Virgin America's Pride Takes Flight As The Official Airline Of San Francisco Pride

NFL Veteran and LGBT Advocate, Esera Tuaolo, Joins Virgin America Teammates to Help Celebrate the Airline's "Aloha Pride" Theme

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Virgin America

Jun 23, 2015, 03:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, San Francisco's hometown airline, is proud to serve as the "Official Airline of San Francisco Pride" for the eighth consecutive year. 2015 marks the 45^th anniversary of the nation's largest LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) event where more than 300 Virgin America teammates, friends and family will bring the airline's signature style to this year's "Equality Without Exception" theme. As a nod to the airline's upcoming service to Hawaii, Virgin America's parade contingent will bring to life the airline's "Aloha Pride" with former NFL defensive tackle and founder of "Hate in Any Form is Wrong", Esera Tuaolo, who will help man the airline's Hawai'ian-themed float. Nicknamed "Mr. Aloha," Tuaolo came out publicly as gay after nine years as a professional football player and has since worked to stop bullying through his foundation's efforts.

Virgin America is proud to serve as the Official Airline of San Francisco Pride for the eighth consecutive year. As a nod to the airline's upcoming service to Hawaii, Virgin America's parade contingent will bring their "Aloha Pride" to life with former NFL defensive tackle and founder of "Hate is Wrong", Esera Tuaolo, who will help man the airline'sHawai'ian-themed float. Virgin America will be sharing photos and videos during the parade with the hashtag #VXPride for people to follow along.

"Being able to continue our long-standing support of the world-class San Francisco Pride festivities is a real honor for us and speaks to our steadfast commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion and equality for all," said Frances Fiorillo, SVP of People and In-flight Service at Virgin America. "With Virgin America's strong ties to our hometown of San Francisco, it's important to us to celebrate the city's diversity and support its LGBT community. We are honored to bring our mood-lit spirit and 'Aloha' pride to this year's festivities, which we believe is a perfect fit for this all-inclusive event."

Virgin America is committed to LGBT equality and inclusion and earned a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2015 Corporate Equality Index, which benchmarks America's leading workplaces on their policies and practices related to LGBT employees. During Pride month this June, the airline added a rainbow to its social media avatars in support of the LGBT pride community and its allies. Virgin America will be sharing photos and videos during the parade and inviting others to do the same using the hashtag #VXPride so people from across the United States can follow along. As the "Official Domestic Airline of San Francisco Pride," Virgin America invites guests from all over the country to upgrade their pride experience with fleetwide in-flight WiFi, signature moodlighting, power outlets at every seat and the Red® in-flight entertainment system with a seat-to-seat delivery and chat system that allows guests to connect with other Pride attendees at 35,000 feet.

"As we mark the 45^th anniversary of San Francisco Pride, we are grateful for our long-term partnership with Virgin America," said George Ridgely, Executive Director of San Francisco Pride. "Virgin America brings so much to the table for this event – from providing an unparalleled flying experience to our attendees from across the country to supporting our continuous effort to improve the lives of all members of our LGBT community – and we can't say thank you enough for their continued support."

In addition to a Main Cabin that offers custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch, Virgin America's First Class cabin offers plush white leather 'cradle sleeper' seating with 55 inches of pitch, 165 degrees of recline and lumbar massagers. The carrier's Main Cabin Select service offers 38 inches of pitch, free food and cocktails, an all-access pass to media content, dedicated overhead bins and priority check-in/boarding. The Red in-flight entertainment platform offers guests their own seatback touch-screen TV, with more than 25 films, live TV, interactive Google Maps, videogames, a 3,000 song library and an on-demand menu, which allows flyers to order a cocktail or snack from their seatback any time during a flight. Red also includes an "open tab" feature that allows guests to swipe their card only once and keep their tab open for continuous ordering during the flight.

Photos of Virgin America's unique aircraft and broadcast quality b-roll are available here.

About Virgin America: Known for its mood-lit cabins, three beautifully designed classes of service and innovative fleetwide amenities — like touch-screen personal entertainment, WiFi and power outlets at every seat, Virgin America has built a loyal following of flyers and earned a host of awards since launching in 2007 — including being named both the "Best U.S. Airline" in Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards for the past seven consecutive years. For more: www.virginamerica.com.

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SOURCE Virgin America