SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 24, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virgin America, the airline on a mission to make flying good again, today thanked the almost 10,000 frequent fliers participating in the 2008 Zagat Global Airline Survey who ranked the San Francisco-based airline best domestic mid-sized airline in premium class and second among mid-sized domestic airlines in economy class.
"Virgin America was launched in 2007 with the goal of creating a different kind of airline: one with low fares, topnotch guest service and innovative amenities -- and we're thrilled that guests continue to embrace our service," said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. "We're especially humbled and honored to be so well received by those who voted in the Zagat survey -- frequent fliers who are real, independent connoisseurs of air travel."
Launched in August 2007, the carrier has won a list of travel industry awards, including top honors last month as "Best Domestic Airline" in Conde Nast Traveler's 2008 Readers' Choice Awards (based on a sample of over 30,000 travelers) and in July, "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards. Recently, Virgin America was ranked as the "most on-time" airline among domestic carriers by FlightStats.com.
Now serving fresh menu items, snacks and shaken cocktails onboard for Fall, Virgin America offers guests amenities unrivalled in the U.S. skies and boasts the youngest fleet in the U.S. The aircraft feature power outlets near every seat and the most advanced in-flight entertainment in the U.S. Red(tm) allows guests to control their own experience, with a food ordering system, 30 films, seat-to-seat chat, the ability to create a play-list from 3,000 MP3s, videogames, and live TV -- all accessed via seatback touch-screen or remote control. This week the airline launched Gogo Inflight Internet service on its first aircraft and will be the first domestic carrier to offer the service fleetwide by the second quarter of 2009.
Virgin America's First Class cabin offers international-grade amenities, with priority check-in and boarding and plush white leather seats with 55 inches of pitch and lumbar massagers. The Main Cabin offers custom-designed leather seats with a deeper, more comfortable pitch. The carrier recently announced a new cabin option, Main Cabin Select, which offers 38-inches of seat pitch, complimentary food and cocktails, an all-access pass to Red's(tm) countless entertainment options, priority check-in and boarding and more.
Virgin America currently flies to seven cities -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas and San Diego. There are available daily flights from SFO to LAX, SFO to JFK, SFO to SAN, SFO to IAD, SFO to LAS, SFO to SEA, LAX to JFK, LAX to IAD, LAX to SEA and non-stop JFK to LAS.
EDITORS NOTE: Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.
About Virgin America: Launched in August 2007, Virgin America offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel. Virgin America's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport's ultra-modern International Terminal. The airline's new Airbus A320-family aircraft offer interactive inflight entertainment systems and power outlets for electronic gear. In 2008, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards. To learn more about Virgin America, visit: www.virginamerica.com.
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About FlightStats: FlightStats is an airline, airport, and travel information service provided by Conducive Technology Corp. On our Web site (www.flightstats.com) visitors can get flight status, view on-time performance ratings by flight or by airline, check for current airport delay and weather information, and much more. All services are free to site visitors and many services are available as widgets for installation on other web sites or personalized home pages such as iGoogle and Microsoft Live. FlightStats provides global flight status information and is the definitive source for historical airline performance data. Conducive Technology is also a leading supplier of air travel information services to travel agencies, logistics professionals, airlines, airports and industry analysts through software services and application programming interfaces (APIs).