Virgin America ready to fly

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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On Friday, the Department of Transportation gave Virgin America, Virgin’s new U.S. low-fare airline, final approval to begin flying. And if you’ve been monitoring this whole slow process, you might be saying, as I am, it’s about time. I’m looking forward to seeing what elements of the Virgin Atlantic experience the airline will bring to the domestic market.

The first route will be between its home base of San Francisco and New York’s JFK. The airline plans to expand to 10 cities within a year and 30 cities within five years.

The announcement came late Friday, and as I’m writing this on Monday morning, there’s not yet word on what the official launch date will be. It looks like the airline is still aiming for mid-summer.

In my recent article on the top five bargain destinations for summer, San Francisco was one of my picks, in large part because of the Virgin America launch.

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