After a bit of a delay, Virgin America rolled out its version of what I suppose you’d call business class, and the airline calls “Main Cabin Select”.

It does indeed have some nice amenities - free food and cocktails and lots of entertainment options - but it is not for the “super savers” among us. I compared Main Cabin Select to a regular cabin fare - on a flight from LA to NY early next month, and Select was about 60% higher than the regular fare.

But you know what really tempts me about Select? The “dedicated overhead bin” for one’s luggage. Nice touch.

The airline is one year old today, and the occasion is being celebrated with cake and champagne for passengers — especially at its home base in San Francisco.

And Virgin America’s PR department is working overtime to note some of the airline’s “firsts” including, “first airline to win Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Domestic Airline’ in its first year flying”.

Even more prestigiously (yes, tongue firmly in cheek), VA was the “first airline to host a Victoria’s Secret PJ Fashion Show on a domestic airline flight from JFK-LAX”.

Which no doubt explains why San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has declared this to be “Virgin America Day”.

Travel + Leisure’s has just released its 13^th annual poll of its readers to determine “the world’s best” in travel. And when it comes to domestic airlines, those readers say Virgin America is #1.

Virgin took the top spot from Midwest Airlines, last year’s winner.

Rounding out the top 5 domestic airlines are JetBlue in third place followed by Sun Country and Hawaiian. See the entire list here.

As expected, the international list was dominated by Asian airlines: Singapore, as usual, was #1, followed by Emirates Airline, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, and moving up several spots to #5 was SilkAir. See the complete international list here.

Virgin America hopes to add Chicago to its growing list of destinations; airline officials plan to work with the FAA this week, seeking authorization to add O’Hare International as their 8^th city. The goal is to begin flights from Chicago to San Francisco and Los Angeles in November.

So far, you can fly Virgin America to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

So what’s next on the list? The Boston Globe speculates it will be…Boston.

Something new from Virgin (but then, isn’t there always?): Virgin Charter.

As one executive put it, it’s part Priceline, part eBAy, part Travelocity; and of course, it’s all Richard Branson.

Read about this intriguing new venture here; it just might put private planes within reach of some of the rest of us.

Starting in May, JetBlue will begin flying out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The lower cost carrier will add 3-flights a day between LAX and New York and one between LAX and Boston.

But, wait just a minute! Doesn’t JetBlue already fly out of Los Angeles??? Keep reading!

See Rick Seaney’s new column on ABCNews.com on merger mania!

Maybe you’ve already seen my Top 10 “worst” list. Now for the good news: I actually found enough good things for a BEST list.

Think you’ll enjoy this. Just click “more” to see the entire list.

And if you think I’ve left anything out, please, tell me in the comments section.

Now that JetBlue announced it’s offering free WiFi access, American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines (according to the Boston Globe) have said that they will offer Internet access this coming year.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that overseas carriers Emirates and Virgin Atlantic already offer in-flight e-mail and instant messaging services-but, the U.S. is getting there.

Wonder how long this will take to get on the zillions of regional jets that we are now all flying (care to start an office pool on that date …)?

Don’t let this one slip through your fingers: Virgin America is offering 2-tickets for the price of one. Round-trip airfare for 2-people traveling between Los Angeles and New York for less than $340 (before taxes).

Virgin calls this their “diggNATION” sale, and it ends December 7^th. There are some blackout dates, and you can find out more here. In terms of cheap airfare sales, we call this one a “doozy”!

Virgin America is offering low airfares for travel through March 12 of 2008. The deal ends in two days, so act now if you want to take advantage.

And for more cheap airfare sales, visit FareCompare’s Deals Page to get more info.

With talks about legacy airlines merging set off by the unprecedented price of fuel — I thought I might throw my 2 cents in on the consumer side. Competition = Low Prices, lack of competition is not a good thing for consumers — spin it however you want, it won’t be a good thing for airline ticket prices. A classic example of competition is the new entry of Virgin America into the U.S. domestic market.

As I predicted a few months ago, Virgin America has caused the competition to heat up and prices to drop.

Yesterday, several airlines dropped prices to the $200 range between Los Angeles and Washington D.C., with Virgin America matching late in the evening with a drop of $50.

The $200 price point is a super deal for passengers traveling coast-to-coast. Everyone should take advantage.

Notice the airlines are hedging a bit by starting travel after the Thanksgiving rush with holiday blackouts … but still a very good deal. And, it should be noted that United Airlines price still hovers at the $300 range — I would expect them to match or even toss out something a bit lower just to show they are in it to win.

Update 10:25am EDT:

In the 10:00am EDT airfare distribution, American Airlines matched to $198 and in a “Crazy Ivan“, Virgin America raised from $208 to $258 (rescinding the $50 drop last night). United still on the sidelines. Put your seat belts on this is likely to be a wild ride …