The Donnas rock LAX; Virgin America soars to SEA

In the midst of some U.S. airline carriers throwing in the towel and other major carriers canceling flights, Virgin America added a new LAX-to-Seattle route yesterday and threw a huge party — in LAX’s Terminal 6.

While passengers gawked and little kids covered their ears, the all-female rock group the Donnas rocked Gate 67B to celebrate Virgin’s expansion. The airliner’s CEO, C. David Cush, aided by a half-dozen extremely friendly flight attendants, welcomed passengers to the gate and party, where they were met with Champagne, cheese, crackers and a DJ who cranked out a variety of dance and grunge hits apropos for a trip to Sea-Tac Airport (SEA).

The party was followed by three raucous tunes by the Donnas (”Don’t Wait Up for Me,” “Bitchin’,” “Take It Off”), who thanked security for letting them through. Passengers from other flights in the terminal gathered around the gate and craned their necks on nearby stairwells to see the spectacle, which many believe was a first for LAX.

>>More photos and video after the jump.< <

After the Donnas rocked, signed autographs and cut the tape with Cush, they boarded the plane with the passengers and with two other bands, one fronted by Cisco Adler and MTVu winners Bamboo Shoots.

Video of the Donnas performing “Don’t Wait Up for Me”

[click the photo below to open video in a new window]

Avir Mitra of Bamboo Shoots performed unplugged during the flight to Seattle:

[Text and all photos by Tony Pierce, LAT Blog Editor, except for the in-flight photo of Avir Mitra directly above, which was taken by Bob Riha, Jr. AP Photo/Virgin America]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 10:37 pm by Tony Pierce and is filed under Business Travel, Celebrity, Frequent Flier, Los Angeles, News, Tips & Advice, Pacific Northwest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.