Loopt has gone through quite a few incarnations, and this morning that tradition continued as the mobile social network announced it was entering the daily deals space with a service called U-Deals. In essence, U-Deals lets users request their own deals. After submitting an idea for a deal, users can then drum up interest by way of social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, etc. → Read More
Air travel promises to become cleaner, if industry actions ahead of the huge, annual Paris Airshow are any indication.
Virgin America— a company that’s been reporting on its own greenhouse gas emissions since 2009— ordered $1.4 billion worth of new, super fuel-efficient engines from CFM International the companies announced on Wednesday. The move should help keep energy costs down, and reduce the negative environmental impacts of air travel by Virgin America as the company triples the size of its fleets, as promised back in January.
According to a joint press statement from the companies, CFM’s LEAP Engine will power 30, brand new Airbus A320 aircraft slated for delivery to Virgin America in 2016, and CFM’s 56-5B engines will power 30 of Virgin America’s current-edition Airbus A320-line aircraft. → Read More
Everyone loves loyalty points. But it’s often a pain to get them because different companies all have their own programs that require you to remember numbers. Topguest’s goal is to unify that experience by letting you earn points simply by checking-in on social networks like Foursquare and Facebook. And now they’re adding a new layer to the mix: Instagram photos.
Yes, beginning today when the integration goes fully live, you’ll be able to earn reward points at venues around the world simply by taking a picture and sharing it on Instagram. This may mean hotel points, air miles, or other benefits at the over 10,000 places Topguest currently works with. All you have to do is link up Topguest to your Instagram account (via their new API) and make sure your picture is geotagged at the venue. → Read More
Google is going to make a lot of frequent flyers, and Virgin America, happy this holiday season. As a gift to people who fly on Virgin America’s WiFi-equipped planes, Google will be footing the bill for everybody on board between November 10, 2009, and January 15, 2010.
For Google, this is a smart marketing move because it generates tons of good will among everyone who flies Virgin America. But Google is really giving a gift to Virgin America in the form of yet one more incentive to fly its planes over competitors’. Will American Airlines and others with WiFi on board have to respond with their own freebie giveaways? I hope so. → Read More
In the world of business, social media, led by Twitter, is forcing companies to augment the offshoring of reactive customer service with the nearshoring of proactive customer engagement. The conversations that power social media are sparking a sense of urgency to identify influential voices and talk to customers in a place and time of their choosing (generally, in public and online).
For example, on Friday at during a panel at the CrunchUp on Real Time Business, Porter Gale, vice president of marketing for Virgin America, made it clear that Virgin America understands the promise, prospect, and value of listening and responding to the social stream. → Read More
Whether we realize it or not, there’s a race going on in the skies above us. With the advent of wireless Internet access creeping into what once our sanctuary of solitude at 37,000 feet has now become a domain for self-righteous dingbats to livestream their flights for all to see.
Leading the way is Virgin America who announced today that they are the first airline in all the land to offer Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service on every single flight. To mark the occasion an air-to-ground Skype video call will take place with thee Oprah Winfrey herself and will air on Thursday the 21st. VoIP calls aren’t allowed on any Virgin America flight, but, you know, you can’t say no to Oprah or she’ll eat you. → Read More
A few weeks back I hopped onto my first Virgin America flight with Aircell’s Gogo service on-board. It wasn’t the first time I’ve reviewed Gogo and if you recall I was on the first commercial Gogo flight with American Air. The plan was to interview James Weatherson, Virgin America’s inflight entertainment engineer, while I was up in the air, but there was a scheduling mix up and the interview never went down. So we opted to do it the old fashioned way. Below is my brief conversation with James about Red and where it’s headed. → Read More
Aircell has reduced the price of their in-flight Wi-Fi service Gogo to $7.95 for users who just want to connect their handheld devices. Let’s face it, when you’re stuck in coach on an American flight, you don’t want to pull out your laptop only to have it crushed by the passenger in front of you. Gogo is currently available on American Airlines, Delta and Virgin America for $12.95 on flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for flights less than three hours. → Read More
Just a quick update for the transcon flying tech folk. Virgin America updated their online booking system to show you which flights are wired for Wi-Fi so, you know what you’re getting yourself into before you board the plane. Also, starting April 5th, the following routes will all be wired for Wi-Fi: Boston to LA, Boston to San Francisco and Dulles to Los Angeles. → Read More
It’s not every day we get a chance to sit down with one of the world’s richest and most industrious men. Actually, Sir Richard is only the 236th richest person in the world according to Forbes. I thought he’d be higher. *shrug* Anyway, we had the esteemed pleasure of taking Sir Richard’s IM interview virginity last week as he was jetting back to his private island, Necker.
CBS’ The Early Show’s Dave Price was also onboard to broadcast weather updates from a Virgin American flight and kept pulling Sir Richard into one segment after another. It got to be really annoying after a while. → Read More
Doug Aamoth reporting from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Today in the B terminal I saw some good-looking New England Patriots cheerleaders, a good-looking Maria Menounos, and then everything went all haywire when two guys in bumblebee tutus showed up followed by Richard Branson dressed like a patriotic psychiatrist’s wet dream. → Read More
Virgin America, my favorite domestic airline, is launching service to and from Boston today with three daily routes from LA and two daily routes from San Francisco. This is important for those traveling between Boston and California because all flights to and from Boston are equipped with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service.
Update: We’ve got a list of all Wi-Fi-enabled VA flights after the jump. → Read More
I don’t know about you guys, but $109 for a flight from NYC to the west coast is dirt-cheap. Sure, airline flights are neither gadget-y nor gear-y, but VA has Wi-Fi-enabled flights and Doom on-board. Just book your transcon flight by February 17th and fly by April 1st. Virgin America flies from NYC’s JFK to Las Vegas, San Diego, Las Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
For those traveling between LAX and JFK, you’ll be happy to know that VA is offering flights between June 17th and July 22nd for only $105 each way. Score!
Our buds over at Jaunted just gave us the heads up that Virgin America will begin rolling out Aircell‘s Gogo service, which we reviewed back in August, on November 22. The “beta” flight will take off from SFO, VA’s HQ, to JFK. Virgin plans to roll out the in-flight broadband service on one plane per week with a full rollout scheduled by March 2009. Oh, and they won’t be filtering the service either. The RED system will eventually be wired in as well, but we won’t see that happen until later on in 2009. → Read More
Heh. Not really. But I am bummed out because I missed Virgin America’s first “Superfly Wednesdays” from NYC to LA because I’m sick. As most of you know already, VA’s in-flight entertainment system, RED, allows seat-to-seat messaging and this would have been the perfect opportunity for me to send a little message to Jaslene Gonzalez, a previous winner of America’s Next Top Model, and tell her how much I think she’s a biotch (she’s in the middle). But I’d tell Caridee English, also a previous winner of ANTM, how hot she is (the one on the left). I have no idea who Whitney Cunningham (on the right) is, but she was, apparently, a contestant. There are four more SW’s scheduled so I suggest you jump on a flight and check it out. Mix, mingle and network your little heart out in LA, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. → Read More
It’s that time of the year, again. School’s out, for some, and it’s time for a vacation with the family. The cost of airfare seems to be quite horrendous as of late so you might as well take advantage of what you can. Virgin America, my personal favorite, is having a short and sweet sale on airfare until May 23, but you’ll have to travel by June 25 to take advantage. They currently fly to Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, NYC’s JFK, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. You may not have a reason to fly right now, but it never hurts to look because you never know. → Read More
I’m sitting in the Virgin America gate at JFK waiting for my flight to Seattle and I come across this tidbit of news. I’m both stoked and bummed at the same time. I’m stoked because this is a pretty rad deal for Mariner’s fans and I grew up rooting for them, which explains my hatred for the Yankees, but I’m bummed because I forgot my DS at home. If you’re unfamiliar with the Nintendo Fan Network, it’s a network for DS owners at the ballpark that gives you player stats for the home and away teams, MLB updates, and SMS/chat service with other DSers in the stadium. You can also order food, watch live video, listen to radio coverage from KOMO and compete against others in mini-games and trivia. A new feature launching this weekend is Pitch Effect, which will let fans see the trajectory of each pitch, speed and placement. It was tested last year and fans had to pay $5, which is probably the cheapest thing you’ll find at the ballpark, but its free this season. Awesome. Someone in Seattle want to take me to a game and let me borrow your DS? → Read More
Once again, Virgin America is having a bonanza on airfare until the 25th so long as you fly by June 11th. So cash in now and fly on the dopest gadget-friendly airline in the US. Yours truly will be boarding a VA flight Wednesday morning for Seattle and I can’t wait. To refresh, VA flies into and out of Seattle, NYC, LA, SF, DC and SD. → Read More
