Jaunted

Travel Contest / Virgin America / Palm Springs Travel / New Routes / California Travel / PSP / → All Tags

Travel Contest Alert: Pack Your Posse Off to Palm Springs on Virgin America's New Non-stop

This time of the year is simply the best time of the year. Why? Because of seasonal routes, that's why! Airlines take advantage of the dreary winter weather to open up some exotic, fun-in-the-sun destinations for a limited time. There's always the Caribbean or Mexico, but the last couple years we've been kinda in love with the idea of the heading into the US desert for that needed dose of Vitamin Sunshine.

And, for the second year, Virgin America will the answer the prayers of SFers and NYers by jetting directly into Palm Springs Airport (PSP). Well, actually they already started the flights from San Francisco back in October. The big news right now is that they'll be launching the first non-stop flight from the New York area to Palm Springs this Saturday.

more ›

Photo Gallery / Virgin America / Virgin / Airplanes / Flight Simulators / Airlines / Airline News / SFO / A320 / Airbus / Pilots / Videos / → All Tags

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

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.

more ›

New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Delta / Finnair / Virgin America / Alitalia / JetBlue / → All Tags

JetBlue, Alitalia and Delta Get In On This Week's New Route Fun

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Alitalia:
We don’t usually hear too much about Alitalia, but that’s not the case this week as they’re busy planning celebrating their latest move. It sounds like the new flights are now up and running, as Alitalia is now flying back and forth between Rome and Abu Dhabi.

It’s Airbus A330s doing the heavy lifting between the new city pairs, but just watch the schedule as things shift a little bit depending on when you plan to depart. Rome flights head out of town on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The flights out of Abu Dhabi do their thing on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

· Finnair:
Thanks to Finnair it’s going to be a little bit easier to get to Vietnam, as the carrier is planning to move some people and planes across the globe. Things aren’t flying as of yet, but the plan is for Finnair to do the nonstop thing from Helsinki, Finland all the way over to Hanoi, Vietnam.

The flights will start on June 14 of next year, and they’ll be the only carrier over in Europe to provide a nonstop option directly in and out of Hanoi. This might not be the best option for a long weekend out of Helsinki, but if you’re doing an around-the-world itinerary this is probably a pretty good connection option from Europe over to Asia.

more ›

Airline Lounges / AIrports / LAX / Los Angeles Travel / First Class Travel / Virgin America / Virgin / Photo Gallery / → All Tags

Awesomesauce: Virgin America Debuts Their Very First 'Loft' Lounge at LAX

Are you ready for this jelly? Virgin America has just used the opportunity of today's notable 12-12-12 date to debut their very first airline lounge. It's called The Loft and you'll find it snuggled up airside in Terminal 3 at LAX near the Virgin America gates.

The lounge, in all its mood-lit glory, replicated much of what makes the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses so desirable—namely the slick design (and designer furniture) and complimentary meal and drinks service. Instead of a grab-and-go snack bar like you'd find in many US domestic lounges, Virgin America offers a menu with options like smoked salmon bagels, sushi, soba, and shrimp caesar salad.

And, instead of a cash bar with well drinks, the Loft offers six specialty cocktails (drooling over the "Runway Ruddy Mary"), top shelf liquors, red, white and sparkling wines, domestic and imported beers on tap and in bottles, and even juice mixes if you've already had one Ruddy Mary too many.

more ›

Om Nom Nom / Amazing Airline Meals / Airline Meals / In-Flight Meals / Food Travel / Virgin America / First Class Travel / → All Tags

Surprisingly Yummy Airline Meals: The Beer-Glazed Meatloaf on Virgin America

We have all had a terrible meal on a flight before. In fact, we have shown you some of the sadder trays slid in front of us. With this new series of amazing airline meals, we can revel in the airline culinary delights and give kudos to the airlines that got it right.

If you had to pick a last meal what would it be? Wait, no, let us guess. It's meatloaf, isn't it? We knew it!

Ok, so it's probably not meatloaf cause who actually likes meatloaf? At least that's what we thought before flying Virgin America's First Class from JFK to SFO a week ago.

Since we weren't super into the other meal option (Goat Cheese Tortelloni), we didn't really have a choice between the Black Star Beer-Glazed Meatloaf and anything else, but we're glad we didn't as the meatloaf was not just surprisingly yummy, it was downright delicious! And please keep in mind this is coming from a former 10-year vegetarian.

more ›

Airfare Deals / LAN / TAM / Virgin America / CES 2013 / CES / Private Jets / Gilt / AirTran / Cyber Monday / → All Tags

The Only Three Cyber Monday Airfare Sales We Care About

As much as it pains us to type the words "Cyber Monday," it's true that there are enough travel deals out there to make the term stick a bit. Here's a few worth mentioning:

· Virgin America private jet to CES:
$49,000 gets you VX's #nerdbird, an A320 that'll bear a design of your choosing for one month. Oh yeah, and you'll get a roundtrip flight for 136 guests from San Francisco to Las Vegas for 2013 CES—the world's largest consumer electronics show—on that plane.

The trip will come complete with free onboard Gogo WiFi, Elevate Silver status for all guests, Elevate Gold for the purchaser +1, and all 136 CES passes and keynote tickets will be taken care of. We seriously dare you to find a private jet company that can beat this deal. They just can't, especially when it comes to the addition of the custom livery! Buy it on Gilt City. AMEX Centurion cards were practically made for moments like this.

more ›

Frequent Flyer Miles / Airline Loyalty Programs / Virgin America / United / American Airlines / Virgin / Business Travel / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags

Go for Gold as Virgin America Announces a Sweet, Sweet Status Match

In case you thought that Virgin America only took after its sister airlines in mood-lit interior design, the airline is copying Virgin Australia's 2011 idea to attract business travelers and elite flyers by offering a status match.

Virgin America is specifically targeting elite flyers on United and American, offering free entry to their own Elevate Gold or Silver level status without the flyer having to sacrifice anything. United Premier 1K or Platinum, or an American Executive Platinum will automatically be Elevate Gold. United Premier Gold or American Platinum will automatically be matched to Elevate Silver. All you have to do is ask. Here's how:

more ›

Livery / Movember / Charity Travel / Qantas / WestJet / British Airways / Virgin America / Airplanes / Airplane News / → All Tags

Four Airplanes Sporting Their Best Movember Moustaches

BA's mustachioed A319

If you can't tell by all the weird weather, it's definitely November. And that means Movember! "Movember" (moustache November) has, over the last few years, become more and more popular around the world as a time for guys to grow a moustache to draw attention to prostate cancer and men's health issues. It's essentially the male version of women wearing pink during Breast Cancer Awareness month (which was October), so just as airplanes love to sport pink tails, they too get in the spirit of Movember.

For 2012, four airplanes are sporting moustaches. In order from least to most facial hair:

British Airways' A319 (pictured above)
How much facial hair: A proper moustache in a style the airline calls "the connoisseur."
Why? To up awareness for the airline's November charity initiative to raise more than £80,000 for the Prostate Cancer Charity. It also hits home as BA's former CEO Lord Marshall suffered from the disease.

more ›

Drinking Travel / Virgin America / Booze Travel / In-Flight Cocktails / Virgin / → All Tags

DIY In-Flight Cocktails? Say No More.

In just over a month from now, the United States will experience the lovely and so very relaxing travel time surrounding Thanksgiving. Oh, did we mention it's opposite day and that we really mean that it's a hectic and expensive time to hit the skies? Add the stress of holiday travel onto the anxiety of heading home and dude—you need a drink.

While most airlines wouldn't exactly encourage their passengers to have a tipple (or two, or three), Virgin America hasn't ever been part of the "most airlines" crowd. Recently they collaborated with Buzzfeed to suggest 9 In-Flight Cocktail Hacks, fully mixable utilizing the onboard booze variety offered by Virgin America and purchased via their seatback RED entertainment system.

more ›

Travel News / Virgin America / Singapore Airlines / Crystal Cruises / OpenSkies / Conde Nast Traveler / → All Tags

And the Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Award for Best Airline Goes to...

Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards. The award categories cover the best cities, islands, hotels, cruise lines and airlines. For now, we're going to focus on those last two—the forms of transportation.

We've only noted the top three airlines in each category below, but see the complete rankings over at CN Traveler.

Airlines

Foreign:
1. Singapore Airlines
2. Emirates
3. Air New Zealand

more ›

Videos / Movie Travel / Virgin / Virgin America / Virgin Atlantic / Virgin Australia / → All Tags

Watch 'Departure Date,' Virgin's Movie Filmed on Airplanes

Finally. Now that the Los Angeles Film Festival and the in-flight entertainment systems on the three Virgin airlines have had it, it's time for everyone to be able to watch the first movie filmed onboard commercial flights...in the air. The film, Departure Date comes from Virgin Produced, who teamed up with Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia airlines to shoot and edit the half-hour movie aboard several different flights.

Departure Date, which follows a developing romance between two people who meet on a plane, was entirely shot in nine days on previously scheduled flights over three continents, from Los Angeles to London, Dallas-Fort Worth and Sydney, Australia.

more ›

New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Air Arabia Maroc / ANA / Allegiant / Delta / Virgin America / → All Tags

Allegiant, Virgin America and Delta Bring the New Routes This Week

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Virgin America:
If you’re looking for somewhere warm this winter there’s always Palm Springs, and thanks to Virgin America it’s now available nonstop from New York-JFK. The airline has been connecting passengers over to PSP for quite some time, but it’s only been a nonstop option out of San Francisco during the cooler months. The new nonstop flight between New York City and Palm Springs will be a seasonal affair, and the plan is to do the flight once per week on Saturdays beginning on December 22. There’s always the option to fly through San Francisco on your way to Palm Springs, but we’ve got to say—nothing beats a nonstop option.

· Delta:
There’s quite a bit of an oil boom going on in North Dakota, so it’s time for the airlines to start cashing in. It might not be the ideal route for a weekend getaway—especially in the winter—but Delta is banking that plenty of business folks are interested in swinging into Williston, North Dakota. The airline is adding a pair of nonstop flights each and every day of the week, as they do their thing between Williston and their base over at Minneapolis-St. Paul. The new service in and out of Sloulin Field International Airport will start up on November 12, and there are even plans to drag in a trailer to add some additional space to the terminal—we’re thinking that means no pre-flight Starbucks.

more ›