Comments on: Anyone Fly Virgin America?

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:20:48 +0000

I had a crappy experience with their flight from IAD to SFO. But I cut them a lot of slack for it since that was probably in the first week or two of starting that route. (I think I have a review of it somewhere on my blog. I flew them at Christmastime. Or did I forget to write it?)

The problems were these:
1) Mood lighting like I’m at a nightclub. If you’ve ever heard the song by They Might Be Giants, “Man, it’s so loud in here”. That describes it. The look was swankier than bars I’ve been to in DC.

2) Overheated flight. Perhaps due to the winter weather, I was sweating like a hog on the flight and so were my fellow passengers. We collectively had to ask them to change the temperature for us.

3) The stupid computers for food ordering. Very nice and while EXCELLENT in concept, way poor in execution. On the flight in and out, the onboard computers had to be rebooted. Very bad if you ask me. The controllers for playing games weren’t that great either. I was gouging a fingernail into the ‘touch-sensitive’ screens because they weren’t responsive or picking up when I pressed a button at all.

Upsides. Yes! There were some!

1) The music selections were pretty awesome. Much better than on other airlines.

2) The service was very good. They effed up my dinner order, but were kind enough to own up to their mistake and offer me a new dinner. However, I had torn through mine in about 5 minutes so it was way too late by then. But I appreciated the gesture.

3) I think once they work the kinks out of the DC-SFO route, it will be a very good alternative to the United Airlines non-stop stranglehold on DC. I’m happy to pay $400-550 on a non-stop coast to coast flights since the $300 ones were bombed out of existence by 9/11. A 10-14 hour one-way trip kills a potential 4 day weekend to visit my family, but a single 5-7 hour flight makes it possible again!

Just my two cents.

By: John

John — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:05:00 +0000

I flew Virgin America when they just launched on a flight from SFO to JFK. Had a really good experience with them. And you can pay for food with a credit card v/s struggling with $5 change like on most other flights. The in filight entertainment sytem is decent and the seats were comfortable too.

Enjoy your trip Flexo!!

By: Ellen

Ellen — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:01:33 +0000

I actually just flew Virgin America for the first time. It was a short roundtrip flight from San Francisco to San Diego, but it was still pretty impressive. Because it’s such a new carrier and Virgin was at less congested terminals, check-in and security took me less than 15 minutes both times.

The staff on both flights were extremely helpful and not at all stuffy like most seem to be nowadays. The entertainment system was down on my flight back to SFO, so they gave us vouchers for a free movie rental/drink/etc. I went to use mine to get a free drink during the flight and the flight attendant said to save it for a future flight and gave me the drink for free. I know this is a ploy to get me to buy another ticket eventually, but it was nice nonetheless.

Anyway, it was the most pain-free air travel I’ve experienced in a while. I definitely recommend them even if you pay a bit extra for the bigger seats (BTW – they have bigger legroom than United/Continental/etc. in their regular coach seats, as well).

By: Jason H

Jason H — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:50:50 +0000

The pricing structure for seat selection you mention is actually more common than you might think. Unless you are a frequent flier many of the legacy carriers now charge for the privilage of seats in exit rows or at the front of coach. United, US Airways, and Northwest are a few. Air Canada charges if you want to choose your seat in advance. Southwest, for all intents and purposes, charges more for guaranteed Group A boarding with their new Business class. I could go on, but I won’t.

By: Saving Freak

Saving Freak — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:44:49 +0000

Virgin is just breaking into the American market. They are known for better service while still providing low cost rates. One of the ways they do this is their pricing structure on seats. I think you will be more than happy with the service you get no matter which seat you sit in.

By: ondedline

ondedline — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:41:58 +0000

Never flown Virgin America, but my husband and I flew Virgin Atlantic to London in ’06 during the terrorist scare and they took very good care of us, getting us out of the crazy lines/crowds (we were in it maybe 5 mins) and making sure we got on our flight back to the states. We’ve said we would fly them again in a minute.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:26:03 +0000

Anca: That's probably why I haven't done so. I've gotten into the habit of automatically going to the airline's website directly; I don't even remember whether it's possible to book from SideStep itself. Yes, I check SeatGuru before selecting my seats always, and recommend it to everyone.

By: Anca

Anca — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:12:36 +0000

Uh, I don’t think you can actually book flights directly on SideStep.

And for anyone who hasn’t yet used http://www.seatguru.com/ to choose your seats, you should.