Things in the Sky

Virgin America issued a press release yesterday and then sent out a correction as well. The first part of the release was that the airline is rolling out its Main Cabin Select product, which was previously delayed in getting rolled out. If you want to learn more, Cranky has two great posts on it – click either here or here.

The other announcement was the introduction of fully refundable fares, and the release lists the benefits:

Fully refundable up to time of departure;
Transferable with name changes up to time of departure;
Changes or cancellations are permitted without a fee until the time of departure, with the difference in fares either collected or refunded;
No blackout dates;
No minimum or maximum stay requirements (as with all Virgin America fares);
No advanced purchase required;
“No shows,” or reservations not changed or cancelled prior to departure,will be turned into a credit valid for travel on Virgin America for one year from the date of issuance.

OK, looks good, except in the correction, this was added:

Fully refundable fares are only available via the Virgin America call center at 1.877.FLY.VIRGIN (1.877.359.8474) or through travel managers and agencies. The previous release noted that fully refundable fares were available through the Virgin America Web site (http://www.virginamerica.com), which is incorrect.

The only question I can ask is…why? Fully refundable fares are generally more expensive than all the others, so isn’t it advantageous for Virgin to make it as easy as possible for customers to purchase the highest fare? Plus, Virgin charges a $10 fee for booking over the phone – annoying!

Anyway  I think I will ask Virgin about this one and let you know if they get back to me.

EDIT – They got back to me.