Virgin America Ranks Number 1 For Fifth Year | Aviation news portal

Airline Once Again Takes Top Honors as ?Best Domestic Airline? in Survey of T+L Readers
Virgin America Launches ?High Five? Nationwide 8?Hour Fare Sale to Thank Flyers for the Five Year Sweep

San Francisco?? July 6, 2012 ? Virgin America, the California?based airline that is reinventing travel, today took the top honors for the fifth consecutive year as ?Best Domestic Airline? in the prestigious?Travel + Leisure?World?s Best Awards readers? survey. The annual?Travel + Leisure?World?s Best Awards highlight the results of a survey that captures the opinions of?Travel + Leisure?readers on their favorite travel experiences.* In this 17th annual readers? survey, airlines were rated byTravel + Leisure?readers in four categories, including: cabin comfort, in?flight service, customer service and value. Virgin America was ranked as the top domestic airline for the fifth consecutive year. Select survey results, including Virgin America?s win, were profiled on NBC?s TODAY Show this morning and are now featured on?www.TravelandLeisure.com/worldsbest.

To thank its loyal flyers and celebrate its five year winning streak, Virgin America today launches an eight?hour ?High Five? fare sale for travel between August 22, 2012 and October 17, 2012. Main Cabin fares start as low as $55** from San Francisco to San Diego and San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from $155** from Boston to Los Angeles, New York to Las Vegas and San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale (restrictions apply). Tickets must be purchased today (July 6) between 9:00am PT and 4:59pm PT. Tickets are on sale today and can only be purchased on Virgin America?s website (www.virginamerica.com) and at 1.877.FLY.VIRGIN (1.877.359.8474).***

?We are honored to have won top marks from?Travel + Leisure?readers for the fifth year in a row,? said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. ?There are many awards that rank airlines that are paid or that include only the largest airlines, so it is a real distinction to win the top quality ranking in an independent survey of thousands of some of the most discerning travelers out there. As we mark our fifth year anniversary this summer, this award is a testament to our unique product and the continued dedication of our teammates ? who work so hard to elevate every guest experience.?

The?Travel + Leisure?2012 World?s Best Awards results, including the Top Hotels Overall and Top 10 Cities Overall, are featured on?www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest?now and in?Travel + Leisure?s?August issue, available on newsstands July 20. The winners in each category will be honored July 19 at the Conrad New York Hotel in New York City. The award ceremony will be hosted by?Travel + Leisure?s?Editor?in?Chief Nancy Novogrod and Vice President and Publisher Jean?Paul Kyrillos.

To further celebrate its ranking among travel aficionados, today the airline asks flyers to contribute their own ?High Five? photos by creating a ?Virgin America High Five? pin board on Pinterest made up of five pins that reflect their top five travel highlights on Virgin America (or at a Virgin America destination) over the past five years and submitting it by 11:59pm PT on July 12. The airline will tweet, re?pin and share some of the top contenders over the next week, and will announce a winner (as determined by a panel of judges) at the end of the contest. The winner will score five free Main Cabin roundtrip flights on Virgin America.**** For more, guests can visit?http://vgn.am/highfive?or search the #HighFive hashtag on Twitter.

With topnotch guest service, beautiful design and a host of inventive amenities, Virgin America has captured a list of industry best?in?class awards since launching service in 2007. With one of the youngest fleets in the U.S., Virgin America offers guests sleek, tech?forward aircraft cabins with custom?designed seating, fleetwide in?flight WiFi, a cabin ?moodlighting? system which transitions across 12 shades based on outside light, power outlets near every seat and the most advanced in?flight entertainment system in the skies. The Red? in?flight entertainment platform offers every traveler a seatback touch?screen with 25 on?demand films, live and premium TV, interactive Google Maps, music videos, videogames, seat?to?seat chat, a 3000 MP3 library and an on?demand menu ? so guests can order a cocktail or meal from their seatback any time during a flight. Virgin America offers one of the largest selections of fresh menu items, with a focus on lighter, more health?focused options in keeping with the airline?s California roots. The menu?was also named best in the U.S. in 2009 by Travel & Leisure.

?High Five? fares include the following, restrictions apply:

		August 22 to October 17, 2012
		21 Day AP
		Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat
Boston	Los Angeles	$155**
Boston	San Francisco	$155**
New York	Los Angeles	$145**
New York	Las Vegas	$155**
New York	San Francisco	$175**
Chicago	Los Angeles	$135**
Chicago	San Francisco	$145**
Dulles	Los Angeles	$175**
Dulles	San Francisco	$175**
Ft. Lauderdale	Los Angeles	$165**
Ft. Lauderdale	San Francisco	$155**
Orlando	Los Angeles	$175**
Orlando	San Francisco	$175**
Philadelphia	Los Angeles	$165**
Philadelphia	San Francisco	$175**
Dallas/Ft. Worth	Los Angeles	$125**
Dallas/Ft. Worth	San Francisco	$125**
San Francisco	Los Angeles	$55**
San Francisco	Las Vegas	$65**
San Francisco	San Diego	$55**
Seattle	Los Angeles	$95**
Seattle	San Francisco	$95**
Portland	Los Angeles	$95**
Portland	San Francisco	$95**

As one of the few growing U.S. airlines, Virgin America has expanded to 18 destinations, a fleet of 52 new aircraft and 2,600 teammates since its launch nearly five years ago. Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. (IAD), Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas?Fort Worth, Los Cabos, Cancun, Chicago, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, Portland and Washington D.C.?s Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) (as of August 14, 2012).

Source ? Virgin America

Source: http://aviationnewsportal.com/virgin-america-ranks-number-1-for-fifth-year/

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Obama Hammers Romney For Individual Mandate Reversal

The Obama campaign sent out a portion of the president's interview with Cincinnati?s NBC affiliate, in which he hammers Mitt Romney for his meandering response to the question of whether the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act is a penalty or a tax.

?On the health care bill, Mr. Romney was one of the biggest promoters of the individual mandate," said Obama, according to the excerpt. "In Massachusetts, his whole idea was that we shouldn't have people who can afford to get health insurance to not buy it and then force you or me, or John Q. Public, to have to pay for him when he gets sick. That's irresponsible. That's exactly what's included as part of my health care plan."

?And the fact that a whole bunch of Republicans in Washington suddenly said, this is a tax -- for six years he said it wasn't, and now he has suddenly reversed himself. So the question becomes, are you doing that because of politics? Are you abandoning a principle that you fought for, for six years simply because you're getting pressure for two days from Rush Limbaugh or some critics in Washington?"

This is a touch unfair, if only because Romney's reversal hasn't been on the substance of the mandate (though one can sincerely argue that he wanted it to be a national model) but rather the way it's defined. At one point in time, Romney clearly thought of the mandate as a "tax penalty." The Massachusetts official government website labeled it as such. He is now clinging to vague passages in the Supreme Court's decision to make the case that it's a tax federally but a penalty on the state level.

That's a reversal with respect to semantics. If anything, Romney's made it tough on himself by not going further and reversing his position on matters of policy.

?One of the things that you learn as President is that what you say matters and your principles matter," Obama said. "And sometimes, you've got to fight for things that you believe in and you can't just switch on a dime.?

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/obama-individual-mandate-romney_n_1653474.html

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20 student leaders arrested in Myanmar: activist

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/20-student-leaders-arrests-myanmar-activist-184541851.html

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Stupid Insurance Companies ? The Confluence

I?m wasting time today trying to find a more affordable health insurance policy. ?The one I have is outrageous and it all has to do with where I live. ?If I move one state over, my health insurance costs drop to about 1/4 of what I pay now. ?The policy I?m looking at has a higher deductible and co-insurance but in many respects, it?s identical to the one I had with Wyeth before I left. ?It wasn?t until I went to a European company that I discovered what I was missing. ?But along with that coverage comes a walloping, gigantic price tag every month and that?s the group rate.

I can?t believe that NJ has sicker people than in PA but there ya? go. ?Someone is taking advantage of a river.

But wait! ?There?s more. ?Reader givens sent me a link to this incident involving a lifeguard in Florida. ?The lifeguard was asked to rescue a drowning man. ?So the 21 year old lifeguard grabs his floaty thingy and runs off down the beach, Baywatch style. ?By the time he gets there, some other people had dragged the guy out of the water and the lifeguard stayed with the semi-conscious man until paramedics arrived. ?Great, you say. ?Happy ending, no one drowned.

Not so for the lifeguard. ?Here?s his account:

After the rescue, Lopez said his boss asked him to fill out an incident report and then fired him for leaving his assigned area.

?They didn?t tell me in a bad way. It was more like they were sorry, but rules are rules,? Lopez said. ?I couldn?t believe what was happening.?

According to the private company that now manages the beach for the town, the rescue took place on an unprotected strip of beach not covered by the contract. ?The swimmers in that area are advised to swim at their own risk. ?The contractor says the liefguard left his section unprotected while he went frolicking in the surf. ?The other lifeguards say this isn?t true and that they were aware of the situation and covered the beach. ?Two additional lifeguards have quit in protest.

It?s likely that this dismissal was prompted by the rules set down for insurance coverage for the beach. ?I don?t know if this is the primary cause but I?m betting that it is.

Now, what could the contractor have done differently? ?I dunno but firing the kid seems a bit extreme. ?After all, a lifeguard is trained to save lives and to not attempt a rescue might have gotten him in trouble with Good Samaritan laws, though, this *is* Florida we?re talking about so maybe they have never heard of Good Samaritan laws. ?The drowning man should consider himself lucky that no one shot him for being on the wrong side of the beach.

But there?s more to the story. ?It turns out that the contractor gets paid $334,000 a year for guarding this part of the beach. ?But it only pays its lifeguards $8.50/hour. ?Really?? ?You go through all of the physical and first aid training and you get as much as a hamburger flipper? ?There?s something not right about this.

So, I did some math. ?If there are 4 lifeguards on the beach making $8.50/hour for 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, that comes out to $70,720/year for all 4 lifeguards. ?Let?s say the supervisor makes $16.00/hour. ?That brings the cost to the contractor to about $104,000. ?Add on an additional 10% for all of those employer related tax thingies (you know at this level of pay that no one is getting health insurance) and you come out to: $114,000. ?Just to be on the safe side, let?s say that health insurance is included for some cheapo EPO with a $1500 deductible and 30% coinsurance for an additional $250/month per employee. ?That comes out to an additional $15000 for a grand total of about $129,000.

What is the contractor doing with the other $205,000? ?Maintenance on the beach towers and floaty things and first aid kits can?t be that expensive. ?So, where is all the money going? ?Is the contractor pocketing it or paying liability insurance?

And if they are pocketing a good chunk of the remainder, was privatizing the service really saving the town that much money?? And if taxpayers are so adamant about saving money, shouldn?t there be a cap on the amount of profit a contractor can make? ?I?m just taking this thinking to its logical extremes.

Just curious. ?How much do you want to bet that ?privatizing? involves a lot of favoritism, kickbacks and corruption?

Filed under: General Tagged: | contractors, Health Insurance, insurance companies, lifeguard, privatizing

Source: http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/stupid-insurance-companies/

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Microsoft engineer exposes international Android spam botnet

An anti-spam engineer working for Microsoft has exposed on his MSDN Cyber Security Blog an international botnet controlling Android devices that is being used to send spam on an industrial scale. Terry Zink found that all of the spam originated from Yahoo's mail servers, taking advantage of compromised Yahoo accounts.

Interestingly, during further investigations he found that the footer of every spam message contained "Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android," and due to Yahoo's practice of stamping the IPs used when connecting to the service he was able to trace them.

"Luckily, Yahoo stamps the IP address in the headers of where the device connected to its service.? I looked up where the IPs are geo-located: Chile, Indonesia, Lebanon, Oman, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela," he wrote in his blog post.

Zink believes this latest security issue is the result of a new piece of malware that targets Yahoo Mail accounts on Android devices, which once compromised are used to send spam messages.

"I am betting that the users of those phones downloaded some malicious Android app in order to avoid paying for a legitimate version and they got more than they bargained for," wrote Zink. "Either that or they acquired a rogue Yahoo Mail app."

Reports of malware have increased for Google's Android mobile OS along with its rise in popularity. There have been several separate reports this year alone, including the first ever-reported Android browser-based malware?in May?known as "NotCompatible", which propagated via Android's own built in browser. Fortunately, for those infected it didn't appear to do anything malicious and still required permission to install.

While Android users are free to download apps from anywhere via a process known as sideloading, it's always best practice to download apps and other content via the Google Play (previously Android Marketplace) store rather than risk installing unverified software on your devices. This serves as another reminder of the pitfalls you can encounter by installing apps from untrusted sources.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/49266-microsoft-engineer-exposes-international-android-spam-botnet.html

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An 18yearold Lafayette Louisiana man was arrested charged with the shooting death of a North Dakota State College of Scienc...

SbB LIVE FROM LA (Jul 5, 2012 @ 11:15am ET)

11:15 AM: Former Georgia Bulldogs RB Isaiah Crowell, who was kicked off the team last Friday after his arrest on gun charges, is reportedly heading for Alabama State.

11:00 AM: Former Seattle Seahawks RB Justin Forsett has helped start a company that sells the ShowerPill, described as an "athletic body wipe". Forsett sees his product as a big seller at schools "because kids aren't taking showers anymore."

10:45 AM: Adam Fullerton got in goal late in the Denver Outlaws' 17-13 Major League Lacrosse victory over the Ohio Machine Wednesday night. U.S. Army Capt. Fullerton had just returned after spending a one-year deployment in Afghanistan.

10:30 AM: Formula One test driver Maria de Villota lost her right eye after crashing into a transport truck during a test run at England's Duxford airfield Tuesday.

10:15 AM: L.A. Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon suffered a dislocated right thumb while sliding into third base during Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Reds.

10:00 AM: An 18-year-old Lafayette, Louisiana man was arrested & charged with the shooting death of a North Dakota State College of Science basketball player.

9:00 PM: The Hockey Hall of Fame's official Twitter account shares a photo of the Stanley Cup posing below the Hollywood sign.

8:45 PM: A Cottonwood (Utah) High School offensive coordinator was forced out of his job for donating too much money to the school.

8:30 PM: English soccer club Manchester United plans to file an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange for up to $100 million.

8:15 PM: The Chicago White Sox on Tuesday introduced the "Giant Slugger", a one-pound, two-foot long hot dog topped with nacho cheese, chili, grilled onions & jalapenos served in a 22-inch long potato bun.

8:00 PM: The jersey receiver Antonio Brown wore during the Pittsburgh Steelers' Jan. 1 game is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was during that game that Brown became the first NFL player to have 1,000 receiving yards & 1,000 return yards in the same season.

7:45 PM: The Utah Jazz have added John Millsap (brother of current player Paul Millsap) & Michael Stockton (son of former player John Stockton) to their Summer League team roster.

7:30 PM: Amanda McCarthy, wife of Oakland A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy is holding an auction & raffle at tonight's game against the Boston Red Sox to raise money for victims of the Colorado wildfires.

7:15 PM: Deron Williams tweets that he has decided to stay with the Brooklyn Nets.

7:00 PM: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett spoke on the recently revealed Penn State emails regarding Jerry Sandusky: "I'm not sure where it came from ... But I never think it's a good move if information is leaked out."

Source: http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/sbblive?eid=39239

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Samsung Galaxy S III at Verizon Wireless July 10

8 hrs.

Suzanne Choney

One of the most coveted Android phones this year will be available from Verizon Wireless starting July 10.

The Samsung Galaxy S III,?in 16GB and 32GB models, will cost $199.99 and $249.99 respectively with a new two-year customer agreement. ?You can find the 16GB model?in stores and online starting July 10; those who want?the 32GB model can order it online?July 10, with the phone in stores "in the coming weeks," Verizon Wireless says.

The phone will come in either "Marble White" or "Pebble Blue." And while all other major carriers in the U.S.?will sell the Galaxy S III, having such a flagship phone on Verizon makes it a tempting twosome.

What's so hot about this phone? Just about everything. It's thin, relatively lightweight, has a 4.8-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera, ?and it packs some new features Android users hope their iPhone frenemies will salivate over, including:

• S Voice, basically a Samsung?counterpart to Siri on the iPhone 4. (Msnbc.com's Rosa Golijan noted in a recent review that S Voice is "often unresponsive and prone to mangling commands, even if they are simple ones ...")
  
• The ability to recognize when you're looking at the phone screen and to maintain the screen brightness level you prefer.?
• The phone will?automatically dial a contact if you open that person's details, then lift the phone to your ear.
• S Beam, which lets two Galaxy S III users share pictures, videos and documents by touching the backs of their phones together.

The Samsung Galaxy S II comes with Android 4.0, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB RAM.

To find out more, visit Verizon's site here.

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/technology/gadgetbox/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-verizon-wireless-july-10-860956

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