Thatfilmthing has a friend who scouts movie locations and we know he would have liked the job on Departure Date.

Scenes for the short film were shot in Virgin Atlantic’s upper class cabin and onboard bar, Virgin America’s first class and main cabin, and Virgin Australia’s international business class cabin – the latter of which includes a sit-down bar, ladies-only bathroom and exclusive Row 5.

Writer/director Kat Coiro (L!fe Happens, While We Were Here, A Case of You) shot the film in 20 hours whilst travelling over 28,000 miles and crossing Europe, north America and Australasia – a first for a short film.

Filming took place over three days and regular passengers were also on board during production.

Departure Date stars Ben Feldman (Mad Men) as Jake, who experiences love at first sight onboard a Virgin flight when he meets Violet, played by Australian actress Nicky Whelan. Their chance at love continues to unfold across all three airlines.

Philip Baker Hall, Luis Guzmán, Janeane Garofalo and Max Brown also star.

Coiro said the film is about thinking differently, following your instincts and going for what you want, which fits in very well with Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson’s overall way of thinking.

“I set out to write something beautiful that would convey that feeling, and the need to challenge norms and reinvent the old way of doing things,” Coiro said.

Passengers on Virgin Atlantic Airways can now enjoy Departure Date on board all flights, as the independent short film is available on the VERA inflight entertainment system.

Film production was handled by Virgin Produced in conjunction with San Francisco-based agency Eleven and complied with all in-flight regulatory policies and procedures.

It was shot within the strict confines of in-flight filming at 35,000ft using new Canon C300 cameras.