Tell me about Virgin American Airlines

[minniecarousel]

Virgin American will start flying non-stop to MCO from San Francisco late in the summer. I am a white-knuckle flyer (I will not get on another flight without drugs!) Tell me all the good things about this airline. We won't spend an extra $200 to upgrade, but there must be great things in regular class seating, right?

Who has flown them and are you a fan?

Also, if you have nothing good to say about them, I want to hear about that too.

 

[vod2117]

VA is one of the newest airlines in the industry. I have not flown them, but have friends who have only good things to say about them. They are trying to compete with jetBlue but are outdoing them. VA has many things that other airlines don't offer in regular coach class. VA offers AVOD which is audio-video-on-demand. You can watch movies, live television, chat with passengers and play games with more. The food I hear is excellent and the seat pitch is pretty good in "main cabin" class. The only-con is the fact that when you get a glimpse of first class, you would have wish you paid the extra money!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

VA had it's first major issue recently during the heavy wind/rain storms in the North East. I think their crew is a little wet behind the ears still in some instances and they really haven't nailed down the best customer service skills. Their cabins look absolutely beautiful though, although I haven't had the chance to board one yet.

That said, Jet Blue and SWA have had their share of issues in the past in terms of customer relations, even when not being a newbie in the market.

 

[DisneyHoneyMoon]

I flew Virgin America in December across country. We absolutely loved it. The customer service was amazing. We were the last flight out of Boston during a blizzard. The flight was delayed but they wouldn't cancel it and got us out even though most other airlines were canceling all their flights.

The TV was better than JetBlue, the food/drinks were awesome, you didn't have to wait for them to bring the cart down the aisle, you just click your drink of choice on the screen and they bring it to you. The ambiance on the flight was pretty nice too, the lighting, the general atmosphere, it was great. If they had more flights out of Boston, I would take them everywhere. Unfortunately the hubs are all out west.

 

[minniecarousel]

Do they charge a lot for food & drinks? Do they have complimentary sodas/water? Do you pay for all of the video & audio stuff? or is some/all included in the fare?

 

[bumbershoot]

Love them! I am opposed to paying baggage fees, but I will do it just to fly VA.

Their media system has, supposedly, won awards. It's called RED, I believe. There are pay options, like if you want to watch a new movie. But it's mainly free. I like scrolling through the music, finding Madonna, and loading up my Playlist with her songs and just listening to them. That was especially fun in '08 when I flew to San Diego to see her concert.

They have a chat feature with their screens, and remotes so you can text (but you can also lightly tap the screen to go through the stuff if you must). For the '08 trip, my traveling companion and I wanted to gossip and had the aisle between us (best way to travel with an acquaintance...close, but a bit of space), so we just hopped onto the Chat feature and gabbed away.

I've only had one thing of theirs, and it was good, the cheese tray thing. I think it was $8. Good cheeses, but then I'm not an expert in cheese.

it's not stark yellow white lights on the planes; they have "mood" lighting where it cycles between pink, blue, and purple. Because of that, I believe that people are far more calm. During that '08 flight, our flight was first delayed b/c we had to stop in San Francisco, but there were nasty storms there. So we were waiting in Seattle for a good while. Then they suddenly had a "window" and called us all back...got us boarded halfway when someone went through Security without being checked, and the airport was locked down. We had agents on our flight two separate times. Then we had to be fully boarded, and then...had to wait for a window again. I feel strongly that if we'd been on a different airline, that there would have been loud grumbling. But there wasn't, and that's without any drinks being offered up! The lights were nice and really peaceful feeling, and soon enough we were on our way.

Oh, and they have the funniest safety spiel. It's on the screen, NOT done by the FAs. Watch for the bullfighter and the bull. Ha!

We're now considering getting from SEA to SFO or LAX, just to take VA for our WDW trip. We were going to use some of DH's miles for an Alaska nonstop, but...seriously, we LOVE Virgin America.


(one tiny drawback is that their miles expire. there are ways to keep them going, but none I can use just yet. however, that is a new thing, that you can keep them UNexpired, and i remain hopeful that eventually they will STOP having them expire altogether.)

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, and their seats are comfy-o-rama. And lovely.

I try to keep my eyes shut while passing through 1st class, so I'm not tempted to just throw hundreds at them to upgrade, LOL.

 

[cccdisney]

I have flown VA twice - both times from SFO to Orange County to go to the DIS Ladies Trip! I was truly impressed!

I'm planning a WDW trip in November and was excited to see they are going to start flying non-stop from SFO to Orlando. HOWEVER, the prices are outrageous! $400 roundtrip (plus luggage!) And our dates (Thanksgiving week) aren't released yet so they might even be higher.
As much as I'd love to fly them to Orlando, they need to be more competitive.

My dh and I paid under $250 rt in January on Southwest (they also don't have Nov rates up yet.)


Molly - just got an email and it looks like they are flying from Seattle to Orlando also!

 

[squirrel]

Prices from Seattle are expensive for my dates. Just over $880 for two people return. Not to mention only one flight available.

 

[minniecarousel]

I'm thinking that the price is justified when it's a non-stop. It's almost impossible to get a Non-stop from SFO or OAK to MCO. The only other one I can find right now is a night flight - getting into Orlando around midnight.

But.....we're talking about a trip 6 months from now! If it were just DH & I, I'd book it. But our younger DS & DDIL are coming with us. I told son that I'd eat the overage if we find a cheaper fare later on. Not sure he really liked that idea. And, what if the fare comes down? I guess that's always a gamble. SWA is a tough sell, since you can't get seat assignments & I'm such a white-knuckle flyer. I need to sit next to DH.

....what to do....what to do....

 

[bumbershoot]

The other drawback to VA is that you don't get a refund or credit if the price goes down.


Minnie, I have been on many many SW flights and have never had a problem finding a seat, especially if it's just two people wanting to sit together.

When I was flying "legacy" airlines, I had my seat *changed* more times than I can remember. So a seat assignment means nothing; they can change it at any time. To me, SW's seating makes it MORE probable that I will sit next to my family, because I can control when I check in, and if there are no seats up front, I just go further back and it's not a problem.

I love VA, but apart from the ambiance on the plane, SW is nearly the same.


VA's prices have fluctuated right along with Alaska and SW, I've noticed for SEA-Anaheim area, and I imagine they will fluctuate for MCO as well.



cccdisney, thanks for the info! I noticed that it's a flight into SFO and then on to Florida, and it's cool that they have it!