Virgin America: Flying Redefined
Air travel has become mundane, boring and a necessity among travelers. Honestly, I blame our poor train system in the US but events such as 9/11 didn’t force the airlines to actually cut costs, they maintained their price structure and took out amenities which includes putting seats closer together and not serving food even on 6 hour cross-country flights. A cheap ticket equals 2 layovers and a soda is $3.50. If you’re 6 feet tall, expect to have leg cramps and when your laptop dies 2 hours in, it’s too bad because now you are forced to taking sleeping pills to fall asleep and hope you don’t wake up with horrible neck pain. Welcome to typical boring Domestic Air Travel!
Virgin America launched in 2006 as a different kind of airline company. They launched amid an industry downturn where most of the airlines had filed for bankruptcy or had seem massive restructurings to stay alive. Virgin America, the dream child of Sir Richard Branson was different and it appealed to the geeks.
Virgin flies to the top geek destinations. The hub is San Francisco and popular destinations include NYC, LAX, Seattle and Las Vegas. Honestly, over 90% of my flights are to those cities. Virgin has me roped in from the beginning. Despite a great network, I had never flown with Virgin America before. Why? Because I’m cheap and that $20 premium didn’t seem worthwhile. Lately, their aggressive pricing has my flying with them 3 times in one month and I couldn’t be happier.
Honestly, United is the cheapest airline followed closely by Southwest. United’s hub is San Francisco which makes for cheap flights to my home town of JAX via ATL. $299 round trip flights are common. With Virgin, I can fly to Ft. Lauderdale for $99 each way and then rely on a family friend to pick me up. This idea never would have crossed my mind if I hadn’t hopped on Virgin America for my flight to Vegas last week. They changed everything about how I fly and I can never go back to another airline, if I can help it.
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The Experience: Virgin operates out of San Francisco’s International Terminal which is nice and new. This is a good touch since I’m based here. It’s new and has the interior of an Apple Store with metal & glass. Other VA terminals aren’t as lovely. The planes are all less than 3 years old so you have a nice unsoiled plane with new interior and shiny exterior and none of the BO smell that airlines like United have.
It’s important to note that I have only flown Virgin America as a first-class rider. Sure it was more expensive ($15 extra per flight) but was totally worth it!
Anyone that hops on a VA flight has great comforts such as leather seats, extremely friendly flight attendants and a modern entertainment system full of on-demand movies, satellite TV and even an in-flight chat room that everyone can join in to chat FOR FREE. The movies cost extra but it’s a great experience. You can even order food and drinks from the RED entertainment system and swipe your card there. Additionally, all travelers have a USB port and 3 prong power plug (like the one in your home) to charge your gadgets. I immediately sit down and plug in my MacBook Air and iPhone 3GS for charging while in flight. Yes this means a 6 hour flight is completely possible!
Most flights on VA now have Wi-Fi so I can open my notebook or power on the iPhone while in the air and hold Skype conversations and get things done from 35K feet w/o any issues! No longer must I be unproductive while on a flight and have to deal with my laptop power dying. A 7 hour direct flight to Florida will now be a 7 hour power work session while watching Satellite TV and drinking a cosmo. Yes, it’s that amazing!
First Class is a different story. The photo above of the seats is what first class looks like. The leather is white instead of black which isn’t a huge difference but the chairs are more plush and more comfy! They even have foot rests and an option that auto reclines the chair far back and with 50 inches of leg room, there’s no problem stretching out!
Once my feet are out and the seat is back, I’ll put in an order for a Vodka Cranberry drink via the RED television screen in front of me which is easy to reach and at eye level and then immediately enable the massage chair option. That’s right, one button and my back is getting an exquisite massage while my cocktail is being made. Immediately afterward, it’s time to plugin my laptop and iPhone in the charging ports and get those going for that long flight.
I have to add that I’ve done all of this before the plane takes off! First class gets a red-carpet treatment (literally) when you check your bags in and the same red carpet treatment by being the first to board. I’m on the flight with a cocktail in hand before anyone else even boards. I also have to say that on VA and as First Class, you get two FREE checked bags! That’s right, those bags are free to check up to 75 pounds each. Most airlines don’t get you a free bag and it’s capped at 50 pounds. On united, the first bag is $15 and if it’s over 50 pounds, the price becomes $125!!!!!
While I’m in flight on the first class area, all cocktails are free, on-demand movies are free and one flight attendant is taking care of only 6 first class seats so that next cocktail or an order of chicken w/ carrots is a touch away or wave of the hand! First class is the way to go. My advice, when you go to the gate to check in, just check to see what the first class upgrade flight is. If it’s $50 or less, GET IT! You’ll drink 3 cocktails, eat a hearty meal and enjoy free on-demand movies while getting a back massage.
I was always told First Class is a waste! It’s for those guys that fly so much that they get free upgrades but VA makes the class totally attainable and totally worth it. The perks outweigh the price and if I have the money, I’m going to upgrade from now on.
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The price: Cheap! It’s pretty killer. Flights to LA are as cheap as $40 each way and vegas round trip is around $109. I can fly one way to Miami / Ft. Lauderdale for $99 and round trip to NYC is around $250-$350 depending on how you time it. Yes it’s that cheap and so cheap that you can’t not fly VA if it’s available in your airport. They’re concentrating on the big cities and destinations for frequent travelers. ATL, DFW, Portland and Chicago are all excellent airports but geeks aren’t flying there. Adding Austin, TX would be great but that’s a pipe dream and something that probably won’t happen.
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Overall: I sat down next to a guy in First class on the way to Vegas last week. He was in his 50s, holding a kindle and sipping a Gin & Tonic. He said to me, “first time? you’ll never be able to fly with any other airline ever again.” After I got off that flight, it was apparent that he was right.
