Destinations

Recently I was invited to attend the inaugural flight of Virgin America from San Francisco to Seattle. While a brief trip at only 1.5 hours, this proved an excellent opportunity to learn more about the latest entrant in the low cost carrier community.

Overall I was impressed by the carrier and the service. All inaugural launches suffer from their own challenges, the most notable on this one being that the much vaunted and hyped entertainment system was on the fritz and unavailable for inspection. It was fixed in time for the return so I did get a chance to mash the buttons and play some “Doom” on the way home.

The Good

1. The Virgin brand is known for fusing Hip with Service, and I have found that to translate into VA as well. The flight attendants and ground crew are cheerful and helpful, two things sadly lacking these days in the airline industry. Like SouthWest in the days of yore, they make the inflight announcements entertaining and are known to crack a few jokes throughout the flight.
2. 120V power outlets beneath the seat. No adapters and no converters are necessary as you can plug in your laptop or recharge your phone with the minimum of fuss. I really wish other carriers would copy this.
3. On demand food service. A few clicks of the buttons on the intuitive to use entertainment system and food was delivered to my seat when I wanted it. Food was nothing special but I do like the convenience factor.

The “not-so-good”

1. The live TV service still has bugs in it. Frequently the satellite connection is lost or the digital service is scrambled.
2. Fix the bins for the bulkhead seats. I made the mistake of putting my cell phone and music player in there and they were nearly lost for all time as the bins are deep and quite narrow.
3. Internet Access on the plane is visibly lacking, given all the attention to entertainment and connectivity. The good news, though, is that this is scheduled for deployment later this year.

Making travel enjoyable is a tall task to expect of any airline, but it is a worthy goal to have…and a goal that many carriers seem to have forgotten. Virgin America is showing that it is fundamentally stretching to achieve that goal and for that reason I recommend it for business travel, vacation travel, as well as for family travel.

With in-flight internet already being tested on airlines and personal entertainment systems being installed at every seat, it’s appropriate to discuss a few etiquette tips for air travel. The airlines cram in as many seats a they can into the economy section, making personal space a highly-regarded commodity here. The general rule: be mindful.

1. Headphones don’t cancel out sound. Unless you’re wearing Bose headsets (highly recommended by the way because they cancel out all airline noise) then others around you can hear what you’re listening to. Be mindful to turn down the sound.
2. Use your armrest, not the chair in front of you when getting up. How annoying is it to be woken up during a red-eye flight by someone pushing off your chair to get out of their seat? You know you hate it when others do it to you, so use your armrest to leverage instead of the person in front of you.
3. Dim the lights. Do you really need the tv, your overhead light and your computer going at the same time? If you see your neighbor is trying to sleep then try to pass with the essentials.
4. Plan your restroom breaks. If you see that the flight attendant is coming down the aisle with the drink cart, then it’s probably not a good time to take a bathroom break. Unless, you feel like sitting on the lap of the person in the aisle seat as you try to finagle around the attendant.
5. Don’t be a chatty Cathy. It’s great that you want to be friendly with the person you’ve become so personally intimate with in the seat next to you (on most airlines you’re practically sitting on top of each other), but you should still respect their privacy.
6. Who gets the armrest? Although you shouldn’t be a chatty Cathy, that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to the person next to you. If you’re in the middle and they have an isle, be polite and ask them to share the armrest.

For more airline etiquette tips, check out Delta Airlines “Planeguage” videos. Have a tip you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments section below.

I was hoping my answer to this question would resoundingly be yes, but they face the same challenges as most US domestic carriers. We arrived at the airport 2 hours early for our trip from San Francisco to New York on December 23rd. Luckily, the Virgin America desk is located in the SFO International terminal and we were able to bypass the long security lines already reaching outside the domestic terminal.

Check-In: Normally I use online check-in, but as this was my first time on Virgin America, I wanted to see them in action. We used the kiosk for check-in which was smooth and then waited in line to drop off our checked luggage. After we were in line for about 10 minutes waiting to drop off the luggage, we noticed that there was no line for an agent. (I guess the airlines just have us trained already!) Each passenger is only allowed 1 bag up to 70 pounds and an additional bag up to 50 pounds is another $10. Even though I planned to do a lot of holiday shopping in New York I decided to forgo the extra bag. This practice is typical of European low-cost carriers, but is now making it’s way to the US.

• Score: 4 stars out of 5 due to the extra charge for a second bag

Comfort: The seats in coach class were the most comfortable seats I have experienced . The A320 planes are all brand new with black leather seats and glossy white plastic casings. The headrests are similar to those on international flights, which fold up on each side and move up for us taller individuals. Each seat has it’s own LCD monitor with entertainment system and headphones are handed out for free when you board (choice of earbuds or over-the-ear).

The only downside to the comfort was that when the seat in front of you reclines (approximately 5 inches according to the Virgin America website) you feel like a sardine. Even if you recline as well, the screen feels like it’s about 5 inches in front of your face. And, I am tall and slender, but trying to get out from the middle seat to the isle to use the restroom was quite challenging. Realizing this dilemma we tried to “upgrade” to premium seats (bulkhead or emergency exit row) for an additional $25 per person per leg, but they were sold out for our return flight.

• Score:3.5 out of 5 due to the lack of pitch in coach seats

Entertainment and Food: Now this was the best part of the flight. The entertainment center features satellite television, popular shows on demand, movie rentals (although $8 per pop), a full selection of music, and video games. Each seat also has standard electrical plugs (ours didn’t work), USB (for charging cell phones and iPods), and ethernet (not yet available). And, instead of the attendants crowding the isles with large drink carts and waking everyone up on long-haul flights, you can order your drinks and food (for an additional charge) right from your screen. They’ll bring it to you at any time during the flight.

• Score: 5 out of 5 for the tech gadgets and on demand drinks

Final Thoughts: Virgin America is on par with JetBlue and is great for business professionals and tech-savy dependent travelers. I’ll continue to book with them, but will definitely pay the extra fee for the premium economy seats with extra legroom.