Virgin America, anyone ever tried??

[msr709]

I'm booked for travel July 6 to July 12 R/T from EWR to LAX on VA. Would love to hear anyone else's experience on this airline. I booked the Main Cabin Extra for myself (knee issues) and Main Cabin Express for the rest of my party, DD, DGS, DNc (right behind my seat). I always try using JetBlue but they only have stopovers and with my autistic 5yo DGS is not a good option so I went with VA. Anyone car to share your flying experience on this airline, I would be grateful.

 

[Bud Ice]

Virgin is wonderful and excellent in all respects. Has plenty to do and does it with class.

 

[Astylla]

Virgin America is a wonderful airline. We've only flown it once since we have to go to SFO and prefer oakland personally , but would again in a heartbeat if it was more available.
I recall we were flying back from somewhere..maybe anaheim and it was during the world series and everyone had the Giants game on since they have tv in the back of every seat and it was amazing flying into SFO.

I haven't heard anything but positive things from others too.

 

[SMD]

I've flown both between LAX and JFK, sometimes on the same trip. I give a slight edge to JetBlue. I think I paid $5 more for a checked bag on JetBlue. They give you free snacks, Virgin doesn't. Virgin didn't have any sports channels in the TV lineup, and I flew during the World Cup one time and during the NFC championship another. All of that isn't a deal breaker, a direct flight vs. stopover would be a deal breaker. I've had the flight rescheduled to a more inconvenient time on both, so that's sort of a wash. But mostly the difference is JetBlue just seems friendlier overall. Other than the fact that you have to pay for all snacks on Virgin I don't think you'll really notice a difference between them and any other airline. Unlike if you were to fly Spirit or Southwest, both of which do some things completely different.

 

[msr709]

I've flown both between LAX and JFK, sometimes on the same trip. I give a slight edge to JetBlue. I think I paid $5 more for a checked bag on JetBlue. They give you free snacks, Virgin doesn't. ...

I do know JetBlue very well and would've loved to fly with them but as I stated, they don't have any non-stop from EWR and VA does. The sports channels to us is irrelevant, no sports fan in our group. Not concerned about snacks either, we always carry our own. No checked bag fee for me since I have the Main Cabin Extra seat and JetBlue did start charging for bags now.. It was one of my favorite things besides EMS seats. Thanks for the replies!! Anyone else?

 

[Angrose]

Virgin is the BEST, be it Virgin America or Virgin Atlantic! They have absolutely fantastic service. They have satellite TV for free (like Jet Blue I believe) and you can also purchase movies. I loved the seat back menu ordering screen. Thirsty? Just touch the screen and order what you want and they bring it right to you. Love it! Plus the purple mood lighting is cool

 

[jetskigrl]

I have had only good experiences with VA. We loved the seat back entertainment when flying from LA or Orlando (you could text from one seat to another and my family had a blast doing that since our group was in two rows). And funny as it sounds, I do find the mood lighting on the plane to be very relaxing. So far - no complaints at all with them.

 

[lk2500]

I've flown Seattle-LAX four times on Virgin and we love it. They do have ESPN as an option for viewing as I recall.

If you time it right sometimes you can get the Main Cabin Select seats for just slightly more than the regular seats - and you get unlimited free food, movies, and a free checked bag. Sometimes the price on Select will drop abruptly if nobody has purchased them; so I'll start checking a few weeks from departure and then upgrade if the price is right.

 

[ParkHopper1]

I am a loyal Southwest weekly flyer and recently started flying Virgin for my coast to coast routes and love them. I HATE AA, Delta and United. Virgin has a great food selection if you are hungry...personally I value having good food available for purchase over free crap snacks.

Their standard cabin seats have the most room and width of any of the domestic economy class carriers.

The boarding and de-plane process is a much slower as Virgin customer base is more of the casual flyer and not the frequent flyer as the business crowd leans more towards the legacy carriers.

I am a fan...not gonna give up Southwest, but will take Virgin if they have a non-stop option to where I need to go.

 

[SMD]

I've flown Seattle-LAX four times on Virgin and we love it. They do have ESPN as an option for viewing as I recall.

They had ESPNews, but not ESPN or ESPN2 which were actually showing games. I didn't attempt to schedule my flight around any sporting events, but they did make it something like 2 1/2 hours later which screwed up sharing a ride to the airport and our hotel and there were quite a few people on board who wanted to watch the World Cup. Again, not a deal breaker, but you'd expect their channel lineup to include the major sports channel.

 

[bumbershoot]

I absolutely adore Virgin. If they hadn't scrapped their SEA-MCO run, and if they were soooo expensive, and if DH didn't have miles on just about every other airline for us to use, they would be my airline.

Virgin didn't have any sports channels in the TV lineup

Hmm. But...

everyone had the Giants game

Maybe that was on a normal channel?

But mostly the difference is JetBlue just seems friendlier overall.

So very much NOT my experience. My roundtrip experience on JB was so ugly that we won't go on them again.

I do find the mood lighting on the plane to be very relaxing.

Absolutely.

SEA-SFO-SAN...flight out of SEA was delayed at least twice. Last time they sent us off to get food until our "window" to SFO opened. Food was on its way, we could see it in the server's hands, and the announced (through the airport) that our flight was being boarded immediately. Server waved us off, everyone fled. Got halfway boarded and SEA was shut down b/c of someone who didn't go through security properly and they had to find her. Plane was searched twice as they looked for the lady. Then we were OK to get fully boarded. Then we had to wait for another window, all while sitting at the gate. And absolutely no one flipped out.

I thank the mood lighting. It was just so soothing.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have used Virgin A several times, newark or JFK to LAX. I liked them very much. I booked early last time, and got a Main cabin elect seat, I think for less than the regular seats, which was odd. All seats are pretty comfortable, and I would not need to book this for extra space normally. In Augist I flew VA to LAX, but used Jet Blue back to LAX, only because the flight time was better. Both are great.

 

[DizMe]

I flew them once last year, SFO-JFK. Loved them! I rarely fly out of San Francisco and almost always fly SW routes, but every now and then I need something else. VA was great! Highly recommend them.

 

[Avery's mom]

I have been flying VX since 2008, and for a long while, they were the only airline I really enjoyed flying. I will echo everyone else's sentiments that they are a joy to fly on - the website is easy to navigate - their Elevate program is easy to understand and use - the planes are clean and new - the RED inflight ordering system is fantastic - and let's not forget their adorable safety video at the start of the flight! Even my hard-to-please DH loves to fly on VX! When we upgraded to first to Cancun, he wished the 6 hour flight was LONGER!

We have since flown other airlines (and when we tried JetBlue we liked our experience there as well) more often, since VX doesn't go everywhere (darn it!) but when VX goes where we're going - we grab a seat with them. Even when the price is higher, we fly them happily!