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About West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach is a quaint coastal city located in the South Florida region. The city is known for its touristy vibe and the perfect summer vacation spot.
Best time to visit West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach might be an affluent neighbourhood, but it's only perfect for vacations, especially for those who wish to run away from the cold winters. The temperatures in the city can go up to 32 degree Celsius, which is quite high. Thanks to the range of temperatures, it is perfect for a summer break. This easily makes summer the most populated time in West Palm Beach for tourists. Not just people from around the world but people from within the United States, flock over to get some of the sun and wind. Irrespective of the humidity and heat that is prevalent in the air, tourists don't mind as long as they get to have fun in the water. However, to avoid the crowd and the excess heat too, March to May is your best bet. The temperatures are very calm and enough to enjoy the waters and beach. Plus, the season also has some fun events such as the Winter Equestrian Festival, Palm Beach International Boat Show, Palm Beach International Film Festival and most importantly, SunFest. It is the most famous music and art fest that takes place in West Palm Beach every year. Perhaps you might find a like-minded crowd who also plan to head for this festival.
The months following summer in West Palm Beach, from September to November, are also quite pleasant. The temperatures are very soothing, and it poses as the perfect relaxing trip that you have been seeking for. The city also sees a drop in the accommodation prices as hotel bookings in West Palm Beach become cheap and convenient. Plus, as the city gears for the winters, the vibe and atmosphere are also quite likeable. The only big matter of concern during this time, though, is the looming hurricanes. There are high chances of hurricanes lashing over the shores and the city of West Palm Beach, making tourism and travelling for touristy pleasures, not enjoyable. The weather report might even ask you to stay indoors and avoid bad weather. It would certainly dampen the mood, especially for a tourist. Hence, before you do make your trip, ensure to check the weather for all possible concerns that could crop up. Accordingly, make your trip to the city. The city does have fun events during this season with Lagoon Fest and Flavour Palm Beach as the highlights.
Places to visit in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach is known to be the cultural hub of South Florida, thanks to the plethora of amazing structures and events the city witnesses. West Palm Beach is home to many arts and cultural venues, including museums and societies. You can start with the Norton Museum of Art, where you will find some astounding art collections. Further expanding your art rendezvous, you can visit the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. The city is also acknowledged for its wildlife conservation. Places such as McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary, Lion Country Safari and Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society are some of the establishments that take good care of wildlife and conserve endangered species. With a slew of lovely nature comes some botanical gardens and parks too that add to the charm of West Palm Beach. Mounts Botanical Garden and Okeeheelee Park are some of them that would easily get a tourist's attention for their lovely landscapes and picture-worthy scenery. It basically resonates the beauty of West Palm Beach and shouldn't be missed at any cost.
Things to do in West Palm Beach
The nightlife of West Palm Beach is known through all states. Not just the exquisite food culture but even the nightlife with parties and pub-crawls, all make quite an experience. It would be nice to soak in all the sun and tourist attractions during the day and round up the whole trip by downing good beer and other liquor. Even the shopping scenes in West Palm Beach is a stand-out. You will be thrilled by some of the brands and retail clothing with an amazing collection. Popular places such as Clematis Street and CityPlace are your hub to explore more of the shopaholic in you. There are party bike pub crawls available in the city so you can book a ride for yourself and drink up with total strangers. You can also opt for fishing and catch the famous peacock bass in your expedition. It wouldn't be a total loss to splurge on a cruise trip around the beach.
Food and Restaurants in West Palm Beach
With a proximity to the ocean, West Palm Beach has seafood as its staple food. You will find variations in their curation of dishes with seafood as the base. Interestingly, the food here would do you good. Unlike how the flight tickets to reach West Palm Beach are too steep and unaffordable, the cuisine is cheap. In fact, in competition with Miami and other big cities in Florida, West Palm Beach actually has a reasonable and affordable front in terms of dining. You can order some fancy food at an establishment and still be left with a good amount left in your pockets. This actually gives you enough money to experiment with more food in the coastal city. The best of West Palm can be experienced at some local favourites such as Clematis Street, Tin Fish and Bimini Twist. Grouper and shrimp are the two popular bases of seafood that are produced here and something you'll probably get to enjoy if you don't mind trying something new. Table 26, The Regional Kitchen and Public House are some more local restaurants that offer an exciting melange of flavours in their dishes.
In addition to the lovely seafood that the city makes, they also have reserved food establishments to cater to ethnic restaurants. In fact, these restaurants are quite famous too as the spread ranges from Italian to Greek. In fact, Greek, Italian and Mexican are known to be the most popular and sought-after cuisine after the classic West Palm seafood. Restaurants such as Agora Mediterranean Kitchen, Rocco's Tacos and Tequila Bar and Bellagio are some of the famous food establishments that offer the three cuisines. Thanks to Florida's proximity to Cuba, the city of Wes Palm also sees a good audience for Cuban dishes and liquor. Havana is one such place where you would enjoy the classic Cuban dishes along with some lovely Tequilas. The food culture in West Palm Beach is certainly the kind that would make you and your stomach super happy.
How to reach West Palm Beach
Flight connectivity to West Palm Beach from India is excellent but requires a lot of layovers and patience from the traveller. There are no direct flights to West Palm Beach from India. In fact, reaching West Palm will actually require you to connect with two different flights. Reaching West Palm Beach is quite tough and the connectivity, even though it is decent, is far too time-consuming. Airlines such as Qatar Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, Air Canada, have regular flights connecting West Palm Beach and Delhi. While Qatar Airways has only one layover in Doha, other flights expect to have two layovers in cities such as Boston, Paris, New York City, London, Newark, Washington DC, Chicago and more. Basically, the flights to West Palm Beach take the domestic route with layovers in the cities of the US. The most popular route to West Palm Beach is via Boston and New York. The flight duration is quite a lot depending on which airlines and international route to West Palm Beach you choose. It takes approximately 20 hours to reach, but with layovers and connecting flights, the duration is subject to change.
Many travellers tend to pick Miami as the destination and drive down to West Palm Beach. Flight connectivity to Miami from India and even within the US is easier, hence, this option is considered. A transit visa is required, and travellers must apply for one to ensure that their trip is smooth. Since there are connecting flights to be boarded from cities within the US to reach West Palm Beach, the embassy has made it compulsory for the travellers to hold a visa. The flight tickets to West Palm Beach are a little steep. Thanks to the city being a rich man's paradise, the flight tickets to West Palm Beach basically reflect the same expensive lifestyle. As long as you make prior flight ticket bookings to West Palm Beach, you wouldn't have to worry much. Even in terms of accommodation, the prices could be expensive, but if you book your hotels in West Palm Beach well in advance, that is one thing you wouldn't have to worry about. Steer clear of the peak season as people from the entire East Coast flock over to West Palm Beach for vacation, which could lead to everything turning expensive.
About Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic which follows a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British-owned airline that has its headquarters in Crawley, England. The airline was founded in 1984 under the name British Atlantic Airways, by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary with flight connectivity between London and the Falkland Islands. However, the name was changed to Virgin Atlantic Airways as Fields sold his shares in the company. A disagreement between Fields and Sir Richard Branson regarding the management of the company resulted in Fields walking out of the airline. In the same year since its establishment, the airline had its first flight from Gatwick Airport in London to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Virgin Atlantic is owned and operated under the holding company Virgin Atlantic Limited. The same holding company also controls Virgin Holidays. The holding company has 51 percent ownership of the Virgin Group while the remaining 49 per cent is owned by Delta Air Lines, a major airline of the United States of America.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited have both received the Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licenses. The said licence permits both the airlines to accommodate passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft that comprises 20 seats or more. Virgin Atlantic's fleet is mixed with wide-body aircraft of Airbus and Boeing. The airline majorly has its operations in North American, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East. Its main base is at London-Heathrow Airport while its secondary hub is at Manchester in the United Kingdom. Virgin Atlantic also has seasonal flight operations from Glasgow and Belfast. The airline consists of three types of cabin, namely Economy, Premium (premium economy) and Upper Class (business class). In 2017, Virgin Atlantic expressed its intention to form a joint venture with Europe's Air France - KLM. However, in 2019, it was announced that the venture would not involve a stake in the British airline. Virgin Atlantic has witnessed tremendous losses over the years and has had to cut down operations to various international destinations, owing to the growing debts and losses.
In 2019, as part of its expansion plans, Virgin Atlantic announced that it had plans to go all out and hopefully create a second flag carrier in the United Kingdom, provided slot reforms were being considered in the airline's favour at the Heathrow Airport. With this, the airline planned to serve about 103 destinations in total with many domestic routes and international routes. They wished to add about 84 new destinations to their list of services, of which 12 catered to the domestic route while 37 are European and the remaining 35 being international routes. The 35 international destinations in Virgin Atlantic's list include Austin, Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa, Karachi, Tokyo, Cape Town, Beijing, Singapore, Bogota, Mexico City and Sydney. While the airline has already functioned in international routes catering to Cape Town, Vancouver, Sydney, Karachi and Tokyo, the remaining long-haul destinations that the airline plans to add would be completely new for them. It was reported that Flybe, UK's largest low-cost carrier regional airline, was supposed to join hands with Virgin Atlantic. However, the plans fell through as Flybe ceased operations in 2020.
Fleet size of Virgin Atlantic
As of 2020, Virgin Atlantic's fleet size stands at 35 aircraft. 22 aircraft are expected to join the fleet. The fleet comprises 17 Boeing 787-9s, 10 Airbus A330-300s and four Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A350-1000s respectively. All the aircraft operated by Virgin Atlantic are wide-body type. The airline accommodates a mixed fleet that comprises Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft. The Airbus A330-200s of the airline operate from London's Gatwick International Airport as well as Manchester Airport and connect to international routes of the United States and the Caribbean. There are seasonal routes connecting to Orlando International Airport in Florida, which is offered from Glasgow and Belfast International Airport. Much recently, the airline retired its Boeing 747s which catered to the seasonal flight operations to Florida. Virgin Atlantic's aircraft Airbus A330-300s, A350-1000s and Boeing 787-9s are used interchangeably on routes that fly from London's Heathrow Airport. In 2002, the airline became the first in the world to operate the Airbus A340-600.
Virgin Atlantic was supposed to add six Airbus A380-800s to its fleet, which they had ordered for in 2001. However, the order had to be cancelled for good. Instead, in 2019, at the Paris Air Show, the airline signed a deal to accommodate 20 Airbus A330-900neos to its fleet. With this move, the airline became the first United Kingdom customer for the aircraft. The airline does plan to replace its older Airbus A330-200s and -300s from the fleet with deliveries of newer models that will be joining the fleet between 2021 to 2024. Much recently, the airline retired its long-running A340-600 with its last service taking place between Lagos to London Heathrow. Simultaneously, the airline has also retired seven of its Boeing 747-400 aircraft from the fleet.
Baggage Allowance
Baggage allowance on Virgin Atlantic depends on the destination the passenger is travelling to and from as well as the ticket type. Economy class tickets allow one checked bag which should not weigh more than 23 kg and should be within the dimension of 90 x 75 x 43cm. Premium cabin class tickets' baggage allowance on Virgin Atlantic enables two pieces of baggage which cannot exceed 23 kg and should be within the dimension as mentioned in the economy class. The Upper class or business class tickets have a baggage allowance of up to three pieces of bags that should not weigh more than 32 kg. The dimensions of all the baggage should be 90 x 75 x 43cm and not more than the stated measurement. Interestingly, the airline recently made some changes to its baggage allowance policy for passengers travelling to and from Indian cities such as Mumbai and Delhi. They have allowed a free bag allowance which means passengers can carry two bags weighing 32 kg each for Upper Class. However, two pieces of bags are allowed for passengers travelling from premium class with a weight allocation of 23 kg. As for the economy class tickets, the airline has enabled two pieces of bags allowed with a weight permit of not more than 23 kg. These new rules are as opposed to the earlier ones which allowed more baggage allocation by Virgin Atlantic.
In-flight services
In-flight services experienced on Virgin Atlantic are quite exceptional. The airline brings forth some of the best seating accommodation. They have enhanced the seats with better leather and equipment such as a personal lamp, entertainment system, better overhead bin space and seats that recline with better legroom too. Depending on the cabin class chosen by the passenger, the facilities do change. However, the comfort measure remains constant in all the cabins. Virgin Atlantic's in-flight services also include in-flight meals which are inspired by global cuisine.
Popular routes and top cities for Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic caters to a handful of domestic routes and international routes. In fact, in terms of domestic routes, the airline doesn't have a strong game as it only caters to London and Manchester. Barring these two hubs, the airline doesn't have any destination flying within the United Kingdom. As for international routes, it is well-connected with North America and parts of Asian destinations. The airline doesn't have a magnanimous presence in a lot of destinations internationally. They have also terminated services with a slew of cities owing to the loss-making management structure. As of 2020, the airline caters to cities such as Antigua, Shanghai, Havana, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Delhi, Tel Aviv, Lagos, Johannesburg, Tobago, London, Belfast, Manchester, Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. While the airline did have hopes to acquire more recognition and presence in the domestic market by tying up with Flybe, the deal didn't take off, and neither did Virgin Atlantic's plans to make a bigger UK reach.
Why travel by Virgin Atlantic?
Virgin Atlantic has been facing significant losses and important issues over the years. However, the airline is known and recognised for offering quality service and hospitality. Virgin Atlantic has grown into a favourable airline for passengers who wish to travel to destinations in the United States of America from London and the United Kingdom. The airline has also worked on improving much of its in-flight services and facilities that further enhance the experience of travellers. On the airline's official website, they have enabled booking a Virgin Atlantic flight without any conundrums. Following the same, the airline has also made web check-ins possible with up to date details concerning the flight status of the passengers. Virgin Atlantic's flight schedules are also added on the website along with constant updates. These facilities actually help passengers make the airline a viable option. Virgin Atlantic's flyer clubs also have some of the best amenities in the airport lounge as well as while booking the flight tickets.
