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Tags: V Australia / Virgin / Travel Gear / Luggage / Baggage / Fashion Travel / → All Tags

The Search For Ideal Luggage Continues: V Australia's 'Perfect Bag'

It's one of the oldest moneymaking games in the book: convince tourists that the bags they're traveling with aren't safe enough, or convenient enough, or stylish enough, and sell them a more jaunt-friendly bag. Very very soon however, all this could be put to rest by the release of the fruit of the labors of a fashion designer-airline combination.

Whether you're of the type that prefers the sixteen zippered pockets and multitude of snaps, or the type that wants only a simplistic tote, V Australia is asking you to help them design "the perfect bag for the perfect trip."

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Tags: Airfare Deals / V Australia / Richard Branson / Australia Travel / Music Travel / → All Tags

V Australia Can't Wait To Get You Down Under With An Aussie Rock Band

The always spunky Richard Branson and his Virgin team are no slouches at putting together clever promotions, and this time his Aussie long-haul airline V Australia has got a smart one going called Jet with JET.

One jet, of course, is the plane that V Australia is going to fly you in from Los Angeles to Sydney. The all-capitals JET is the great Aussie rock band that will be on the plane with you, and then will perform at the Homebake Music Festival once they back to Oz.

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Tags: Travel Contests / Twitter / V Australia / Sydney Travel / → All Tags

Tweet Every Minute Of 3 Days In Sydney To Win Round-The-World Tickets

Rejoice, fellow Americans! V Australia hasn't forgotten about us and they're actually reversing their 4320 Twitter contest of last month to send some us Yanks down under.

Here's a little background on the contest: Only a month ago, V Australia decided to draw attention to their Sydney to Los Angeles route by running a contest to send some Aussies to LA if they'd promise to Twitter every minute of their time there. The amount of tweets, equal to the amount of minutes spent in LA, was 4320, and a trio of guys successfully completed the mission a little over two weeks ago, winning around-the-world tickets for themselves.

Now it's our turn, with 15 more days to tweet an entry on their website before they choose another group to tweet 4320 times over three days in Sydney. Obviously the opera house will be involved, and probably some shrimp on a barbie, but we'll most enticed by the promise of those around-the-world tickets. Take us along if you win? We're pretty good at twittering already.

Related Stories:
· 4320 Sydney Contest [V Australia]
· V Australia Invites American To Tweet Down Under [Adverblog]
· V Australia Coverage [Jaunted]

[Image: V Australia]

Tags: V Australia / Twitter / Twitter Travel / Contests / Los Angeles Travel / → All Tags

Virgin Australia's Insane Twitter Contest Is Over

There are three Aussie boys with sore thumbs this week, after they successfully completed the challenging task set by V Australia to tweet every minute during a whirlwind three-day trip from Australia to Los Angeles.

Kelvin, Nathan and Matt won a radio competition that got them on a V Australia flight to LA for three days of partying, sightseeing and non-stop tweeting. V Australia promised them round-the-world flights if they managed to make 4320 Twitter posts between them, averaging out at one every minute for 72 hours.

As you'd expect, sleepless tweeting didn't exactly lead to too many Twitter gems, with the general standard being more like these: "Margarita time," "My eyes feel like they are going to fall out" and "Need some inspiration." But they made it to the end and get to enjoy the next trip they take without tweeting their vacation away.

V Australia is talking up a "second half" of the contest for August. Not sure if that means another three tweeting victims or some other crazy Twitter challenge, but we'll keep you informed, minute by minute.

Related Stories:
· 4320LA [Official Site]
· Tweet Very Minute For 3 Days in LA To Win A Round-The-World Trip [Jaunted]
· V Australia Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Contests / Twitter / V Australia / Los Angeles / → All Tags

Tweet Every Minute For 3 Days in LA To Win A Round-The-World Trip

This is for all your Aussies looking to experience a little of the flash of Los Angeles without having to a pay a thing: V Australia will send you and two of your friends from down under to LA for a raucous weekend of drinking, dancing, and well...tweeting.

To encourage the idea of heading from Australia to LA for a weekend trip, V Australia is asking their fans to tweet on their contest website with a reason for being sent to LA, and if you win, you'll be up against a few other teams tweeting every minute of your days in LA in pursuit of the grand prize: a round-the-world ticket on V Australia and Virgin Atlantic.

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Tags: Virgin / Airline News / Virgin America / V Australia / → All Tags

Virgin America and V Australia Team Up For Sexy, Seamless Transpacific Travel

How much do you love Richard Branson? As if his LCC Virgin America isn't awesome enough for introducing mood lighting and fleet-wide WiFi to the US skies, now his Aussie outfit of V Australia will join with VA to offer seamless cross-Pacific travel between the two airlines.

Via an interline agreement between the carriers which goes into effect this week, passengers can now book a single ticket on V Australia's website for travel on both airlines from Australia into the US and beyond. Not to mention that trips through LAX mean enjoying the awesomeness of Virgin's Terminal 3— think mood lighting both inside and curbside, destination weather information displayed next to flight details, Eames sling chairs, and check-in counters more like concierge desks.

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Tags: V Australia / Australia Travel / Tiger Airways / → All Tags

Aussie Airlines Getting Desperate

Even though everyone's trying to get us to go to Australia, the message doesn't seem to be getting through – at least if the local airlines' actions are anything to go by.

V Australia had a promising start in the Down Under fare war but they're now complaining of a slowdown in demand, and have put back their new plane purchases by a couple of years. Two new Boeing 777s have been rescheduled from 2010 delivery to 2011 and 2012 – and that's also shelved V Australia's plans to start Oz to Johannesburg routes.

LCC Tiger Airways is also sounding a bit desperate. This weekend they've got 30,000 free flights on offer to try and fill up some of their domestic routes. Free means, of course, that you still pay taxes, but they do come out pretty cheap, with A$35 ($25) fares (and under) available. With the possibility of $500 fares to get you from the United States down to Oz, it's got to be getting tempting.

Related Stories:
· V Australia to Defer Delivery of Two Boeing Jets [The Advertiser]
· Tiger Offers Free Flights on Domestic Routes [Brisbane Times]
· Everyone Wants You To Go To Australia ... [Jaunted]

[Photo: thewamphyri]

Tags: Down Under War / Australia Travel / V Australia / Travelzoo / → All Tags

Everyone Wants You To Go Australia But Are You Really Gonna Go?

Move over South America! Australia is fast becoming the new hot destination. Or at least, it seems that way according to the Down Under Airfare War that keeps on raging.

Travelzoo has just let us know that the United Airlines and Delta have both matched V Australia's recent round-trip sale to Oz from Los Angeles starting at $649. The site recommends booking through their very own Fly.com (of course) but availability was found for departure dates Nov. 1 - Dec. 16 and returning between Nov. 3 - Dec. 21. Remember, that's Winter still Spring Down Under. Yet if you want to go before then V Australia has a flight from LA for only $530. And to think two years ago, we paid nearly $2,000 for our ticket on the not-as-cool Qantas. Ugh.

Low prices aside, we have to wonder who is really going to Australia these days? Do you plan on going soon? Or is it too far of a trek despite the budget fares? Will you just rent Australia instead?

Let us know how you really feel about visiting the wonderful world of Oz in comments below.

Related Stories:
· Down Under War [Jaunted]

Tags: Flight Reviews / V Australia / First-Person Flight Reviews / → All Tags

How is V Australia Doing So Far?

Is it just us, or is our review of the V Australia the most comprehensive? It’s probably just us, so that’s why we went out exploring to see what other people are thinking about the newest airline down under.

It seems to be a success so far, no major complaints, and best of all—it’s causing other airlines to finally lower prices. Maybe we’ll get to go back to Australia in 2009 after all.

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Tags: Air Fare Sales / Australia Travel / Qantas / V Australia / → All Tags

Qantas Strikes Back Against Virgin and Delta in Down Under War

The Down Under War has well and truly started. We're talking the war on flights from the United States down to Australia, a market that's got boiling hot since V Australia threw its hat in the ring. And Delta is just a few months away from starting their own cheap flights to Sydney.

Likely-to-lose airline Qantas, which has happily served these routes at jacked-up regular prices for decades, has really thrown down the gauntlet this week.

They're now offering $299 one-way flights between Los Angeles and various Australian and New Zealand destinations, and with taxes that means you can get a return flight for as low as $676 with nearly all departure dates through to October 24 eligible for the special--if you book by March 20.

For these prices, we'd be going back to Qantas--after all, V Australia usually makes you pay for extras like movies, and Qantas offers all those great Aussie wines Actually, VAustralia not only offers free in-flight entertainment, but during the inaugural, movies were free. Yup, we watched Slumdog Millionaire for free. Furthermore, VA is offering a bunch of Australian wines. So who will win us over in the end? We'd be tempted by anyone offering sub-$500 round-trips from the US to Oz.

Related Stories:
· The Eagerly Anticipated V Australia Inaugural Flight Review [Jaunted]
· Qantas Coverage [Jaunted]
· V Australia Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: planegeezer]

Tags: Flight Reviews / V Australia / Airline Reviews / Jaunted in Sydney / → All Tags

The Eagerly Anticipated VAustralia Inaugural Flight Review

Sir Richard Branson was on VA1 from SYD to LAX, but while Sir Richard was partying it up at The Chateau Marmont, Jaunted was riding VA2 from LAX to SYD to see what a Bransonless Virgin Australia experience was like.

LAX - SYD is the definition of the long haul route. For years Qantas and United have dominated this route, but VAustralia has jumped into the fray and is attempting to redefine the way we fly to Australia. How did they do? The full flight review is after the jump.

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Tags: Richard Branson / Virgin Atlantic / V Australia / Virgin / Contests / Travel News / → All Tags

Calling All Richard Branson Lookalikes: Win a Trip to New York

That Richard Branson sure is one cool dude. No matter what he's doing, he's always got a big smile on his face like he's having the time of his life, probably because he is. He's the archetype of the rich, international playboy, with the windblown hair, sun-bleached goatee, and eyebrows arched in perpetual delight. If that describes your look as well - or at least your attitude - Sir Richard would like to hear from you. Virgin is sponsoring the Richard Look-A-Like Competition, which will award the winning doppelgänger with a pair of Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy tickets to New York, a pair of VIP tickets to the airline's 25th birthday party, and one night's accommodations for two people.

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