I flew the new Virgin America airline a couple of weeks ago. It’s been getting quite a few good reviews in the press, and their corporate website says they are inspired by “changing domestic air travel.” I fly LAX to SFO quite a bit and was told it was the hot new thing by one of the engineers I work with, so I figured on my next trip I’d check it out.
Well…it was okay. Their new Red interactive system is branded as beta, which I think is an appropriate status designation for the entire airline.
Here’s the good:
Checkin was painless at LAX. Virgin America is located in Terminal 5, which doesn’t seem as hosed as the dreaded Terminal 1, which I absolutely hate flying out of because the security lines are a permanent mess. I liked that there was a rep available to walk me through the self-checkin terminal, except when the printer jammed and my boarding pass wouldn’t print.
The cabin has undeniably cool lighting to it. If you like flying in something that looks like an ultralounge, this is the airline for you. However, this means that when it’s dark outside, it’s virtually impossible to see inside the cabin so getting to your seat might take some time. I hope they do something about this for early morning/late night flights.
Here’s the okay:
The “Red” interactive system is cool. A TV screen and detachable remote control at every seat which has satellite TV, on-demand music, on-demand videos, on-demand games (albeit lame ones) , ordering food from your seat, and the ability to chat with other passengers. It is, however, buggy. At times, the remote lost control of my Doom guy, and sometimes the music and videos wouldn’t load, and about a quarter of the satellite TV channels were out due to some sort of error. Nobody was on the chat system so I couldn’t really try it out. Red does get points for running Linux - I know this because it crashed and during the reboot sequence, Tux appears and it says it’s a variant of Red Hat.
Allegedly there are USB ports and power jacks at every seat too, but I couldn’t find them.
Coach class is just as uncomfortable as any other airline. Yes, the seats are leather, but it’s the same old story - your knees will knock up against the seat in front of you, and if that person reclines, it’s game over. Also, the magazine holder doesn’t open up enough to accommodate a water bottle. Virgin America certainly gets no points in this category so if you are seeking additional comfort without paying an arm and a leg for first class, look elsewhere, such as United’s Economy Plus.
Here’s the bad:
My flight back was delayed 2.5 hours. The staff at SFO were awfully nice about it, passing out free water and snacks while we were waiting, and pretty straightforward about what happened - there was some sort of clerical error and they had no pilot for the plane. That was a nice touch for them to be honest, but for me, delays are the kiss of death, especially when SFO to LAX is only about an hour or so.
Overall:
I get the sense that these guys are still figuring things out. Either that or I had a string of unfortunate events come together. I don’t think there’s anything super compelling that makes me want to fly them again, so I guess I will stick to a fallback of price, choosing between them and United on an ad hoc basis. I suggest you check out Virgin America for yourself, but as of right now, don’t expect the revolution in air travel that was promised.
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