originates from the West Coast will have a much easier time of it. Fly Virgin America to JFK to connect with Johannesburg direct flight, or fly Virgin to Washington-Dulles to connect to the Johannesburg route with a quick stop in Dakar, Senegal. Don't forget that you can use the in-flight internet during the Virgin leg to make last minute arrangement in South Africa or just plain email home that "OMG! I'm using internet 35,000 in the air!" ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-05T11:10:30-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/23/10851/2966

Farrah was a flight attendant on Virgin America's first-ever flight. No word on whether she will be the next LC, Heidi or Lo.

Will an upcoming reality show be a sexy look at the lives of flight attendants in the air and on the ground, taking us back to the golden days of flying when pilots and their stewardesses were invited to all the hotspots upon landing on the runway?

Or will it just be a disastrous trainwreck with mostly fictional storylines that does a huge disservice to flight attendants in America? We sincerely hope its the former but there's always a risk when reality shows profiling a profession get slapped together.

Nonetheless, Virgin America announced yesterday that a new reality show from the CW (home of Gossip Girl) will feature five "beautiful Virgin America flight attendants" as they jet around America. ]]> juliana 2009-09-24T08:38:12-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/