Virgin Atlantic

Places to go; things to see

Courtesy Memphis International Airport

New and improved Concourse B at MEM Airport

Memphis International Airport (MEM) is opening its modernized B concourse on Tuesday, February 15.  

Delta Air Lines will deliver the first arriving flight at MEM Concourse B at 6:18 pm on Tuesday. Departing flights kick off in the concourse on Wednesday, February 16.

The multi-year $245 million project features the modernization of the spine and east leg of MEM’s B Concourse as well as consolidation of all airline, retail, and food/beverage operations. Included in the redesign are wider corridors, moving walkways, larger boarding areas, higher ceilings, increased natural lighting, and seismic upgrades.

Travel Contests: You can’t win if you don’t play

Virgin Atlantic is hosting a Valentine’s Day “Tickets to Love” contest, offering the opportunity for single Americans a chance to apply to fly across the Atlantic to find romance in London.

Through February 13, 2022, interested participants can pitch their stories and explain why they deserve a trip to the U.K. to find long-term love.

Eight winners will be selected to fly from New York to London in Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class cabin on March 11, 2022.

Enter Virgin Atlantic’s “Tickets to Love” contest here.

NPS Photo Michael Cuff

 Recreation.gov is hosting the second annual “Share Your Story” adventure writing contest.

Visitors to America’s federal public lands are invited to submit stories detailing their experiences exploring and spending time in the great outdoors.

Experiences must have taken place between January 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, within the facilities of participating agencies: National Park Service; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; National Archives; and NOAA Marine Sanctuaries.

Submitted stories can be between 900 and 3,500 characters and include photos.

Categories include Traditions (Old and New), RV/Campbervans, Family Trips, and Activities and Adventures.

Deadline: April 30, 2022. Winners announced May 15, 2022.

Participants can enter up to two stories during the contest for a chance at winning one of 29 different prizes including merchandise from an outdoor retailer and America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands passes.

Good luck!

Heartwarming stories from airports & airlines

We’ve been reading some charming and heartwarming stories from airports and airlines this holiday week.

Sweet Virgin Atlantic seat-swap

First, there is a viral post on Facebook by a Virgin Atlantic flight attendant relating the story of a passenger named Jack swapping his business class seat on a flight from New York to London for the economy seat booked by 88-year-old Violet.

“Of the hundreds of flights I’ve operated, I’ve had the pleasure of looking after footballers, supermodels and some Hollywood movie stars but let me tell you about my two favourite passengers EVER!,” wrote Leah Amy, “Jack and Violet 💜 (I wish she was called Vera or Rose 🤣)”

She went on to explain that Jack’s entire family was booked in business class. But Jack decided to swap seats with Violet. He then “sat on the row of seats directly next to the economy toilets and never made a peep or asked for anything the rest of the flight. No fuss, no attention, literally did it out of the kindness of his own heart, no one asked him to.”

A great story, right?

Well, the story gets a bit better. In response to the story of Jack and Violet, Virgin Atlantic announced it will be offering complimentary upgrades to “the most seasoned person” on board all its flights through January 1, 2020.

Nice!

Birthday treat at Schiphol Airport

Here’s another heartwarming holiday-season travel story. This one from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) documenting a great birthday treat they were able to arrange for 94-year-old Granny Miep.

Canadian hospitality

And one more.

Community helps stranded passengers on Christmas Day. (courtesy Karen KayCee/Facebook)

According to the CBC, when 75 passengers got stranded in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on Dec. 25, the community came together in “Come from Away” style.

The town welcomed the passengerw, put together a Christmas dinner and made sure they got on their way.

The CBC notes that what happened in Deer Lake is reminiscent of what happened in 2001, when townspeople rallied to welcome thousands of passengers on planes diverted to Gander – which is also in Newfoundland and Labrador – due to the attacks on September 11.

That real-life story is the inspiration for the Tony Award-winning musical “Come From Away.”

In Deer Lake’s case, a plane full of WestJet passengers left Toronto for St. John’s late Christmas Eve but got diverted by bad weather.

Deer Lake isn’t a regular stop for WestJet flights, so there was little in the way support for the passengers once they were on the ground and sent over to the local Holiday Inn Express.

But this was Christmas Day. So local townspeople responded to a call-out on Facebook and rustled up a Christmas Dinner that included everything from sandwiches and cookies to turkey dinner and gravy and homemade rabbit stew.

All great stories, right?

Here’s to great travel and more heartwarming travel stories in 2020.

Snaps from Virgin Atlantic A350 cabin reveal

I was delighted to join Virgin Atlantic earlier this week for a fun A350-cabin interior ‘reveal’ party at the company’s crew training facilities (“The Base”) in Crawley, near London’s Gatwick Airport.

My story detailing posh new features that include upgraded Upper Class suites in the business class cabin and the transformation of the Upper Class bar area into a multi-purpose gathering area called “The Loft” is on SFGate.

But sharing some snaps of the mock-up that was on display during the evening here on Stuck at The Airport.

Upper Class suites on Virgin Atlantic’s A350s will now face the windows. That’s a change from the current layout that has them facing the aisles.
The popular bar area behind the Upper Class cabin will now be “The Loft” – with space for 8 people (3 standing, five seated), power ports and Bluetooth headset ports so groups can watch movies or video programs together.
Premium seats on the Virgin Atlantic A350 planes will have four-way headrests and this nice footrest feature. Photo Harriet Baskas
Fabric-covered economy seats have two USB ports and 6-way headrests. Photo Harriet Baskas

Virgin Atlantic’s first A350 – named Red Velvet – will start flying in August, 2019 between London Heathrow and New York JFK, followed by other services to JFK later in the year.

The carrier has 12 Airbus A350-1000s on order, and plans to have all of them flying by 2012 as a replacement for the airline’s 747s.

WOW Air shuttered and airlines, bus lines, travel companies try to help

Beleaguered WOW Air shut down on Thursday, posting a note on its website that all flights had been canceled.

For tickets holders stranded in various cities and airports, and those with tickets for future dates, WOW Air suggests contacting your travel agent or credit card issuer for help and offers this advice:

“Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances.”

As of Thursday evening, here’s what airlines, travel companies and even a bus company is offering WOW Air ticket holders in terms of “rescue” assistance:

Early in the day, the Hopper booking site announced that all customers who booked WOW Air flights through its site would get full refunds.

“Hopper will also be paying the full cost of rebooking for all its stranded passengers in transit.”

A variety of airlines are offering WOW Air tickets holders discounted rates on rebooked flights.

Icelandair has a posted a list of discounted Economy fares for stranded passengers en route to, from, or through Iceland. The fares are only available for passengers already on their journey, with a return WOW AIr ticket between now and April 11, 2019.

Other airlines, including Norwegian Air, Aer Lingus, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are also offering special “rescue” fares to help WOW Air ticket holders. Check with the airline to see what they can do for you.

Even the Megabus company is doing its part to help.

Are you holding tickets for a WOW Air flight? Let us know how your rebooking plans work out.

Virgin Atlantic’s ‘secret’ Clubhouse hotel room

I didn’t get to spend the night, but on Thursday morning I did get to peek into this pop-up hotel room tucked into the corner of the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow Airport.

Put together by Onefinestay, the hotel room has unique views of the airfield and, for those lucky enough to have been chosen this past week to spend a night, came complete with all the amenities of the attached Clubhouse lounge, including a personal butler, spa treatments, food service and a cocktail bar.

This is defintely the “Airport Amenity of the Week”