SFO's Gourmet Offerings

There's more reason to love San Francisco's redesigned Terminal Two, new home of American Airlines and Virgin America: the tasty fare you can grab for your flight. SFO searched out local producers and focused on healthy and sustainable food choices. You can't go wrong whether you stop by Napa Farms Market and pick up a wedge of triple-creme cheese from Cowgirl Creamery (our favorite!) or a fancy sandwich from The Plant Café Organic. There's also a wine bar and two cafés by celeb chefs Tyler Florence and Cat Cora. Don't forget to stop by the hydration station to fill up your water bottle:

If you're not rushing to the gate (that's about half of you, right?), look up and enjoy the art. Here's Topograph from Kendall Buster of Richmond, Va. in the entrance lobby.

American Happy Hour

American Airlines brought back its 5@5 promotion where cocktails and beer are $5 on flights leaving from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. The $2 discount on liquor and $1 discount on beer was popular when American did this last December, so they decided to bring it back. Select flights will have special margaritas all month as well in honor of last week's Cinco de Mayo. Would happy hour on a flight boost your spirits? We'd take the bait!

Holiday Gift Ideas: Really Last Minute Ideas

You still have a day to choose pricey overnight shipping for your gifts (unless you find a free offer); but an easier option is to give an electronic gift certificate. We wish Santa would bring us an airline gift certificate. Virgin America and American, among others, offer gift cards and virtual gift cards via email.

American Airlines No Longer on Orbitz

We've all got our go-to search engine for booking airline tickets: Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and others. It's a convenient way to find the best deals; but only because the major carriers participate with the sites. It seems American Airlines and Orbitz couldn't agree on their partnership terms so for now, don't expect to see American's offerings there.

If you've already bought tickets for AA through Orbitz, those tickets are valid and if you need to make changes to your itinerary, do so with AA reservations, not Orbitz.

Since we often use American for our jaunts down to SoBe; we'll check out a rival comparison site for now. Our pick? Try Kayak.com which locates good deals on different sites then redirects you there. Looks like finding cheaper plane tickets just got more complicated. We're hoping other airlines don't follow American's lead. 
photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Virgin America Swag Shop

It's a rare airline that's popular enough they can sell logoed products, but after winning Best Domestic Airline from both Condé Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure for four years running, Virgin America is certainly the one that can do it. Its new Swag Shop recently launched and is filled with hoodies, tees, and unisex iPhone, iPad, laptop covers and more. Plus, you earn 1 Elevate rewards point for every $1 spent. This hoodie is our pick--it looks cozy and comfy for cross country flights.

All-You-Can-Jet from Jet Blue

We once again missed Jet Blue's All-You-Can-Jet promotion! If you were one of the lucky ones to score an all you can jet pass, For $699 (plus taxes*) you can fly as much as you want on any route Jet Blue flies from September 7 to October 6. Our dream itinerary would include a stop in Ft. Lauderdale to check out the W (above) before island hopping around the Caribbean from Atlantis in the Bahamas to Jamaica to Dominican Republic then on down to Bogota. From there we would fly to New Orleans for some po' boys, Sazeracs and beignets (below).


Before heading to Austin for a music fix. We would finally take that trip we've been talking about to Cancun, before heading west. Our first stop on the second leg of our tour would be Phoenix to detox at a spa (below).

From there it's off to L.A.. We'll end the trip with a weekend bender in Vegas before heading back to NYC to pass out!

*Be forewarned: Those taxes can add up fast and furious!