Virgin America announces nonstop flights to Los Cabos and Cancun from $129

by Melanie Nayer on

Viva, Mexico!

Get your margaritas ready and toast to Virgin America’s new flight announcements. The airline announced today it will serve San Jose del Cabo International Airport (SJD) and Cancun International Airport (CUN) with nonstop flights from California starting this December.

The fights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Los Cabos start Dec. 16, 2010, and flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Cancun will start Jan. 19, 2011. If you’re in San Francisco and want to go to Cancun, your nonstops will start Jan. 20, 2011. And lest you think you’ll have to spend your holiday money on flights, think again: the low-cost carrier is celebrating the new routes a three-day fare sale.

Put down the tequila and grab your credit card – flights start at just $109!

But there’s more…

If you’re in-the-social-media-know, and in desperate need of some time on the beaches of Mexico, you can score a two-for-one ticket offer by checking in on Loopt Star at SFO or LAX. (To be eligible, one must check-in using the Loopt Star iPhone app, which is available at the Apple iTunes store or at loopt.com /looptstar.)

Can’t get to the airport? No problem. You’ll get hungry at some point today so those of you in San Francisco and Los Angeles can head to select Virgin America taco trucks from 11:00am-3:00pm PT today. Proceeds from every taco purchased will benefit the City of San Francisco’s Animal Care and Control Chihuahua rescue efforts.

Here’s the breakdown of costs:

  • From $129 in Main Cabin for SFO-SJD, SFO-CUN and LAX-CUN
  • From $39 on LAX-SFO, SFO-Las Vegas (LAS) and SFO-San Diego (SAN) flights (so you can get to Mexico)
  • From $109 for LAX-Washington Dulles (IAD) and SFO-Fort Lauderdale (FLL)

Tickets are on sale today on Virgin America’s Web site (www.virginamerica.com)

For taco lovers in Los Angeles, Virgin America’s in-flight teammates can be found in uniform at the Border Grill taco truck at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard. Those in San Francisco can find their Virgin America representatives at Los Compadres, at 100 Folsom Street.

STA takes $200 off of ANY FLIGHT until 11AM on Friday

by Grant Martin on

It took us a bit of time to suss out the details, but we’ve now verified it. STA Travel has is having an epic sale on airfares. Basically, they’re offering $200 off of any airplane ticket you can find, provided you book it through an STA agent over the phone or in person.

Here’s how it works: From 11AM on Thursday, July 1 to 11AM on Friday, July 2nd, STA has been offering the rebate on international fares by region. From 11AM to 5PM it was from the US to Europe. From 5 – 11PM it is (was) to South and Central America. From 11PM – 5AM it’s to Africa and the Middle East and from 5AM – 11AM Asia and the Pacific will be on sale.

All you need to do is find your ideal itinerary, take it to an agent (or call them@ 800.781.4040) and then ask them to book the ticket with the discount.

Dubious? We were too, so this afternoon we took a $323 fare from Chicago to Bogota, Colombia to the STA Travel near Gadling Labs in Evanston, IL and asked to book the flight. After ten minutes of typing the travel agent was NOT able to find the same fare that Kayak found — however, she found a similar, $392 fare that was bookable. Subtracting the $200 promo and adding a $30 booking fee, we were thus presented with a bill for $222.

For a ticket from Chicago to Colombia, that’s not bad.

The caveat? There appear to be only a certain number of rebates available for each block of time. Right now the Latin America fares are already sold out, and with more people in the know, Africa/Middle East and Asia fares may go quick. Our advice is to do your research early and pick out ideal flights. When the time comes, call the STA desk and ask for specific flights — if you get the right agent he or she will make magic happen.

Eyjafjallajokull fallout: What did Iceland’s volcano’s explosion cost travelers?

by Willy Volk on

Beginning April 14, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, melting glaciers and spewing a huge ash cloud, which disrupted air travel throughout the EU and impacted business as far away as Kenya. As a result, air travelers were stranded for days, many in airports and most with little hope for comfort. After about a week, air travel began to return to normal, though many travelers flailed about looking for who would help reimburse their costs during their forced stays.

To help understand the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, Gadling has teamed with Online Schools to develop an easy-to-understand infographic, which explains everything from how to pronounce the name of that silly volcano to an analysis of how much hotels tried to gouge stranded passengers. Keep reading for some amazing numbers — and for the only solution for clearing the next ash cloud from the skies.

EMBED THE IMAGE ABOVE ON YOUR SITE

[Source: Online Schools for Gadling.com]

Use AirNinja to search low-cost international carriers – Airplanes tip

by Gadling Staff on

Looking for a cheap flight in a far-away place? Most low-cost carriers (like Southwest in the US) don’t list or sell their fares through aggregator websites (like Expedia and Travelocity) — you need to book directly with the airline.

To find out what low-cost carriers fly between any two given cities, check out AirNinja. They let you enter in your starting airport (and a destination, if desired), and show what low-cost airlines have departures from that airport and where they go, complete with links out to the airline’s own site for booking. And it’s free!

All Nippon Airways to have women-only bathrooms on international routes

by Amy Chen on

Starting March 1, ANA will designate some lavatories on international routes as only for women.

One toilet in the aft section of each plane will be reserved just for women. The signs are expected to go up in March and be completed fleet-wide by the end of April.

Exceptions include A320/B727 aircraft, and depending on the passenger load, the women-only restriction may be lifted if there aren’t enough women on board. (ANA flies long-haul flights from North America to Asia, including Japan.)

There will be no male-only bathrooms, so women can use either. Other than the new signs, there are no differences between the restrooms, though the airline is considering having different amenities in the women-only restrooms, such as special hand soap.

The change comes as a result of customer demand, though spokesperson Justin Massey tells me via e-mail that “there weren’t specifics about seat-down-versus-up… It was determined in general that the females preferred not following a male into restrooms and that males, to some extent, mentioned not feeling totally comfortable with a female coming into the restroom after they’ve used it.”

Considering the line to the ladies’ room always seems longer no matter where you are, this change could help make a long flight slightly more tolerable since women can now access more on-board restrooms than men.