Onboard Virgin America’s Freefest flight

by Grant Martin on

It’s a lovely sunny day up at 32,000 feet on Virgin America flight 108 between Los Angeles and Washington DC, the special chartered flight ferryiing a squadron of volunteers, media and Virgin Folk out to this year’s FreeFest.

In collaboration with Virgin Mobile this year, Virgin America donated the use of an entire Airbus A320 to bring forty lucky volunteers and their guests out to FreeFest, on an all expense paid tour of the festival.

Volunteers were able to register their charitable work with Virgin Mobile over the course of the summer, after which each was entered into a raffle to make the journey. The lucky winners are being given a free flight, accomodation and VIP access to this year’s FreeFest.

As the momentum on Flight 108 picks up you can feel the electricity starting to build among the passengers. Playstation has set up a “gaming lounge” in first class where they’re hosting a rock band competition, Kyocera and Virgin Mobile are wandering around the aircraft giving away gadgets and the martinis are flowing freely. It’s going to be a wild ride this weekend — we’ll keep you updated.

And the award for best domestic airline food in the world goes to… Virgin America!

by Scott Carmichael on

Travel + Leisure’s September 2009 issue is completely dedicated to food and travel. In that edition, the results of an in-flight food survey will be revealed, crowning the food on Virgin America as the best domestic airline food in the world.

This is a pretty impressive prize to win, especially for such a young airline. Then again, when you are up against some of the legacy carriers in the US, it isn’t that hard to serve an impressive dish – the competition isn’t exactly stiff. Anyone who has been served a “breakfast sandwich” on one of the big 5 will know what I mean.

Food on Virgin America won not only because of the quality and assortment, but also because of the ease of ordering. Unlike some airlines, where you either need to wait for a flight attendant to push their cart down the aisle, Virgin America allows passengers to order what they want, when they want, through their Red in-flight entertainment system.

After the jump, a list of the food for sale on Virgin America. These menu options cost between $7 and $10 in the Main Cabin, and are complimentary in Main Cabin Select. One word of warning though – don’t read the menu if you are feeling hungry, cause it is a very appetizing list!

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Fruit and Cheese: Hand-cut imported brie, pepper Monterey Jack and aged cheddar paired with clusters of sweet red seedless grapes, sun-dried cranberries, pecans and crisp multigrain crackers.

Hummus and Pita Chips: A healthy selection of Mediterranean hummus and baba ganoush served with crisp fresh carrot batons, broccoli and cauliflower florets, sweet red bell pepper, cucumbers, red radish, sugar snap peas and a stuffed grape leaf, served with Stacy’s Pita Chips.

Wild Berry Parfait: A light yogurt parfait layered with vanilla yogurt, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, served with a crunchy chocolate granola.

Southwestern Chicken hand Roll: Zesty roasted red pepper tortilla rolled around strips of grilled chicken, green leaf lettuce, chipotle cream cheese spread, fire roasted corn and black beans, and a colorful trio of red, yellow and green bell peppers. Served with a side salad of orzo pasta with Southwestern vegetables and red pepper pesto and a Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

Black and Blue Steak Sandwich: Basil and cheese focaccia loaded with blackened flat iron steak, gorgonzola cheese spread, balsamic glazed onions, arugula, sliced Roma tomatoes and fresh red and yellow roasted tomatoes. Served with a Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

Turkey Florentine Hand Roll: Spinach tortilla wrapped around hand shaved turkey breast, herb cream cheese spread, feta cheese, fresh baby spinach, romaine leaf lettuce, sliced artichoke bottoms, yellow bell pepper strips, Roma tomato, and Belgian endive. Served with a side salad of gemelli pasta with Italian vegetables, sun dried tomatoes and creamy basil pesto, with a Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

Muffaletta Sandwich: Hearty Focaccia bread stuffed with shaved honey ham, Genoa salami, shaved turkey, Swiss and provolone cheese, spicy olive salad, green leaf lettuce, and sliced tomatoes, paired with Italian dressing on the side, and a Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

Thai Vegetable Salad: Refreshing Asian-style salad of romaine lettuce, Napa cabbage, julienne carrots, curly daikon radish, sliced cucumber, green onion, julienne tomato, red and yellow bell pepper strips, cilantro, mint, and chopped cashews. Served with sesame ginger vinaigrette dressing on the side and a Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

Virgin America announces service to Fort Lauderdale!

by Grant Martin on

Florida, your time has come. This morning, Travel & Leisure’s favorite domestic carrier announced that it was commencing service to Ft. Lauderdale, FL later this year. Beginning November 18, the beach city will offer two flights daily to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, with connections onward to Seattle, Orange County, San Diego and Vegas.

Logistically, expansion into Florida marks the first foray out of the “Northeast to West Coast” formula that has prevailed for so long — but it suits Virgin America‘s style well. Ft Lauderdale is one of the trendiest, most active cities in the south, a perfect compliment to VA’s model.

Further competition in the saturated south Florida market will also be good for travelers. As Virgin tries to woo away passengers from the legacy carriers in the area, prices will surely drop and promotion will be heavy in the area.

Tickets are already available on virginamerica.com starting at $99 one way. All aircraft are fitted with seatback entertainment, wifi and the legendary mood-lighting. Let the competition begin!

4320 minutes in LA: V Australia challenges Aussies to weekend in Los Angeles

by Grant Martin on

Now that the Sydney – Los Angeles route is well populated with flights and good prices, Aussies and Americans alike can mull the concept of long weekends overseas. Much like New Yorkers jaunt to Paris or London for a weekend of shopping and hedonism, jetsetters can now cross the pacific for an action packed weekend between surf towns.

As part of the launch initiative, V Australia is kicking off a contest called 4320:LA , where one lucky trio will be given round the world tickets and three whole days (4320 minutes) to party like crazy, rock Los Angeles, and prove that a long weekend in the States can be done.

The catch? All entries have to be in the form of a tweet, that is, less than 140 characters, and you have to tweet the entire time that you’re there. That means that you’d better make the trip interesting — no tweets like “Watching TCM in my hotel room.” You also have to be Australian to enter.

Check out 4320:LA for more details on the promo and to enter.

Virgin America & Google host scavenger hunt at 30,000 feet

by Mike Barish on

Some people are scared of flying. Others tolerate it. And people like me find it excruciatingly boring and go to sleep. But what if you could spend your time at cruising altitude competing against other travelers and people on the ground all over the United States in an online scavenger hunt? Well that’s exactly what Virgin America is doing tomorrow. In order to make flying less boring (and to highlight their fleet-wide in-flight wi-fi), Virgin America has partnered with Google to create The Day in the Cloud.

The Day in the Cloud is an online trivia challenge that will take place on Virgin America flights, but is also open to anyone not flying that day who registers for the game on the official website. Top scorers in the challenge will receive a “Year in the Cloud,” which comes with one year of free flights on Virgin America with complimentary wi-fi, a netbook and one terabyte of Google Account storage.

Two Virgin America flights have been selected to compete against each other on tomorrow, with the winning flight receiving a special prize package. Gadling will be on one of those flights competing with the other passengers, so be sure to follow us on Twitter (@Gadling), where I’ll do my best keep you posted on the action at 30,000 feet.

There are practice questions on the website, and if they’re any indication, this scavenger hunt isn’t going to be easy. It may be just the thing that keeps me awake past the drink service for once.