While Delta has changed its image and is actually stepping above American Airlines in terms of gay sponsorships there are also amenities to be considered. A new airlines recently launched into the United States that has imported some gay fabulous touches in comfort and design.

Virgin America is set to launch in the U.S. on August 8, 2007. You can buy tickets now but they only fly in and out of NYC, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The new airlines will give you a new touch in ambience with a mood lighting system. Virgin also gives you in-seat plug ins for your laptops and phones, more comfortable seating, hundreds of in-flight movies to select from, and thousands of mp3’s to listen to. But where is the internet and text messaging?

Jet Blue is offering text messaging and internet while in-flight. I think this is the best amenity yet. Although, there is no voice calling allowed which could probably get annoying anyway. I would rather escape in the world of the internet while I am trapped inside a plane. Why doesn’t American, Delta, Continental, or US Airways offer this yet?

I try to support Delta and American Airlines when I can because of their gay friendly policies and their openly gay advertising but I am glad to see competition. Who knows maybe Virgin America and Jet Blue will start supporting gay causes more so we do not feel as guilty for flying their airlines.

For those of you who are flying the friendly skies I recommend you get on a rewards program. You can benefit from several airlines programs to rack up frequent flyer miles ranging from AAdvantage miles to Delta Skymiles where you normally need 45,000 points or so to get a free flight. The fastest way to build up miles would be to get a credit card that has no annual fee and gives you up to a bonus for using the card. You can get up to 20,000 frequent flyer miles on some airline credit cards. One thing to keep in mind is that you can have all the free miles in the world but it is all about being comfortable and enjoying a good experience while your sitting on that plane so the best thing to do is to upgrade to first class using these miles.

I would like to mention that American Airlines was the first airlines to offer domestic parnership benefits and they were also the first to establish a gay travel resource online at AA.com/rainbow.  Stay tuned to our site for continuing coverage of gay travel deals and places to enjoy.  Enjoy the friendly skies and stay away from those horrible tarmac situations!