Through December 31, 2011, Urban Daddy is offering a 15% Virgin America discount code if you register for their giveaway here., which can be redeemed between December 15 and December 31, 2011.

Once you register you’ll be asked if you’d like to invite five friends, and if you do you’ll get a 25% off coupon code for a Virgin America flight.

The fine print is that the promotion code is valid for main cabin fares in the S, L, M, U, E, H, B, or V fare classes, for travel between January 3, 2012, and February 15, 2012.

That’s an awesome deal if you’re planning on flying Virgin America!

(Tip of the hat to Deals We Like)

This is actually a pretty decent deal. Gilt has a sale whereby you can charter a Virgin America plane (for up to 146 people) for a roundtrip flight on any of Virgin America’s nonstop routes, plus you can name one of their planes.

The cost is $60,000, which, when you break it down, is actually pretty reasonable given how much charters usually cost. That averages out to $410 per person roundtrip, which seems like a steal for a route like New York to San Francisco, given that a) it’s a charter b) you choose the name of the plane and c) it would be pretty damn awesome.

Not sure how they’d make any money on this, though.

So, who’s up for a Virgin Mega Do?

Virgin America has a pretty interesting new ad campaign whereby they have two twins fly the same route separately, one on Virgin America and one on the competition. Check out the videos below:

Katie and Chrise:

Larry and Gary:

Audrey and Maggie:

On one hand it’s a “cute” concept since Virgin America does offer a unique product that differentiates them from the competition, though the things they focus on are a bit deceiving, in my opinion. Complaining about the temperature on other airlines and that the movie “broke?” Talking about how great the “meals” are on Virgin America and that you can order anything you want off the menu without mentioning there’s a cost? Just seems they could have put more focus on the things that set Virgin America apart as opposed to ripping the competition, given that this seems pretty scripted to me.

Anyway, cute concept and I certainly had a few laughs (not sure if it was with the actors or at the actors, though).

What do y’all think?

Trip Report Index

My friend was arriving on a United Premium Service flights just minutes after my flight was scheduled to arrive. Fortunately US Airways and United both use terminal 7 at JFK, so I just waited for him at his gate. Once he arrived we took the AirTrain over to terminal 4, where our Singapore Airlines flight would be departing from.

We had about six hours before our Singapore Airlines flight and Singapore check-in wouldn’t be opening for another three hours, so we headed straight to the Virgin Clubhouse.

At JFK, Singapore Airlines uses the Virgin Clubhouse for their first and business class passengers. In theory it’s a bit disappointing flying Singapore Airlines first class and only having access to a business class lounge, though as I discovered on my trip on Virgin Atlantic back in March, Virgin’s Clubhouses are better than your average business class lounge. I was actually quite looking forward to comparing the Virgin Clubhouse in New York to the one I experienced in San Francisco a few months earlier.

In terminal 4 all of the airline lounges are located landside. For the most part this is bad news since you have to leave the lounge early to leave plenty of time for clearing security. At the same time it meant we could easily use the lounge even without boarding passes.

The good thing about the Clubhouse is that they have a list of all Singapore Airlines passengers that are eligible for lounge access, so as long as your name is on the list you don’t need a boarding pass to enter.

The lounge is located on the second level across from the check-in area, right next to the Swiss lounge.

Terminal

At the entrance we were welcomed and given a tour and explanation of the lounge, which I felt was a nice touch.

Lounge entrance

The lounge is beautiful, with plenty of areas to sit, either for lounging, working, or eating.

Dining area

Lounging area

Bar

Bar

The tarmac views were spectacular, both of the gates and the runway.

Tarmac view

My one major complaint is that the lounge itself is “open air” and not separated from the rest of the terminal, meaning you hear all the announcements and noise from the terminal.

Terminal view from lounge

My friend and I both hadn’t eaten a whole lot that day so decided to have a meal in the Clubhouse as soon as possible so that it wouldn’t interfere with our dinner on Singapore Airlines several hours later.

We sat down at a table and within moments a cheery waitress introduced herself to us and explained the menu. I ordered a Diet Coke with lime.

Menu

The menu looked fantastic, so I went with a shrimp salad, mushroom quiche, and best of all, butterscotch dessert.

“Laughing Bird” shrimp salad

Wild mushroom quiche

Tandoori chicken

Butterscotch budino

The pace of the service was great and refills were constantly offered. I would assume it’s tough to find “good help” at JFK given that they probably don’t pay their servers especially well and working in the airport as a waitress isn’t all that desirable, though the service was spectacular. I left the waitress a tip (I didn’t feel pressured to, though she was just so professional that it felt right) and my Diet Coke wasn’t once less than half full over the next several hours.

After lunch I tried to log onto the internet to get some work done, only to get this error message:

No comment…

It took a bit of help from one of the agents, though within about five minutes my internet was working just fine. Unfortunately the internet was incredibly slow, making it very tough to get any work done.

Around that time I decided to take a shower. The lounge boasts multiple spacious shower rooms featuring Bumble & Bumble products. The water pressure and temperature were also excellent.

Shower room

Overall the Clubhouse was awesome, much like the one in San Francisco. The service, food, and design of the lounge were all great. Comparing this lounge to San Francisco, I’d probably give San Francisco a slight advantage since the lounge is “enclosed,” meaning it’s much quieter and peaceful given the lack of terminal noise.

About two hours before departure we decided to head to Singapore Airlines check-in just to get a boarding pass reprint and ensure our bags were properly checked through.

Terminal 4 check-in

Singapore Airlines check-in

While there were long queues for economy, there was no one in the first class line.

First class check-in

The agent was friendly though had a puzzling expression on her face when I presented her with my handwritten baggage tag. After asking me some questions and making a few calls she assured me the bag would be checked through properly all the way to Bangkok.

Before she let us go she made us place our carry-ons on the scale. Singapore’s cabin baggage allowance is a measly 15 lbs. and suffice it to say we were both carrying substantially heavier bags. Believe it or not out of hundreds of segments in international first and business class, this was the first time I was ever asked to weigh my bag – and I’ve flown tons of airlines with very strict baggage policies.

Of course I wasn’t about to check my carry-on given how complicated the routing was, so as I placed it on the scale intentionally made it so only half of the bag was on the scale while the other half was hanging over. The agent didn’t bat an eyelash.

After that we had boarding passes in hand and decided to head to the Swiss lounge to see if they had faster wifi. Unfortunately we were only admitted to the business class lounge, though at least the wifi was faster, which is all we wanted.

The lounge was reasonably nice for a business class lounge. It wasn’t as nice as the Clubhouse and certainly wasn’t anywhere close to a first class lounge, though as far as business class lounges go, it was decent.

Swiss business class lounge

Swiss business class lounge seating

Swiss business class lounge

The lounge featured plenty of seating and a buffet with a variety of fresh items, like pasta, potatoes, fruit, desserts, etc.

Food spread

Food spread

About an hour before departure we decided to head towards security given that we were expecting long lines since many flights to Europe were leaving around the same time as our flight.

American Express has announced the newest partner to their Membership Rewards program, which is Virgin America Elevate. They’ll officially be a transfer partner as of October 5, 2011.

There’s no doubt that Membership Rewards needs new partners to remain a leading program, given that Continental OnePass will no longer be a partner as of September 30, 2011.

Unfortunately Virgin America being added as a partner is about as useful as a class about how to let people finish taught by Kanye West.

While the exact details of the redemption rates have not yet been published, the issue is that Virgin America bases their redemption rates on the revenue cost of a ticket. That means there’s no way to get a great redemption value. A $1,000 ticket will cost you about ten times as much as a $100 ticket.

The reason this is an issue is because American Express actually has a “pay with points” option, through which you can book any flight, and the number of points it charges you is based on the revenue cost of the ticket.

So the redemption value through transferring points will have to be considerably better for this to be even a little bit interesting.

American Express really needs some new transfer partners. They should be talking to programs like US Airways Dividend Miles. Given that US Airways consistently sells miles for less than 1.5 cents each, I can’t imagine they would be opposed to a partnership with Membership Rewards, which I imagine would pay them a similar amount for points. I also can’t imagine that Barclays has US Airways by their you-know-what quite as much as Chase has Continental and United by their you-know-what, so I doubt they’d have the power to stop it.

Last night I saw a pretty cool “Day in the Life of Richard Branson” show on Hulu. The reason I figured I’d share it here is because it takes place mostly at Heathrow Airport, on Virgin Atlantic planes, and at the Chicago launch for Virgin America.

Anyway, check it out (if you’re in the US, since I don’t believe Hulu can be broadcast outside the US). He seems like a pretty good guy!

All Nippon Airways’ Mileage Club frequent flyer program is transfer partners with both American Express Membership Rewards and Starwood, and I’ve transferred to them on many occasions. What makes them unique is that they have a distance based award chart, which makes them an especially great value for certain routes, like when flying from the East Coast of the US to Europe.

For example, a roundtrip award from New York to London is just under 7,000 miles in distance, and in business class that costs 63,000 miles through Mileage Plan. That’s either on one of their Star Alliance partners, or otherwise on their partner Virgin Atlantic.

That’s an amazing deal, given that New York to London roundtrip through Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program, Flying Club, would run you 90,000 miles. But there used to be something that made the deal even sweeter. Virgin Atlantic, like most non-US frequent flyer programs, imposed fuel surcharges on their award tickets, meaning in addition to 90,000 miles you’d be paying hefty surcharges.

As you can see in the example above, the taxes and surcharges come out to $794.30. Ouch!

What was interesting about All Nippon Airways is that while they charged fuel surcharges on most of their partners, they didn’t charge fuel surcharges for travel on Virgin Atlantic. So not only would you save 27,000 miles on the above award by booking through All Nippon Airways, but you’d save over $500 in surcharges.

I’m not sure if it was an oversight or intentional, though as of a couple of weeks ago that’s no longer the case. All Nippon Airways is now imposing full fuel surhcarges on Virgin Atlantic awards, and according to this post on FlyerTalk, the same award now costs around $800, the same Virgin Atlantic would charge.

The other strange thing is that sometimes ANA didn’t charge the UK luxury departure tax, which will run you about $192 nowadays.

Some of you may remember that I flew from San Francisco to London and London to New York on Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class last year. The mileage cost was 68,000 miles, and the taxes were only $153.60. No clue how they calculated them, but that’s what the computer auto-priced it at.

So the moral of the story is that if you have to fly Virgin Atlantic, you’re still better off going through All Nippon’s frequent flyer program than you are going through Virgin’s. However, what was easily one of the best award redemption values out there is no longer…

I received an email from Virgin America this evening offering a 20% bonus on purchased Elevate points through May 2. I haven’t looked at the Elevate earning/burning scheme in at least a year, though I recalled that you earned points for flying based on the price of the ticket, and that redemptions were also directly tied to the cost of a ticket, unlike the legacies, which award miles based on the number of miles flown, and also have fixed award costs (saver and standard awards, for example).

So I was curious, how much can an airline really sell points for, if redemption is based on the cost of the ticket?

While buying miles is almost never a good deal, there are some cases where it can make sense, even at the “normal” cost. For example, American sells miles directly for 2.75 cents without any sort of a promotion. For most of us that’s not a good deal, though at that rate an international business class ticket to Asia, for example, would only run you $2,750. In other words, there is the potential for savings.

I was shocked to go to Virgin America’s website, only to find that their usual sale price is 5.2 cents per point. Now, I could be wrong, but by my math, there’s absolutely no way to get more than 2.5 cents of value out of a Virgin America Elevate point, no matter how creative your math is. Furthermore, by buying points towards an award ticket, you’re missing out on the points you would earn from booking a revenue ticket.

Anyway, I’m not trying to single out Virgin America here, because in most cases buying miles or points at the “normal” price is a rip off. However, there’s always that hypothetical situation where it could make sense. In the case of Virgin America, though, I’m drawing a total blank. Perhaps if you’re a few points short (and even then it’s questionable), though that’s about it.

Even worse, the cost of transferring points between accounts is two cents per point. Given that you can at most get 2.5 cents of value out of an Elevate point, I really don’t see the point there either.

Virgin America should consider cutting the cost of purchased and transferred points in half, and they might have some crazy people bite while still making a killing.

Just a quick observation…

Introduction
Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse San Francisco
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from San Francisco (SFO) to London (LHR)
Virgin Atlantic Arrivals Lounge London Heathrow
First Class on the Heathrow Express – is it worth it?
Hotel Indigo London Paddington
SkyTeam Lounge London Heathrow
Qatar Airways First Class from London (LHR) to Doha (DOH)
InterContinental Doha
Exploring Doha
Qatar Airways Premium Terminal Doha
Qatar Airways First Class from Doha (DOH) to London (LHR)
Crowne Plaza London Heathrow Airport
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse London Heathrow
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from London (LHR) to New York (JFK)
Andaz New York Wall Street
Conclusion
—————————————————————————————–

At around 10:45AM I headed for gate 19, where my flight to New York was to depart from. The corridors leading to the gates (and the gates themselves) are narrow and almost like a prison facility, so I probably should have spent a bit more time in the lounge. Before you enter the “secure” gate area they check your passports and already rip off your boarding pass stub. While the line was long, there was an Upper Class line where there was no wait.

Corridor to gate

Now, my flight was scheduled to be a 747, though I noticed an A340-600 at the gate. I wasn’t sure if maybe the jet bridge from the gate we were at led to a different plane, as it was hard to tell, so I asked the gate agent if there was an aircraft substitution. She said there was not. I responded with “but this was supposed to be a 747 and that’s an Airbus 340, isn’t it?” She responded with “no, that’s a 747.”

Sure enough there was an aircraft substitution, which now explains why they were looking for volunteers to take another flight at check-in, since the 747 has about a dozen additional Upper Class seats.

A340-600 at gate

The A340-600 is a great plane, so I didn’t mind the swap one bit, other than the fact that I was in 15A, which is three rows from the back, and I was concerned about noise from the bar.

At about 11:15AM boarding was announced, and on I went.

Gate area

Virgin Atlantic 45
London (LHR) – New York (JFK)
Saturday, March 12
Depart: 12:00PM
Arrive: 3:05PM
Duration: 8hr5min
Aircraft: A340-600 (substituted for B747-400)
Seat: 15A (Upper Class)

After the long trek to seat 15A I settled in and was almost immediately offered a drink. The crew on this segment was equally excellent as on the outbound. I went with orange juice, and as it was served the flight attendant offered to describe the features of the seat again.

Upper Class cabin

Seat 15A

Upper Class cabin

Orange juice

The cabin slowly began to fill up, with a lot of dazed looks on peoples’ faces as they tried to figure out where they were sitting due to the aircraft swap. Most entertaining had to be the lady seated immediately behind me. She was an uppity, over-caffeinated New Yorker type, and outraged that they changed “her” plane. She said she always chooses 16A, which is in the nose of the 747, and didn’t like sitting so far back. We ended up talking for a bit, though she had me tired after about three minutes. Put down the caffeine, lady!

On my seat once again were the snooze pack and menu for this segment.

Menu and Snooze Pack

View out the window

I also love Virgin Atlantic’s boarding music, in particular “Rolling in the Deep,” which has been stuck in my head since the flight:

As boarding finished up Captain Simon (don’t expect that name in the UK, do ya?) informed us of our flying time of 7hr23min, apologizing for the aircraft change and any confusion that came with it. He also mentioned that there were departure delays, so it would be 10-15 minutes before we pushed back.

Shortly thereafter the departure announcement was made, saying that there were 307 passengers and 17 crew aboard the aircraft. The safety video then began to play.

Gate after pushback

Soon enough we were taxiing to runway 9R, where we took off after a US Airways A330-200.

Wonder who’s gonna win that battle

Number two for takeoff

The seatbelt sign was turned off a few minutes after takeoff and the flight attendants started setting up the galley and bar area, while one of the flight attendants offered scorching hot towels.

View after takeoff

Hot towel

The actual drink service started maybe 30 minutes after takeoff, at which point the entertainment system still wasn’t turned on. Not only that, but my electronic seat controls were broken, so I couldn’t adjust my seat. Apparently more passengers were having problems, so the purser announced she would reset the system, which she said could take up to an hour. Seriously?!?

Once drink orders were taken I ordered a Diet Coke with lime, though as is the norm outside the US, they took the liberty of swapping in a lemon. Drinks were served with crisps or some sort of ham dish with olives. I went with the ham dish and was later offered crisps, which I accepted as well.

Diet Coke and ham with olives

Diet Coke with crisps

Fortunately about an hour after takeoff the seat controls were working again, and 20 minutes after that the entertainment system was operational.

At that point meal orders were taken. The lunch menu read as follows:

Lunch

Starters
Oak Smoked Scottish salmon fillet with Tabouleh, tomato and herb dressing topped with pea shoots and shiso cress

Watercress and potato soup with a swirl of spring onion creme fraiche

Warm Breads
Your choice of warm bread rolls

Main Courses
Pork loin topped with glazed apple and Somerset cider sauce, course grain mustard mashed potatoes and sauteed cabbage and red onion

Pan-seared cod fillet with salsa Verde, buttered new potatoes, carrot ribbons and fresh asparagus

Fresh Macaroni, sauteed wild mushrooms and baby spinach bound in mascarpone sauce with cashew nut, feta and breadcrumb top

Dessert
Apple and Blackberry steamed sponge pudding with cinnamon crème analgise

New York style baked chocolate marble cheesecake with cherry compote

And the wine list read as follows:

Wine

Champagne
Champagne Pannier Brut Selection nv

White
Pinot Gris 2010 Spinsanti, Argentina
Falerio 2009 Saladini Pilastri, Italy
Chardonnay 2009 Domaine d’Antugnac, France

Red
Minervois 2007 L’Ostal Cazes, France
Pinot Noir Coastal Reserve 2010, Clava, Chile
Chateau Blanquine 2007, Bergerac, France

I went with the potato soup, salmon filet starter, and cod.

As usual, the table setup was pretty cool, with the little airplane salt and pepper shakers.

Table setup

Bread

The first course was the soup, which was quite good, despite not looking especially appetizing.

Soup

The next course was the salmon filet, which was excellent.

Salmon

The cod was somewhat dry, though the salsa made up for that.

Cod

After the main course I was offered dessert, and went with the marble cheesecake, which was excellent. I feel like I should start eating nothing but dessert on airplanes, as it rarely disappoints. Okay, maybe that’s not the best idea in the world.

Cheesecake

Once lunch was done I decided to watch a movie, and went with “It’s Kind of a Funny Story.” It was pretty funny, though not especially memorable.

Bar

Bed position

About halfway through the movie the flight attendants came around with vanilla and strawberry ice cream. I went with strawberry ice cream.

With about three hours to go to New York, I decided to take a nap. The flight attendants were pretty busy, so I did my own turndown service, which was easy enough.

Ice cream

I napped for about 90 minutes, at which point the flight attendants did their pre-arrival service. The afternoon tea menu read as follows:

Afternoon Tea
A selection of freshly prepared sandwiches — Chicken and salad, egg and cress or bacon, lettuce and tomato

Warm sultana scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam

Your choice of cakes from our cake stand — Chocolate brownie, Cranberry and orange woopie or lemon cupcake

I went with the scones with clotted cream, and ordered a tea to accompany them. I then ordered the mini cupcakes from the menu.

Scones, jam, and clotted cream

Cupcakes

About 45 minutes before arrival the captain came on the PA to give us updated arrival information. We started our descent about 30 minutes out, and the seatbelt sign was turned on a few minutes after that.

With nice views of the coastline we began our descent for an almost on-time arrival in New York. After a smooth touch down and quick taxi to the gate we were able to deplane, though sadly the Pakistan International Airlines flight beat us to the gate by a few minutes. The saving grace was that most of them were non-Americans, so the lines for US citizens were still quite short.

On approach

Pulling into the gate

Not surprisingly I got a couple of questions at immigration regarding my trip to Qatar, though I suppose it’s understandable, since it’s not exactly the most normal spring break destination. After the normal “who, what, where, when, why” questions, I was on my way.

Once through immigration I hopped in a cab to the Andaz Wall Street.

Introduction
Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse San Francisco
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from San Francisco (SFO) to London (LHR)
Virgin Atlantic Arrivals Lounge London Heathrow
First Class on the Heathrow Express – is it worth it?
Hotel Indigo London Paddington
SkyTeam Lounge London Heathrow
Qatar Airways First Class from London (LHR) to Doha (DOH)
InterContinental Doha
Exploring Doha
Qatar Airways Premium Terminal Doha
Qatar Airways First Class from Doha (DOH) to London (LHR)
Crowne Plaza London Heathrow Airport
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse London Heathrow
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from London (LHR) to New York (JFK)
Andaz New York Wall Street
Conclusion
—————————————————————————————–

How great can a business class lounge really be? Well, if you haven’t been to the Clubhouse, you’re about to find out.

I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 3 at around 8AM, allowing plenty of time to enjoy the Clubhouse, which I’ve heard so much about. While Terminal 3 isn’t modern, it does have bright neon lights that give it the Virgin “touch.”

Terminal exterior

Check-in area

I didn’t realize there was a totally separate Upper Class check-in area, so I just checked in at the one Upper Class check-in desk near coach check-in. The agent was friendly, though she had a concerned look on her face as she peered at her screen. She whispered something to her colleague, and then said “Sir, did you want to take the 9:30AM flight since you are here so early?” I politely declined, stating I had a commitment at 10AM, though out of curiosity asked if they were oversold. She responded with “yeah, we’re a bit oversold in Upper Class, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” So I stuck with my flight and with my Clubhouse invitation in hand, proceeded to Fast Track security. The Fast Track security for Virgin Atlantic actually leads to a special corridor, which I later realized is the area where I was also supposed to check-in. Sure enough there’s dedicated passport control and security, so lines were non-existent.

Upper Class Wing

To security queues

Terminal 3 might as well be a shopping mall, based on the number of duty free shops there are. The Clubhouse was maybe a five-minute walk, and required going up an elevator. The coolest part was that the elevator had a couch in it. Where else do you get that?

Terminal duty free

Lounge signs

Elevator to the lounge

The lady at the entrance checked me into the lounge and asked if I had been in the Clubhouse before. When I mentioned I hadn’t, she gave me a quick rundown of all the things to do.

How can I describe this place? It’s basically Disney World for adults. I don’t know why I had low expectations. I figured with the number of flights they have and number of people that have access to the lounge, it wouldn’t feel very exclusive. And actually, I was right, it doesn’t, it feels like a terminal. But what I was wrong about is that a really awesome, futuristic, premium terminal-feeling place is so much cooler than a stuffy, small, deserted lounge.

The lounge has so many individual sections that flow together perfectly. Instead of trying to explain the place, I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking, and will just hit on a few highlights.

Clubhouse seating area

Clubhouse lounging area

Clubhouse bar area

Clubhouse dining area

Clubhouse bar

Clubhouse seating area

Clubhouse seating area

Clubhouse pool table and arcade games

Clubhouse library

Clubhouse seating area

Magazine selection

There are waitresses roaming the lounge constantly serving drinks, though if you prefer a meal, there’s a sit down restaurant area. Since I was there in the morning, they were serving breakfast, and had a very extensive menu. I went with a bagel with lox, which was delicious.

Clubhouse dining area

Second floor seating area

Clubhouse seating area by window

Cathay Pacific 747 view from window

Virgin Atlantic 747 view from window

Breakfast menu

Drink selection

Lunch menu

Orange juice and coffee

Breakfast

One of the other nice things about the lounge is that they have a Bumble & Bumble Spa, where you can choose from a variety of treatments. I went with a 15 minute back & shoulder massage, which was phenomenal.

It goes without saying that this is the nicest business class lounge I’ve ever been to… by a mile. And while this isn’t as exclusive and the service isn’t as attentive as the first class lounges of Lufthansa, Thai, etc., it has something special to it. Don’t get me wrong, the Lufthansa First Class Terminal is amazing. The same goes for the Thai first class lounge in Bangkok. They’re both incredibly luxurious. But this place is honestly fun. Yes, given the option I prefer Lufthansa’s or Thai’s flagship first class lounges, but this is a close third. And that’s saying a lot, given that this is a business class lounge.