Onboard the Virgin Atlantic Pride Flight to New York

The flight was history-making

Three hours (ish) since leaving London, we’re somewhere below Greenland. So far, so usual on a transatlantic hop to Newark, New York.

But this isn’t any flight. It’s Virgin Atlantic’s history-making Pride Flight: and right now I think it’s broken the record for the number of people that are squeezed into the Airbus A330’s bar area, jumping around like they’re in a nightclub, to “Spice Up Your Life”.

The Pride Flight, entirely staffed by LGBT+ crew, took off from a joyous Heathrow airport to a riot of cheers and sloshed drinks at 4.30pm on Friday. Destination: World Pride weekend in New York.

The flight, a year in the planning, was to celebrate New York World Pride, thought to be largest LGBT+ celebration anywhere, ever; and to honour of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The flight code, unique to the Pride flight, was VS69, which takes its name from the year of the uprising.

Back to “Spice Up Your Life”, which is now being expertly mixed into Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris’s “One Kiss” by drag queen Jodie Harsh. She’s rigged up a serious set of decks in the middle of the plane to bang out hit after hit (“It’s Raining Men” and “Crazy in Love” among them) to the 284 passengers and crew onboard, who have paid upwards of £400 for the experience. There’s at least 20 of us in the bar area, some of us so close we’re pretty much sitting on the turntables (there’s not a huge amount of standing room on an aircraft, after all). Some people are leaning on the – gasp – emergency exits, but for once the crew don’t mind. They also don’t mind that we’re all jumping about and sashaying in and out of usually roped-off Upper Class. This afternoon (or is it tonight?) the entire cabin is open to all. I learn later that the flight burnt more fuel than usual on the 3,500 mile transatlantic journey thanks to more people crowding at the front of the plane.

But this euphoric DJ set, which has got the entire cabin on their feet thanks to speakers taped to the floor in every cabin, is just one part of the entertainment on this once-in-a-lifetime flight.

Other acts include Titus Burgess, from Netflix hit The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, who’s hosting the journey alongside three gussied-up drag queens marching up and down the aisles in sky-high platform heels. There are performances from X Factor contestant Saara Aalto, dressed in a shimmery rainbow leotard with a giant bow on her head, as well as drag queen bingo and a raffle (with all proceeds going to the Attitude Magazine Foundation) which kept the mood as high as the altitude.

But really, we didn’t need all the organised fun. The sheer joy of every passenger to be on this extraordinary flight was what made the six-hour journey absolutely impossible to forget (unless you drank too much of Virgin’s signature pink gin cocktail, of course).

At one point, it felt like not a single person was sitting down. Flapping rainbow flags were hung from the overhead lockers; glitter was flung about with abandon; and entire groups of people were twerking to Beyonce in their seats: including the young children of a family of four who had inadvertently booked the flight. I joined a plane-wide conga line, and one passenger ran down the length of economy using just the headrests as leverage. It’ll come as no surprise that the plane ran out of booze before we landed in Newark...

We touched down in New York to a whirr of cheers and claps – and the biggest cheer for the crew – which continued into a musical welcome at Newark airport. What a way to kick off World Pride.

Mark Anderson, global LGBT+ lead at Virgin, said that the airline knew how to throw “a seriously fun party”. “To mark this momentous anniversary in the history and future of LGBTQ+ rights, we wanted to do everything possible to give customers the Pride experience of a lifetime.”

It certainly was a flight like no other – and one, I imagine, that won’t be taking off again any time soon.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Virgin flies to New York from around £280 return. virginatlantic.com

Visiting there

For more information on booking a holiday to New York, visit nycgo.com

Last tickets remaining for Pride in 2019 – now 50% off
Join The Independent for a panel discussion and Q&A, with speakers Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, Angela Eagle, the Labour MP for Wallasey, Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP for Reigate and trans activist Asifa Lahore, who was Britain’s first out Muslim Drag Queen. Secure your place today