It’s not uncommon for an airline to partner with hotel chains to earn and/or use rewards points, but now some carriers are looking at the growing sharing economy and seeing potential for rewards partnerships. [More]
virgin atlantic
New York-Bound Virgin Atlantic Flight Returns To London After “Laser Incident”
By 2.15.16
A Virgin Atlantic flight headed to New York returned to a London airport Sunday evening after one of the plane’s pilots reported feeling unwell following a “laser beam incident.” [More]
Don’t Get Stuck Paying For A Flight You Can’t Take; Know Your Airline’s 24-Hour Cancellation Policy
By 2.4.16
You can spend months, and thousands of dollars, putting together a trip abroad, but no matter how much effort you take to avoid travel trouble, unforeseen circumstances can force you to change your plans. Thankfully, most airlines flying to and from the U.S. have a policy that lets passengers cancel tickets within 24 hours of booking. Note that we said “most airlines” — not all. [More]
Flight’s Inaugural Journey Delayed After Firefighters Accidentally Spray Plane With Foam
By 3.31.15
Picture this: You’re all hyped up and ready to fly across the ocean as part of an airline’s inaugural journey to a destination across the ocean, everyone is cheering, the excitement is building and then suddenly foam is spraying everywhere. Celebration over, and you’re forced to wait a night to get off the ground. Delays are annoying, yes, but rarely are they caused by celebrating firefighters pressing the wrong button. [More]
JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic Now Stream College Course Lectures 30,000 Feet In The Air
By 2.6.15
Each day there a thousands of opportunities for you to expand your mind. And that includes while you’re essentially held captive in a seat with little leg room, flying 30,000 feet in the air. No, we’re not talking about the usual flight safety and etiquette lessons shoved down our throats while traveling, we’re talking about JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic’s newly launched initiative to stream college course lectures during flights. [More]
No, Virgin Atlantic Is Not Going To Give You A Free Plane Ticket
By 10.9.14
When you’re about to follow a company on your social media site of choice or share an image or status in the hopes of receiving free stuff, stop. Apply critical thinking. Is it likely that an airline will give free flight passes to twenty thousand of its Instagram followers? Twenty, maybe, but not twenty thousand. [More]
Richard Branson Wants To Introduce “Kids’ Class” Cabins To Virgin Flights
By 7.24.14
Being trapped on a long flight near a particularly loud or fussy child has caused most frequent travelers to pine for adults-only planes. And at least one airline has created “quiet zones” that are free of young passengers. But billionaire guy who owns lots of cool stuff Richard Branson says his goal is to just lump all the kids together into a separate section of the plane. [More]
Would You Rather Have Live Stand-Up Comedy On A Flight Or The Sweet Sound Of Silence?
By 8.9.13
That crying baby two rows up not entertaining enough for you? Perhaps you forgot to charge your Kindle or left the latest Dan Brown book on the bus, and you need something to keep you entertained during your flight. Sir Richard Branson is either coming to your rescue or will be annoying a lot of fliers. [More]
New Couple Delta And Virgin Atlantic Will Begin Passenger-Sharing In July
By 6.24.13
Friends with benefits twosome Delta and Virgin Atlantic have been linked since December of last year, and now it seems the duo is ready to make its debut as an official couple: The airlines will start passenger-sharing in July, which is akin to holding hands in public instead of just coming over late at night to “hang out.” [More]
Delta Hops Into Bed With Virgin Atlantic For $360M Joint Venture
By 12.11.12
Although both sides were playing coy as recently as a week ago, those with their eyes on the sky business saw this Delta Air Lines/Virgin Atlantic hook-up coming. And as of this morning, they’ve done it — those crazy kids have done it: Delta purchased a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for a cool $360 million, creating a new joint venture between the two companies. [More]
Delta Reportedly Has Its Eye On A Nice Little Slice Of Virgin Atlantic
By 12.3.12
Singapore Airlines is in the mood to shed a little weight in the form of its 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, and it seems Delta Air Lines is among the suitors lining up to try to talk the company into handing that nice little slice over. Whoever gets this hunk of the company will gain access to some pretty sweet slots at London’s Heathrow airport. [More]
Virgin Atlantic To Allow Some In-Air Mobile Phone Calls
By 5.16.12
If you are fan of the relatively chatter-free ambiance of the airplane cabin, this will probably not come as good news. On the other hand, if you’re someone who finds the whole “no cell phone calls from the plane” thing tiresome, this may brighten your day a bit. [More]
A Dead Cow & The 5 Other Most Bizarre Things Passengers Have Tried To Check Onto A Virgin Atlantic Flight
By 4.13.11
The folks over that the Virgin Atlantic blog recently sent out a request to the staffers working the check-in desks at the airline’s various global destinations. They wanted to know about the strangest items that passengers actually tried to have stowed in the cargo hold, and they compiled a list of bizarre baggage that rivals this one. [More]
21 Airlines Fined $1.7 Billion In Price-Fixing Scheme
By 3.11.11
The Justice Department has fined 21 airlines in a massive global price-fixing scheme. British Airways, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic were among the airlines indicted. Even four executives have gone to jail. What did they do? The JD charges that the airlines colluded to artificially inflate fuel surcharges for passengers industry-wide, as well as cargo surcharges. The case probably wouldn’t have been broken if Luthansa and Virgin Atlantic hadn’t come forward and confessed under the Justice Department’s amnesty program that provides leniency for finking. In an interesting turn, the scheme was so codified that various airlines had entire committees and sub-committees devoted to managing it. [More]
Southwest, JetBlue Fly High In Zagat Airline Survey
By 11.30.10
For the 20th year in a row, the people at Zagat have done a survey of passengers on the major domestic and international airlines. And by the looks of it, travelers are much more pleased with the likes of Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin than they are the old-timers like United, Delta and American. [More]
Virgin Atlantic Thinks Customer Is Making Up Pakistan Flood Disaster
By 8.3.10
You can’t expect every person to be up to date on the latest news cycle, especially not on a global scale. But there’s a Virgin Atlantic Airlines CSR who not only somehow missed that Pakistan just suffered its worst flooding in 80 years, but who kept insisting the Elisa, a customer trying to make her way back home to NYC, prove that the flooding happened. Elisa says the CSR “insisted that there were no indications in her notes that a flood had happened in Pakistan,” and that Elisa would have to prove the news or pay $933 for a “service change fee” to get back home. [More]
Virgin Atlantic Keeps Passengers On Hot Plane For 4 Hours
By 6.23.10
Passengers were kept aboard a hot plane without food, water or air conditioning Tuesday night after their flight from London to Newark was diverted to an airport in Connecticut. The airplane landed near Hartford at 8:20pm, but the passengers were not bused to Newark until 1am. According to the AP, at least three passengers fainted and were treated by paramedics. [More]
Virgin Atlantic Refunds $220 Hidden Fee A Year Later
By 1.13.10
Priya complained to us back in November that Virgin Atlantic stuck her with a massive hidden fee for a flight to India in late 2008. [More]
