Virgin America Named Official Airline Of SF Pride Parade's 43rd Celebration

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, San Francisco's hometown airline, today announces its partnership with SF Pride, the country's largest LGBT event, for the sixth consecutive year.   As the "Official Domestic Airline of SF Pride," Virgin America will once again partner with the local LGBT Pride Celebration Committee for the world-famous, one-of-a-kind SF Pride Parade and Celebration. This year's theme is "Embrace, Encourage, Empower," and more than 200 Virgin America teammates, friends and family, joined by Willam, Detox and Vicky Vox – the first two of whom have already been featured on "RuPaul's Drag Race" – and local San Francisco DJ, Elliot Live, who will invite pride attendees to "Fly Empowered".

(Logo:   http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090123/VIRGINAMERICALOGO)

"As San Francisco's hometown airline, we couldn't be more proud to once again support SF Pride and celebrate the LGBT community," said Frances Fiorillo, SVP of People and In-flight Service.  "We've worked with SF Pride since our launch and this event is consistently one of the most popular with our teammates.  We're also thrilled to welcome aboard the thousands of parade goers from all over the nation who are kicking off their journeys in fabulous style onboard Virgin America flights with custom-designed mood-lit cabins and the most advanced personal entertainment platform in the skies."  

As the "Official Domestic Airline of SF Pride," Virgin America welcomes aboard guests from all over the country taking part in the festivities, including Pride Celebrity Grand Marshal Cheyenne Jackson.  SF Pride guests from across the nation are flying to San Francisco onboard San Francisco's hometown airline.  Virgin America offers hip, moodlit cabins, fleetwide WiFi and touch-screen personal entertainment systems (with 700 hours of entertainment content, on-demand food and beverage ordering, shopping and more).  This year's parade-goers can also update their Facebook status, take an Instagram photo, Tweet about their journey or even chat up fellow Pride attendees onboard via Virgin America's seat-to-seat chat system at 35,000 feet en route to San Francisco.

"SF Pride is the celebration of the best that is within us – the diversity and depth of the LGBT community," said Earl Plante, the CEO of San Francisco Pride "We are excited to welcome back Virgin America as our official domestic airline sponsor.  Virgin America's commitment to make flying good again goes hand in hand with their partnership with the world-class event that is San Francisco Pride. 

With outstanding service, beautifully designed cabins and unrivalled in-flight entertainment, Virgin America has swept the travel awards since its 2007 launch for the past six years.  The carrier has taken top honors as "Best U.S. Airline" in both Conde Nast Traveler's annual Readers' Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure's annual World's Best Awards every year since its 2007 launch.  In April, Virgin America was named the best airline in 2012 in the Airline Quality Rating, a joint research project conducted annually by faculty at Wichita State University and Purdue University, based on-time performance and baggage handling, involuntary denied boarding and the customer complaint rates reported by the U.S. Transportation Department.

The airline's Red^™ entertainment platform offers guests their own seatback touch-screen TVs, with 25 films, live television, Google Maps, video games, seat-to-seat chat, music videos, a 4,000-song library and an on-demand menu that allows flyers to order a cocktail or snack from their seatback at any time during a flight. The airline also recently unveiled its latest upgrade to the Red^™ platform: a new seat-to-seat delivery feature that allows travelers to send a cocktail, snack or meal to a fellow traveler onboard using a digital seat map.  In addition to a Main Cabin that offers custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch, Virgin America's First Class offers plush white leather seating with 55 inches of pitch, 165 degrees of recline and lumbar massagers. The carrier's Main Cabin Select option offers 38-inches of pitch, free food and cocktails, an all-access pass to media content, dedicated overhead bins and priority check-in/boarding.

Virgin America's Elevate® loyalty program members enjoy a no-black-out-date frequent flyer program that offers real rewards and Elevate® Gold and Elevate® Silver status levels with a host of perks including priority check-in, expedited security clearance and boarding, enhanced digital/social rewards and more.

Since its launch in 2007, Virgin America has created 2,600 new jobs and now flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, Washington D.C. (IAD and DCA), Las Vegas, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Cabos, Cancun, Chicago, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs (seasonal), Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose, Austin and Anchorage (seasonal).

For high resolution photos of Virgin America's interior cabin amenities and exterior see: www.virginamerica.com/vx/photos.

Broadcast quality video b-roll can also be downloaded here.

About Virgin America: Headquartered in California, Virgin America offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel. In five years flying, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 'Readers' Choice' Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 'World's Best' Awards. The airline's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport (SFO)'s sleek and sustainable new Terminal 2. The airline's new aircraft offer interactive in-flight entertainment systems and power outlets near every seat. Virgin America offers Gogo^™ WiFi on every flight and hosts the largest in-flight entertainment library in the North American skies via the touch-screen Red^™ platform. For more: www.virginamerica.com

SOURCE Virgin America