Flying High on the FreeFest Express

Virgin Mobile FreeFest Express

by Becky Sauer

As if giving away 35,000 tickets to a concert headlined by Blink 182, Weezer and Franz Ferdinand weren’t enough, Virgin Mobile also went above and beyond to provide an extra-special Virgin Mobile FreeFest experience for a few dozen music fans on the West Coast.

The company teamed up with Virgin America to turn one of their flights into the “FreeFest Express,” which transported 40 do-gooders and their guests from Los Angeles to Washington, DC to attend the festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on August 30, 2009.

These volunteers had each donated at least 12 hours of time to StandUp For Kids, a homeless youth outreach organization in Southern California, and were then entered into a contest to win the coveted prize.

Guests mingled in the aisles and sipped VeeV Açaí Spirit “Free-tini” cocktails while others competed on PlayStation Limited Edition Rock Band PSP Entertainment Packs in the first-class “gaming lounge” to win backstage passes. Free Gogo In-flight Internet passes and more giveaways capped off the mile-high event.

But the fun had just begun for these lucky “Free.I.P.s” as their weekend went on to include comped accommodations and special tickets to the Virgin Mobile FreeFest 2009.

You can click on each photo to enlarge.