Virgin America
The marketing campaign is working. I’ve been hearing about Virgin America from friends, word of mouth, twitters, and now on Valleywag.
But there’s really only one reason I am going to start flying Virgin America to and from the west coast and it’s laid out in this spot.
I do wish they had a 4pm flight from SFO to JFK. That’s the best option for getting back to NYC from the bay area without losing a day. And don’t tell me about the redeye because that costs me the next day.
Comments (Archived):
Hello, Fred.I’m glad the Virgin style is coming through to the “blogosphere” loud and clear. That’s the way we do things in our world: with the customer in mind. I’ll have my people look into that flight for you… it’s a good idea.Here is some more information on Virgin America:http://fakerichardbranson.b…andhttp://fakerichardbranson.b…Warm regards,Sir Dick
The guy with the orange shirt in 9E (with about 4 seconds left) is classic.I’m giving it a run at the end of this month out to SFO.
Is that you in the front left with the green ascot-type thing?
No, sadly they didn’t ask me to participate in their ad campaign.I would have done it for free if they gave me some round trips up front!Fred
OK. I was kidding. Or thought I was. Until I saw this: http://urltea.com/1p8s
seems like the business mdeol for airlines these days is, whoever has the newest planes wins for a while then gets whacked when novelty wears off?southwestsongjet blueryanairtedetcvirgin america?separately, its truly amazing that it has taken this long for simple AC outlets (“plugs”) to make it into commercial planes! thank you virgin america for raising the bar.
It’s amazing how many of those 4 pm flights they have done away with – yeah you get home at 1 am, but you sleep in your own bed and get a ful day in teh next day. Combine that with plugs and television and jet blue size seating and you have a winning combo. With all of that you can keep people hostage on the runway for hours – and they may neer even notice.
exactly
Steve Kane: What will be interesting to see is whether Virgin America is more like Southwest (durable profit margins for decades on end, almost regardless of conditions elsewhere in the industry), or most of the others you mention (interesting concepts . . . appealing products . . . unproven ability to keep it up for years on end).
Plugs!I’m still waiting for child-less flights.
Doesn’t arriving in New York at 6pm mean you’re going to spend 2 hours circling the airport waiting for a landing spot and another 3 hours in a car on the way back to Manhattan?
Its the 4pm flight from SFO that lands after midnight that I like. Generally no circling that time of nightFred
I’m flying them to Las Vegas in a couple weeks. Too short of a flight for the plugs to really matter, but I’m excited to see one nonetheless.
Virgin from london to tokyo is still the best flight I’ve ever been on. They do a lot of simple stuff that seems obvious that no other airlines have been able to figure out. Plugs, for example
That’s a funny ad! But hey, an extended battery for my laptop is lighter and smaller then the power adapter and it lasts through a 6 hour flight just fine.
My macbookpro battery lasts about 2 hoursI fly with 3 xtrasFred
Flying Virgin America at the end of the month to LA for Digital Hollywood. Was already looking forward to it but now I know I don’t have to worry about my old, crappy travel laptop’s battery dying!
This is the most amazing thing ever…I hate those adapters
Ehm… just wanted to point out that Singapore Airlines, even in economy, has all of this and much more. I travel a lot, and since moving to Asia even more, but with SIA it has become a pleasure, not a chore. Every time I come to the US and get an internal flight on a US carrier, I marvel at the difference. Hope Virgin can raise the bar for everyone!Cheers, Giordano
Branson is a marketing genius!
Fred,A little off topic, but I just heard about this on the news: http://www.peerfx.com It is a website that does peer to peer foreign exchange rates. Seems like a good idea. Are there competitors? Is there an industry for this? Maybe you could discuss it?Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the company.
What I am interested in here is the marketing strategy. They are giving us one thing, and letting the people who really care about that one thing carry the ball and spread the word.http://blog.see3.net/?p=256
I just flew VX from SFO-JFK and back, and while I agree that the plugs are a huuuge help, the thing that impressed me was how the staff interacted with the customers. Cheery disposition all around (even in JFK) and information freely available about boarding time, etc. In SFO, they had a staff member roaming around the departure area just “checking in” on customers. If they can make it last, they’ve got my vote – 4pm flight or no.
Unless you’re sitting in first class, good luck using your laptop. I recently flew JFK to LAX on Virgin America. While the whole “plug” thing is nice, the seats are too close together. When the person in front of me reclined, I could hardly open my laptop enough to see the screen. The whole experience left me a bit claustrophobic. I much prefer JetBlue.