You're welcome, America

I've done a good job promoting Virgin America. We got some good photos with Kyla (the fit bird that Southwest wouldn't let fly), I had a good interview with another beautiful young lass, and I got into a water fight with Stephen Colbert that made for some good publicity.

So you know about Virgin America now, but how can I get you all to really want to fly on my airline? Easy... incredibly cheap ticket prices!

Go to virginamerica.com and click on "Priced to Fly." These are the kind of deals you'll be getting:

$39 one-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles
$39 one-way between San Francisco and Las Vegas
$119 one-way between Washington, D.C. and San Francisco
$39 one-way between San Francisco and San Diego
$109 one-way between Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles
$129 one-way between New York and San Francisco

I'm sorry if you don't live or need to go to one of those cities... we're still working on the rest of your country.

But for those of you that fly those routes... you're welcome.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

Kyla was wronged, Virgin America set it right

Kyla Ebbert is a wonderful young woman, who was banned by Southwest Airlines from flying because she of inappropriate dress. WHAT?!? Luckily she was finally allowed to fly, but it became a huge news story in the US. Do you think she was dressed inappropriately? Here's what she was wearing that day:



Well, I thought she was actually a beautiful young lady, who was a student and putting herself through school by working at Hooters. So when we opened our San Francisco to Las Vegas route on Virgin America, I invited her to take part.

And wow, did she look spectacular. Here are some photos:








So do you think she's fit enough to be a flight attendant for our airline? (See history here and here.) I certainly think so. She's currently thinking about it.

I mean, this is what she looks like in her off time with friends! (Kyla's on the left.)



Full story here and here.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

For my Freakonomics fans...

So for those of you that liked the book Freakonomics, I recently answered a few of their questions on where air travel is going to be going in the future. Here's my favourite quotes from me:

Where most people see mess, I see opportunity. Thirty years ago, when I was stranded at an airport, I chartered a plane, sold seats to other stranded passengers, and in effect started Virgin Atlantic Airways.

That's the way to really start a business!

Travelers who’ve had enough of commercial air travel actually have greater options in private aviation. [...] We’re doing our bit with Virgin Charter, an online marketplace for sellers to put up their flights and for buyers to find and book flights as easily, as if on Expedia. So, the way I see it, it’s a brilliant time to be in the air travel business.

Let's be honest... if you're not flying on Virgin America, it's just better to take a chartered jet. And now you can arrange that through Virgin!

And a little promotion of Virgin America, too:

Virgin America passengers are entertained with 25 movie options, TV, games, in-flight chatting, and music. They can order food whenever they want it. They have power to charge up computers and, by next year, will have WiFi access at their seats. And why not have a bit of fun with mood lighting and a soundtrack in the bathrooms?

Yes, modern airlines are great, but only if you're flying Virgin. (Did I mention our flight attendants?? That's right, I did.)

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

More fans, part two...

Ahh.... There are some days I really love being me.



Hat tip

That f**king HURT

I've always done stupid stunts for publicity; they're what I'm known for now so I can't stop doing them.

But the last one I did really f**king HURT!

I was promoting Virgin America now that we're flying to Vegas, so my advisors planned a stunt where I essentially jumped from the top of the Palms hotel/resort/casino. I was on a rope, but it was damn near free-fall until the end.

The problem was that the free-fall was right next to the wall, and so when I ended up brushing against the wall, it ripped my trousers and hand apart. I did at least manage to release the free Virgin America tickets I had in my hand, but I freaked out a little at the speed and I don't think anyone caught them.

All I have to say is that at least it was my arse that brushed up against the building. If it had been my face or bollocks there could have been major repercussions.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be doing any free-fall jumps next to buildings, only with parachutes. I have to go beat the s**t out of the guy who suggested this, now...

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

Here's the video from the news channel in Vegas:


Billionaire Branson Hurt In Stunt - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Yes, I do weddings

You've probably all seen me in drag... I think that got me more comments than any other publicity stunt I've ever done. That was for Virgin Brides, which unfortunately didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. (As I mentioned in my TED talk, we just couldn't get customers.)

But I do officiate weddings, like one I did on the inaugural Virgin America flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas. It was great fun, and I really enjoyed so many lovely ladies on board the flight. I also did an interview, or two, but at least the interviews were with people that had already been to Vegas. Not like this girl...

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

My TED talk

So I went to the TED conference earlier this year, and they finally got around to posting the video.

I'm not a huge fan of giving a presentation, so that's why Chris went with the interview format. (It also gave me a bit more time with the audience, 30 minutes edited; when most presentations are less than 20 minutes.)

I'll let you judge for yourself what you think, but I think it went pretty well.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

Why I love doing (some) interviews

I mentioned before the benefits of being the boss: getting interviewed by fit birds. (Some of them are even fit enough to work for my airlines! Just check out what they do on holiday.)

Well, I found another video from one of my inaugural Virgin America flights. Strangely enough, she was from Los Angeles and had never been to New York City! I can understand how some Americans don't travel much, but this was a fit bird who is a television presenter. How did this happen?

I obviously made some quips about her Virgin trip to New York, and explained that we'd take care of her because we were so experienced. (Little did she know how experienced!)

Please note that I paid careful attention to make eye contact instead of chest contact with her... I'm pretty good about only doing that when the camera's off.



Warm regards,
Sir Dick

Fit Flight Attendants, part 2

One of the more popular posts here was when I wrote about our fit flight attendants. I can understand why; travelling is far more enjoyable when you've got a professional that not only does their job well but looks good doing it!

All of my airlines (Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Blue, Virgin Nigeria, Virgin Express) have strict unwritten policies to hire the most fit flight attendants (male and female) that we can.

One thing I can't guarantee you is that you'll enjoy the same pleasures of flight that I enjoyed when I was younger, but I can't guarantee you that it won't happen!

Still not convinced? Well, this is a photo of one of my flight attendants on her beach holiday. Enjoy.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick

The story of the four Steves (Fossett, Jobs, Ballmer, and Colbert)

I've been dealing with a lot of "Steve"s in my life this past couple of weeks, and wanted to give you all a re-cap.

Steve Fossett - Stevie - He's a hell of an adventurer, and has been an inspiration for me. (Which, by the way, says a lot about his reputation.) Most recently he flew around the globe without refueling, alone in his plane (the Virgin Global Flyer). But as I stated in my earlier post, I've said my last about the search for Stevie.

Stephen Colbert - Codfish - Our interview was finally aired, and the truth is out. He was a slimy operator, but I got my revenge. Did you see how disrespectful he was?? What he thought was promotion of Virgin America was just boasting of the fact we named a plane after him. NOTHING of the amazing airline and all the cool stuff you can find on our planes! I'm a business warrior, and I used the best weapons I had at hand: a cold glass of water and public shame. (Plus, a S**T-ton of publicity around it, my personal favourite.)

Steve Jobs - So Jobs got annoyed last year when during one of my brainstorms I rang him up to chat about an iPod Class on our Virgin America airplanes. Of course, I had forgotten he was a raging a**hole who only cares about design and nothing about his customers. (F**king over the early iPhone adopters, anyone?)

So I got the phone with him, and immediately called my Virgin America design team. They had been planning on basing the in-flight computer system around Mac OS X. No more, and all because of that bloody idiot. The engineers said I couldn't use anything Windows because it could crash. And I said that Virgin planes don't crash, so we're not using Windows! Then they showed me this computer that had a penguin, and there was a big hit film about penguins recently, so I told them to go with that. And now I find out we're geek cool.

Once again, my business intuition is correct, and I'm staying away from raging a**holes like Steve Jobs.

Steve Ballmer - So I never told Steve Ballmer about using the penguin computers on Virgin America instead of his plane-crashing software. That guy can gets as dangerous as a drunken Scot, especially when he starts throwing all his weight around. Would you want to get into it with someone weighing 22 stone?? I didn't think so.

That said, he's a nice enough guy if he's been taking his medication. We occasionally exchange e-mails, and he said he'll take a flight with me on Virgin America or Virgin Atlantic sometime. Let's just say there's an obvious reason why. Not that he'll be able to do what I did at 19, especially at 22 stone.

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So those are the Steve's that I've been dealing with recently. Now it's back to the hammock to do some more strategic thinking and napping. I've got three new companies to start next week.

Warm regards,
Sir Dick