{"id":356,"date":"2010-07-30T15:56:53","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T22:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=356"},"modified":"2010-07-30T16:00:04","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T23:00:04","slug":"virgin-america-does-it-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/virgin-america-does-it-better\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

\"virgin-america-airbus-a320\"<\/a>Admit it.\u00a0 The terrorists have won.\u00a0 At least when it comes to travel.\u00a0 The anxieties and realities of this post-9\/11 world have sucked almost all of the joy out of a day of commercial air travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I recently discovered, to my surprise and delight, that there seems to be one domestic airline that\u2019s making a valiant attempt to breathe some life into the air travel experience.<\/p>\n

For years, my big three airlines have been Continental, United, and Northwestern.\u00a0 Since my economic station in life condemns me to flying coach, I\u2019ve grown used to crappy movies, pathetic or nonexistent available food, and seats best suited for The Lollipop Guild.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imagine my shock when I showed up at the airport to board my LAX to JFK flight.\u00a0 It was to be my first time on Virgin America.\u00a0 And as I went through the various paces of my travel day, Virgin surprised me over and over.<\/p>\n

The very first sign I saw at the check-in counter game me a hint as to what was to come.\u00a0 These days every airline has a little placard warning you that if your carry-on bag is too large, you\u2019ll have to check it.<\/em>\u00a0 Virgin executes this necessary disclaimer with a bit of humor.\u00a0 Their <\/em>version of this sign reads:\u00a0 \u201cWhile impressive, if your bag is over the size limit, you\u2019ll have to check it.\u201d\u00a0 Granted, this is a small thing, but making me smile just a tiny bit while receiving this otherwise bland information was something I noticed.\u00a0 I realized that someone at Virgin was actually thinking about the flight day from the customer\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

Next was my seat assignment.\u00a0 \u00a0I got to the airport early, I was able to score an aisle on an exit row.\u00a0 For a big guy like me, the extra space this change brings is practically like getting an upgrade to business class.\u00a0 And here\u2019s the kicker:\u00a0 it didn\u2019t cost me any extra<\/em>.\u00a0 For years now, Continental and United have required you to pay extra for these very desired rows.<\/p>\n

The good news continued as I went to the gate.\u00a0 In addition to the traditional gate counters, I noticed that Virgin had an unexpected bonus attraction:\u00a0 Several customer service kiosks, featuring live humans . . . in the gate area!\u00a0 Just in case I needed any help!\u00a0 It turns out that I DID need help, as I\u2019d cleverly lost my boarding pass with my shiny new seat assignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even boarding the plane was easier.\u00a0 Unlike most airlines, who announce the various boarding groups through their garbled PA systems, Virgin\u2019s announcements were complimented by a large, clear video display reminding you which groups could currently board.\u00a0 Just got back from the long line at Starbucks?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to bother a dazed fellow passenger for an update about which groups are boarding.\u00a0 Just check out the handy video screen.\u00a0 Again, a small thing, but I noticed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once on the plane, it just got better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food: Instead of the choices being either \u201cNothing\u201d or \u201cThis vague chicken thing we\u2019ve just warmed up for everybody, \u201d there was an actual menu<\/em>.\u00a0 With, uh, what do they call those things?\u00a0 Oh, yeah, choices<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And instead of waiting until the flight attendants felt like doing the ancient ritual of serving the entire plane (sorry, the entire coach section) in one glacially-paced pass through the cabin, they respond to you<\/em> when you make one of those afore-mentioned \u201cchoices\u201d from the menu!<\/em>\u00a0 It was fantastic!<\/p>\n

And of course there was the personal video screen with a million choices for entertainment, free and otherwise, including, thank you, games.<\/p>\n

It really feels like the honchos at Virgin really sat down and deconstructed the modern middle-class airport\/airplane experience and asked themselves the question:\u00a0 How can we take every step<\/em> of this experience and make it better?\u00a0 Make it more elegant, or fun, or responsive, or whatever?\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t have been an easy project.\u00a0 But the results are telling.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019m telling you.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why I am now a Virgin American Frequent Flyer member.<\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.7<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 171<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

\n