Tag: A320

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Why You Should Care About Airbus' Great White Sharklets

February 21, 2013 at 6:04 PM | by | Comment (1)

No, it's not Shark Week, but airlines are a little obsessed with sharks right now. First there was the news that Lufthansa is testing a sharkskin-like material on their wings, and now JetBlue is flaunting the first Sharklets in the USA. Not baby sharks, sadly, but Sharklets, which is just a slick term for elongated wingtips stuck onto the ends of A320 wings.

Today JetBlue became the first US airline to send an A320 out into the skies with Sharklets, but why should you care?

Well, if you've ever taken a moment to reflect on how much fuel an airplane burns on a flight (900-ish gallons an hour for an A320) and then considered the impact that has on the environment, you'll want Sharklets on your plane.

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Test Your Cockpit Knowledge to Win a Day at an Air Canada Flight Simulator

Where: Canada
February 1, 2013 at 1:08 PM | by | Comments (0)

"Have you ever dreamed of sitting in an airplane's pilot seat?"

Air Canada isn't asking if you've ever dreamt of flying a plane, just if you want to sit in the pilot seat, which is all well and good considering they've just opened up a Facebook contest to win a day with an Air Canada instructor pilot in a flight simulator at the airline's Flight Training Center in Toronto.

To score such an awesome prize, you've got to show off some basic A320 cockpit knowledge by playing a multiple choice game called "Land Your Way."

Progress through three levels of harder and harder questions to reach the status of "Captain" and view your final score. The more points you get, the more times your name is entered into the draw to win the flight sim grand prize. Unfortunately the prize is only open to Canadian citizens, but that's not stopping you from playing the game.

[Photo: Facebook screenshot]

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Exclusive: Inside Virgin America's San Francisco HQ and Pilot Training Center

December 17, 2012 at 4:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

What began as one floor is now an entire building, and their original two coast-to-coast flights are now a respectable route network. We're speaking of Virgin America, whose headquarters outside SFO in Burlingame, California we recently visited for a look at the cogs turning behind the scenes.

Virgin America celebrated their fifth anniversary this year. That makes them the baby of the bunch, for both US airlines and Virgin. Heck, Virgin Atlantic has been flying since 1984 and Virgin Australia since 2000. Indeed Virgin America isn't shy about their newbieness; they take pride in it. Google them and the first words you'll see below the link to their official site are "A brand new airline dedicated to making flying good again."

You know what else is new? Their cabin trainer and A320 flight simulator still have that "new plane smell," since they were introduced as recently as October 2011 and May 2012, respectively. Home to many photo shoots (and in-flight service training, duh), the cabin is outfitted with everything from the deep mood lighting to working overhead bins and those massage chairs in First Class. Before a flight attendant can ask if you'd like another in-flight absinthe, she or he must first pass muster here.

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Air New Zealand Sees Another Airplane and Has It Painted Black

November 9, 2012 at 11:01 AM | by | Comments (0)

Apologies if the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" is now stuck in your head...

Let's talk planes. Let's talk about planes painted in, well, jet black. We've already gushed over the cool new(ish) paintjob Air New Zealand has given a few of their jets and now yet another one will be joining the sleek team.

Air NZ accepted the keys to a striking black ATR 72-600 on October 31st—the perfect day, really. Regardless of launch date, we are huge fans of this livery.

The airline has been known for taking rugby very seriously and the planes are one way they pledge their allegiance to their national 'footy' team, the All-Blacks.

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Flying Bangkok Airways from Phuket to Bangkok for Under $50

September 6, 2012 at 7:34 PM | by | Comments (0)

Before we launch into our review of this one-way Bangkok Airways flight from Thailand's Phuket International (HKT) to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi (BKK), let us point you to the one-way flight that got us to Phuket in the first place, right here, on Nok Air.

While our Nok review is littered with pictures of the bird-painted airplanes and plenty of notes on the flight, this one won't be as detailed on account of the fact that we flew in the dark of night after scuba diving off Phuket for three straight days (yes, fellow divers, we did wait over 24 hours before flying, don't worry). Still, it was dark and we were crazy exhausted and bracing for what was the beginning of a 24-hour ordeal to get to back on US soil.

Booking our Bangkok flight was easy enough—right on BangkokAir.com, and we paid only the equivalent of $49 USD, purchasing the ticket about 1.5 weeks in advance. Searching the same route now, it looks like the web saver fares average 2390 THB ($76 USD), so keep your eyes on the site for specials.

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OMG WINGLETS: Why the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo are Awesome

July 17, 2012 at 10:22 AM | by | Comments (2)

Hey there traveler! Seen all the news recently about airlines ordering Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo planes, and wondering what that means for you on your flight, apart from getting to look at even more winglets?

Here's the skinny. Both the 737 and A320 are getting long in the tooth — 50 years old in the case of the 737, and nearly 30 for the A320. And since the planemakers decided that it's not yet time for the next generation of planes shaped like flying saucers or something, they're updating their venerable workhorses.

So what's new for when they start flying in three to five years?

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Why Yes, This Donut is Shaped Like an Airplane

June 8, 2012 at 3:41 PM | by | Comments (0)

"Put a bird on it!" That may be the most famous quote from the popular IFC series "Portlandia," but it's also Virgin America's goal—to put one of their birds on a Portland route. Today, that bird flies SFO-PDX for the first time and we're on board.

Let's start out by saying that Virgin America knows how to throw a launch party. They do it often enough that it's now a finely crafted work of party art. For this week's first landing in Portland, the theme was "local": local libations, local entertainment and local celebrities.

Just steps after disembarking the A320 named "Mt. Hoodie," the planeload of first flyers was greeted with a glass of champagne (not cheap stuff, either) and a red carpet, where "Portlandia" mayor Kyle MacLachlan gave a speech in character. It was hilarious and he made sure to let us know that even though his preferred method of travel is bicycle, he was still excited about Virgin America's entry into the city.

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Virgin America's CEO Dishes During Their Inaugural Flight to PDX

June 6, 2012 at 7:37 PM | by | Comments (2)

"Put a bird on it!" That may be the most famous quote from the popular IFC series "Portlandia," but it's also Virgin America's goal—to put one of their birds on a Portland route. Today, that bird flies SFO-PDX for the first time and we're on board.

To say that Virgin America took advantage of every second of the short, hour-and-a-half inaugural flight from SFO to PDX would be a gross understatement. The second the doors closed, all the way until we disembarked in Portland, the activities for passengers kept on coming. Meanwhile, we dutifully filled you in from the air.

To kick off, the flight began by screening an episode of "Portlandia" that heavily featured the flight's two big guests: "Portlandia" mayor, actor Kyle MacLachlan and real Portland mayor/"Portlandia" mayor's assistant, Sam Adams. The episode got everyone on the flight pumped up and ready to party (as if they weren't already), as well as primed for a quick game of "Portlandia" trivia, which we knew all the answers to (duh).

Shortly after takeoff, Virgin's hand-picked crew began beverage service and, before we knew it, we were sitting with Virgin America CEO David Cush. Time for some serious questions.

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Hello from 32,000 Feet, Onboard Virgin America's First Flight to Portland, Oregon

June 5, 2012 at 6:07 PM | by | Comment (1)

"Put a bird on it!" That may be the most famous quote from the popular IFC series "Portlandia," but it's also Virgin America's goal—to put one of their birds on a Portland route. Today, that bird flies SFO-PDX for the first time and we're on board.

LIVE from 32,000' above Northern California:

We are officially airborne and on our way to Portland! The pre-departure festivities at San Francisco's snazzy Terminal 2 were complete with cookies and celebratory remarks by Virgin America CEO David Cush and "Portlandia" mayor's assistant/real Portland mayor, Sam Adams. Kyle MacLachlan, who plays the mayor in "Portlandia," is here as well, so really we just need to have shell art kits in the seatback pockets and all will be ideal.

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Two Airplanes That Have Facial Hair and One That Needs It

March 30, 2012 at 10:28 AM | by | Comments (0)

At this point we're dead sure that Virgin America is attempting to solidify their budding reputation as hipster airline of choice. C'mon—their last three big route announcements were Palm Springs, Philly and Portland and now—AND NOW—they've actually gone and given one of their planes facial hair.

Granted the unshaven A320 references the beard of San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson, as this Airbus is Virgin America's tribute livery to the baseball team. Hitting the skies on April 2, the plane (named "Fly Bye Baby") heralds the opening of the airline's sponsored Club Level lounge at AT&T Park (with mood lighting, natch) and the beginning of a contest.

Planespotters! On your marks, get set, go...spot the bearded airplane, snap a photo and share it using the hashtag #FlyTheBeard to be entered to win roundtrip tickets. Virgin will pick a winner once a month until the end of baseball season. Beyond that, a single winner will score season tickets for 2013. Niiiice. Full contest rules here.

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And Airbus' 10,000 Airplane Order Goes to...Virgin America

January 17, 2011 at 10:31 AM | by | Comments (0)

One of our favorite games to play here at Jaunted is guess the next Virgin America destination. Just don't say Chicago because that's always just around the corner...

Anyway, Virgin America's route map is about to get all sorts of scribbled on with new flights in the next 5-8 years as the airline has just placed the necessary airplane orders to increase their fleet from 34 planes to 111. That's a whole lot of in-flight WiFi, mood lighting and airplane-sized bottles of absinthe. Virgin even scored the historical 10,000 order from Airbus, flying in a ski-injuried Richard Branson for the occasion.

All of this is of course great news for the airline, but excellent news for anyone who's been wanting to fly Virgin America as they've launched a celebratory fare sale with flights from January 31 to May 11 for as low as $60. You've got two days to book your flights—DO IT HERE—as the sale ends on Wednesday, January 19.

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JetBlue Reveals Their 'Real Blue' Soccer Plane

June 12, 2009 at 5:28 PM | by | Comment (1)

Could we have a battle of the airplane wraps on our hands? Southwest unveiled their SeaWorld One this week and today, JetBlue has just christened their "Real Blue" plane in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new A320 is part of a sponsorship of Salt Lake's Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake (JetBlue is their official airline) and of course, a way to promote the JetBlue flights to the city.

Looking to fly on Real Blue sometime soon? You better book fast. JetBlue has special fares between Salt Lake and Long Beach, San Diego and New York starting at $49 one-way but only until the end of today. Additionally, the flights are only good for Tuesday and Wednesday travel from June 23- August 26. However, you can get another better perk out of all of this. JetBlue customers will get 50 percent off tickets to the Real Salt Lake game against Toronto FC on Saturday, June 27th.

Related Stories:
· Eep! Southwest Has Penguins On A Plane! [Jaunted]
· JetBlue Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JetBlue/Twitter]

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