Archive for the 'Virgin America' Category

Virgin Adds PHL

Published
by
Dan Webb
on January 18, 2012
in Virgin America
. 2 Comments

After teasing everyone with six possible destinations, Virgin America has officially announced that its seventeenth destination will be Philadelphia. This spring the San Francisco-based airline will bring three daily flights to Los Angeles and two to San Francisco (the Airline Route blog breaks down the schedule).

As I wrote earlier this week, I really like this move. I think Virgin’s superior onboard product is most “valuable” (for lack of a better word) to travelers on long-haul flights, and Philadelphia fits the bill. Plus, I think adding another major East Coast destination will help the airline increase its relevance to West Coast (business) travelers.

It will be interesting to see how the competition reacts on this one. Naturally, one would expect US Airways to be a strong competitor on both routes, and the same goes for United on the San Francisco route (the airline recently cut its service between LAX and PHL). I’m most interested in Delta, which added a few weekly flights between Los Angeles and Philadelphia in October. It will be interesting to see how Virgin’s entry will affect Delta’s presence in the market (if at all).

Virgin also included a couple of interesting data points in its press release:

Virgin America will bring much needed nonstop competition from California’s largest airports to PHL….When entering markets that offer little low–fare competition, Virgin America has historically seen fares drop by up to one–third. In addition, 50 percent of travelers flying from PHL to the Los Angeles market now use connecting flights and 45 percent of those traveling from PHL to the San Francisco Bay Area are connecting passengers.

With those statistics in mind, it will be fun to watch to see how much Virgin can stimulate demand in these markets with lower fares, but also affect the mix of connecting vs. nonstop passengers. It also makes me wonder how Virgin’s entry has affected that mix with some of its other market entries — which is hopefully something I can examine at some point in the future.

Guessing Where Virgin America Flies Next

Published
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Dan Webb
on January 16, 2012
in Virgin America
. 5 Comments

Virgin America is nearly set to announce its seventeenth destination, and the airline has revealed six possibilities:

I’ve been thinking about these and taking a guess is pretty tough, mainly because I think Virgin will serve nearly all of these cities at some point.  I went back to my interview with CEO David Cush from a few months ago and that helped me narrow it down:

“Our strong sense is we’ll add one major East Coast business market next year, and then we’ll see what else happens,” David continued. “I would guess you may see one or two destinations in addition to a major East Coast business destination.”

While things certainly may have changed since then, that comment would narrow it down to Newark, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. While I think Newark is the destination that Virgin wants to serve the most, I don’t think it’s going to happen this time around. Slots at the airport have so far proven to be elusive for the airline, which recently tried to convince the government that it should receive Newark slots as part of the divestitures in the slot swap. Unless a deal has been struck recently, the new destination probably isn’t Newark.

Atlanta also seems like a good fit for Virgin, but I don’t think it’s likely to be announced tomorrow. While this situation might be a little different, I keep thinking back to how JetBlue wasn’t able to make Atlanta work a few years ago. Plus, there’s already a low-cost presence courtesy of Southwest/AirTran, and I’m sure Delta would be a strong competitor as well.

That leaves Philadelphia, which makes the most sense to me. It fits the major East Coast market label and has no competition from low-cost carriers. Plus, the Virgin product looks great compared to US Airways, which decided to remove IFE from its domestic fleet a few years ago. (It’s worth noting, though, that US Airways’ A321s have Gogo.)

But while I think Philadelphia is the most likely choice, I definitely think Newark, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all have a good chance of seeing Virgin service sometime in the next few years. Bozeman has me scratching my head a bit. I suppose it’s a possibility, but it doesn’t seem like a top priority to me. (I could be proven wrong, though!)

Virgin America Posts Opearting Profit in Third Quarter

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 21, 2011
in Virgin America
. 1 Comment

Virgin America earned a $16.2 million operating profit in the third quarter of this year, but swung to a net loss of $3.3 million during the quarter, down from a $7.5 million net profit in the same quarter last year. Operating margin slipped 4.8 points year-over-year, to 5.6%.

“Although higher oil costs weighed on our overall financial performance for the quarter, as a young airline still fueling growth, we’re pleased to see continued strong revenue performance and to have achieved an operating profit for the quarter,” said CEO David Cush in a press release.

Virgin’s operating cost per available seat mile grew 14.6% year-over-year during the quarter. Much of this increase was attributable to fuel costs, as fuel cost per gallon rose 42.5% year-over-year, to $3.25. Unit costs excluding fuel rose 2.1% year-over-year, an improvement over the 8.2% increase the company reported in the second quarter. Total operating expenses rose 51.5% year-over-year to $274.4 million. Total operating revenue rose slower, 43.8% year-over-year, to $290.6 million.

Total unit revenue, meanwhile, rose 8.8% year-over-year. Virgin noted, however, that “RASM in the carrier’s established markets improved by 17 percent year-over-year.” That measure excludes routes added within the past year.

It’s a bit concerning to see that Virgin couldn’t pull off a net profit in the third quarter, and obviously the airline needs to take more steps to become (sustainably) profitable. But the big story today is cash. Virgin said that at the end of the third quarter it had “$24 million in unrestricted cash and $42 million in total liquidity,” down from $26 million in cash and $53 million in liquidity at the end of the second quarter. That decrease isn’t great, but Virgin has now taken some big steps to boost cash and finance it upcoming deliveries:

Today, Virgin America also reports it has raised an additional $150 million in a new four and a half year debt facility funded in December, further improving the Company’s cash position. The Company has also obtained lease financing commitments for 13 Airbus A320 Family aircraft slated for delivery between October 2011 and September 2013. In addition, the Company has closed on a financing facility for the majority of its pre-delivery payment obligations (“PDPs”) due on the first 20 aircraft within its order of 60 Airbus A320s, scheduled to begin delivery in the summer of 2013.

Those moves should give Virgin America some more breathing room and flexibility to continue its growth plans, that will hopefully lead to more sustainable profitability for Virgin going forward.

Chatting with Virgin America CEO David Cush

Published
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Dan Webb
on October 27, 2011
in Virgin America
. 0 Comments

A few weeks back (September 30) I had the opportunity to chat with Virgin America CEO David Cush about the latest happenings at the California-based carrier. Unfortunately, life got in the way of me writing this entire up, but I’m finally done! Warning: it’s a long one!

I first asked David about the carrier’s upcoming seasonal service from San Francsicso to Palm Springs, and why Virgin was interested in this new short-haul market. David said that “the peak quarter for Palm Springs is the first quarter” which is also “the weakest quarter for about 80% of our network, all of the transcons for example, so it is counter-seasonal to the rest of our system, so it’s a nice place to put an airplane.”

David also noted that “it’s nice for us to have some short-haul routes too for operating flexibility, and when fuel prices are this high short-haul tends to do better than long-haul.”

I was interested in David’s mention of the seasonality of Virgin’s network. A few months ago Virgin added service to Cancun and Cabo, destinations that have stronger first quarters, and will soon be launching Puerto Vallarta flights in addition to the new Palm Springs service. With all of those new routes, I was wondering if David was happy with the seasonal performance of Virgin’s network.

While Virgin has been adding service to some markets that are strong in the winter, it has also been “adding service to Chicago and service to other places that have very weak first quarters, so it’s a bit of a race when we add additional winter destinations,” said David. He added that the airline is “happy with Mexico” and that “Palm Springs started very strong out of the gate, but we’re also going to have to find some additional strong winter destinations.”

With all that talk of destinations, I asked David what might be coming in the near future. He said that Virgin has “a lot of airplanes coming,” and is slated to have 46 aircraft in its fleet at the end of this year, and 52 in the middle of 2012. (Virgin had 38 aircraft flying at the end of June.)

“Our strong sense is we’ll add one major East Coast business market next year, and then we’ll see what else happens,” David continued. “I would guess you may see one or two destinations in addition to a major East Coast business destination.”

I was also interested in the airline’s financial position, especially costs. The airline posted an 8.3% year-over-year in cost per available seat mile(CASM) ex-fuel in the second quarter, outpacing a 5.3% increase in the first quarter.

David said that Virgin’s CASM performance should improve as it gets more aircraft flying. He said it is “extremely expensive” to bring  a new aircraft into service as Virgin starts paying rent immediately, and it takes roughly 45 days for a new Virgin aircraft to go through modification (to install features like the carrier’s Red system). In addition, the airline hires “20 or so crew members per aircraft,” and those new employees need to go through training. (To summarize: Virgin incurs a bunch of expenses that are related to growth are incurred before new aircraft get placed into service and start producing revenue.)

Since David mentioned the amount of time Virgin’s aircraft have to go through modification, I decided to ask about its new Wi-Fi based IFE system that is slated to launch late next year. I was wondering if the system would reduce total time in modification, and David said “our expectation is that could cut anywhere from a few days to a week,” but said a final number is “still to be determined.”

While we were talking about IFE, I was interested if Virgin would be retrofitting its existing aircraft with the brand new system. Virgin has yet to make a decision on that front, and David mentioned that there are “conflicting financial impact items” for such a project. For example, Virgin has to incur the expense of changing the interiors of the aircraft, but the new system “also takes over 1,000 pounds off the airplane, so we save a lot of fuel,” said David.

In addition, David said that Virgin would only do such a modification while the aircraft were undergoing their D-checks, and the potential project would add some time to that process. “If we can make the numbers work, then we’ll start retrofitting,” he concluded.

As I was working on this post, I noticed an interesting notice from the FAA that announced the agency is designating SFO a Level 2 airport under IATA guidelines (the next step, Level 3, entails slot controls.) The agency said the move “is necessary based primarily on runway capacity, existing congestion and delays, and expected increased congestion due to a multi-year airport construction project.” (You can read all of the details about what this means here.)

I asked Virgin about this change, and the airline’s VP of Corporate Communications, Abby Lunardini said that the move “will not impact our broader growth plans at SFO, and we believe the FAA action is a proactive step that will help to address any potential future capacity or congestion issues, as a result of the planned airfield construction starting next year.”

As always, I enjoyed speaking with David about the latest at Virgin, as I’ve really enjoyed following the airline grow and develop over the past years. While I’m excited to see what destination the airline will announce next, I’m most interested in seeing the carrier’s third quarter numbers.

Virgin posted strong 45.6% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter, but that was outpaced by a 48.5% rise in operating costs (which includes a notable 61.5% rise in fuel costs). Virgin posted a net profit in the third quarter last year, so it will be interesting to see if we’ll see a repeat performance.

A Quick Look At Virgin’s 2Q Financials

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 20, 2011
in Virgin America
. 1 Comment

Last week, Virgin America released its second quarter financial results, and recorded $21.7 million net loss for the period, wider than a $15.5 million loss in the same quarter one year prior.

Operating loss, meanwhile, slipped from $430,000 to $6.0 million, which resulted in 1.8 point decrease in operating margin, from -0.2% to -2%. But Virgin did add that its “mature routes (those flown for more than 12 months) were solidly profitable on an operating basis for the quarter.”

The San Franscisco-based airline’s unit revenues, as measured by revenue per available seat mile, increased 11.9% year-over-year, but this increase was paired with a 14.1% rise in CASM. Worthy of note is an 8.2% year-over-year increase in CASM excluding fuel. Virgin says this increase is due to “investment in the Company’s growth (training, people and aircraft in modification).”

There’s really not much to say here other than that hopefully Virgin’s financial results will begin improving…and soon…as markets like Chicago and Dallas continue to develop.

The one bright spot I can find is Virgin’s operating margin change – a decrease of 1.8 points – was less than most airlines. Then again, many of the other airlines that were reporting declining margins were still reporting operating profits – just smaller ones.

Some Interesting IFE News for Virgin and Southwest

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 14, 2011
in Southwest and Virgin America
. 0 Comments

This week, we’ve seen some interesting/exciting news on the IFE front that involves a couple of domestic carriers…let’s take a look.

First, Virgin America is planning to introduce a new IFE system to its customers starting late next year. The San Fransisco-based airline has selected BoardConnect from Lufthansa Systems, which “replaces complex legacy in-flight entertainment solutions via an onboard WiFi network,” Virgin said. The system features “a larger, high-definition touch-screen seatback monitor with full WiFi connectivity…along with the ability for flyers to use their own personal electronic devices to connect to the system pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight.”

Virgin already has a great IFE system across its fleet that is (in my opinion) unmatched in the domestic market. So, why upgrade? If I had to guess, I’d say that Virgin wants to stay as far ahead of the competition as possible, especially as carriers like American and United are making some improvements when it comes to IFE. Plus, Virgin is always advertising its superior guest experience, and a new IFE system only bolsters that.

But  it appears there are some cost benefits here as well. As Virgin notes in its release:

Most current IFE solutions are complex and hard-wired, making them expensive to purchase and install, difficult to maintain and often inflexible in use. Instead of connecting every single seat to the content server through several miles of cables, BoardConnect requires just a few access points.

Lufthansa Systems also outlines some of the cost savings of the system on its website, including a smaller investment up front and a 50-70% savings in maintenance cost compared to legacy systems. Lufthansa Systems also outlines that “the simple fact that less wiring is needed and more lightweight components are used results in a significant overall weight reduction, which translates into real fuel economy.”

“By skipping the wires, we save about 1,000 pounds per aircraft on Virgin America’s Airbus A320s which in turn saves a tremendous amount of fuel,” said Dr. Jörg Liebe, CIO Lufthansa Systems.

Anyway…I’m looking forward to giving this new system a whirl one day. A few months ago, Lufthansa Systems posted a video on YouTube about the new system that should give you an idea of what we could see in the future:

YouTube Preview Image

The next interesting bit of news comes from Row 44, which on Monday announced a new service for live Internet Protocol television (IPTV) that passengers could view on their own devices starting on January 2. That’s great, but the most interesting part of the news release was buried at the end:

Row 44 customer Southwest Airlines added, “Row 44 is a great partner for Southwest, and we are excited about the live television product inclusion in the Row 44 platform,” said Dave Ridley, Southwest’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Southwest looks forward to offering this content onboard our WiFi enabled aircraft later this year.”

Granted, Southwest already has WiFi on some aircraft…but this is an exciting leap into the world of IFE for Southwest! The only downside here is that power outlets cannot be found on Southwest flights. Granted, the airline isn’t as focused on transcon flights as much as Virign, for example, but my laptop wouldn’t last very long streaming video over WiFi.

Either way…the airline that has historically been known for frills is getting less…er…frilly.

 

A Quick Look at Some Virgin America Financials

Published
by
Dan Webb
on August 15, 2011
in Virgin America
. 1 Comment

I’ve been spending some time over the past couple of weeks with some Virgin America financials – specifically its latest (Q4 2010) balance sheet with the DOT.

Here’s an interesting data point – the value of the carrier’s owned aircraft at the end of 2010 was roughly $40.9 million. That’s down over $60 million than at the end of the third quarter of 2010, and only about $2.1 million higher than the third quarter of 2007, when Virgin began operating.

The latest decrease in this line item appears to be driven by sale-leaseback transactions. According to the carrier’s fourth quarter 2010 cash flow statement, Virgin generated about $59.5 million through sale-leasebacks during the quarter. During the same time period, Virgin saw negative cash flow $55.5 million to pay off notes and also received $35.2 million through the issuance of new debt.

A similar decline in the flight equipment line occurred during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to DOT balance sheet data, though Virgin’s cash flow statement doesn’t mention any sale-leasebacks during that time period.

Other interesting balance sheet data point — Virgin’s purchase commitments (an asset on the balance sheet) were listed at $38.3 at the end of 2010, up from $18.3 million at the end of the third quarter. If I had to make a guess, I would say the increase could have been driven by the carrier’s 60-strong A320 order, which was finalized at the end of December.

Hopefully more on these topics soon – unfortunately the DOT’s release of first quarter financial data is many weeks behind schedule, though supposedly second quarter numbers are still due next month.

 

A Quick Look at Virgin America’s Dallas Load Factors

Published
by
Dan Webb
on June 21, 2011
in Virgin America
. 0 Comments

Last week the DOT released March traffic data, and I figured it’d be worth doing a quick check of Virgin’s load factors at DFW:

Virgin’s loads were pretty weak at the beginning, but the trend is good. The increases seen in March are probably due to Virgin becoming a bit more established along with seasonality. And any sale activity (remember the Groupon deal?) by Virgin may have helped as well.

Which brings me to my next point – we have no idea what fares people were buying until the first quarter DB1B data comes out in a few months. (There is fourth quarter data available, but since Virgin was only in Dallas for a couple weeks of December, I don’t think it’s worth examining.)

It will be very interesting to check out the April numbers when they are released next month. Virgin added a third frequency from both LAX and SFO, so it will be interesting to see what that capacity boost did to loads.

(P.S. – Obviously JetBlue’s order is the big US news today…I hope to have some thoughts tomorrow or Thursday.)

A Few Thoughts On Virgin America’s First Quarter Results

Published
by
Dan Webb
on June 16, 2011
in Virgin America
. 0 Comments

A week ago Virgin America released its first quarter financial results. I was going to write about this on Monday, but decided to hold off and hope the DOT would release fourth quarter financial data this week so I could get some more data (Virgin doesn’t share a balance sheet in the press release, for example), but sadly that didn’t happen.

So, here are a some quick thoughts on the results….and once the DOT releases fourth (and hopefully first) quarter financial data in a couple of weeks, I hope to write a more comprehensive post on this topic. Anyway…

Overall, Virgin’s first quarter numbers weren’t exactly stellar. Its operating loss increased 36.4% year-over-year to $29.4 million, though this loss was on higher revenue, so operating margin stayed constant at -14.7%. The airline’s net loss grew by 25.5% compared to the first quarter of 2009, to $44.6 million.

Net profit margin improved slightly year-over-year, from -24.2% to -22.1%.

These numbers were a bit concerning to me, to be honest. Virign had posted some positive momentum in terms of profitability during the first three quarters of 2010, but that ended in the fourth quarter. The carrier didn’t reach its goal for having a breakeven year in terms of operating profit. I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a trend.

Total revenue per available seat mile was up 11.6% year-over-year, though Virgin noted that in mature markets – those that have been open for nine months or more – RASM increassed 20%. So one wonders how much of a drag markets like Dallas were on earnings. Virgin said that new markets represented 19% of capacity during the quarter.

Meanwhile, cost per available seat mile also increased 11.6% – and not surprisingly fuel was responsible for much of that. But CASM ex-fuel also rose 5.3%. The company says this was “as a result of cost of idle capacity, primarily new teammates in training and new aircraft being modified to Virgin America standards.”

I think the point Virgin is trying to make here is that growth can be expensive, which is absolutely the case. According to its news release, Virgin is “growing from 28 aircraft in service in the first quarter of 2010 to a projected 52 aircraft by the second quarter of 2012.” 35 aircraft were in service at the end of the first quarter of 2011. So with over 15 more aircraft coming in the next year – how will Virgin perform during this growth phase?

Virgin also reported it has $25 million in cash. That’s $5 million less than the fourth quarter of 2010. Interesting note in this area – Virgin said it sold and leased back two A319s this past December.

As most people reading this blog know – I’m a big fan of Virgin. They have a delightful product and they also seem to have a great company culture. But eventually the business needs to become sustainable.

Fortunately – I think Virgin has some good things going for it. The carrier has a great hard product that really sets it apart from everyone else. And as it adds new markets and boosts schedules in existing ones, Virgin becomes more relevant. But the persistent issue is competition – Virgin continues to enter crowded markets dominated by legacy carriers with much more capacity (e.g. LAX-DFW, SFO-ORD), which means Virgin has very limited pricing power, obviously creating margin pressure.

So we’ll have to see how Virgin’s financial results shape up in response to its growth. I’m especially interested in how Chicago and Dallas develop – though the fact that Virgin is offering triple points on those routes dims my optimism slightly.

As mentioned earlier – these are just my quick thoughts, and I’ll hopefully have more once the DOT releases more financial data.

Virgin America Looking at an Elite Tier

Published
by
Dan Webb
on June 3, 2011
in Virgin America
. 5 Comments

When I was on Virgin America’s inaugural flight to Chicago last week, I had a chance to catch up with their CEO David Cush for about a half hour. One of the topics I was wondering about was if Virgin is looking at adding some form of an elite tier to its Elevate loyalty program.

“We’re putting a lot of thought into that, and you’ll see something on that soon,” said David.

I then asked if Virgin was considering first class upgrades to elites. He replied that “in the coming weeks, you will hear more on this, but what I will say is any elite program that we do will not include upgrades to first class. We’re very protective of our first class…we want everyone to know who buys a ticket in our first class that the person sitting next to them also bought their ticket.”

He later added that, even with no upgrades, “we’ve got some very interesting things that will come along with an elite program.”

I’m sure some might be disappointed to hear that Virgin won’t be doing upgrades to first, but it makes sense. David told me that “we have 90% load factors in first class,” so there’s not much upgrade space to give in the place. Part of that, I’m sure is that Virgin has a small cabin up front – only eight seats on both the A319 and the A320. United and US Airways have 12 first seats on their A320s, while Delta has 16.

The other reasons Virgin has a good load factor in the pointy end? First, I think they have a compelling offering. Second, I’d argue that Virgin advertises first class upgrades pretty heavily. It’s now even possible to purchase an upgrade onboard.

In the future, I should ask David a bit more about that load factor. How many are purchases of first class fares, and how many are upgrades?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what Virgin offers here in the next few weeks.

A Few Thoughts on Flying Last Week

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 31, 2011
in US Airways and Virgin America
. 2 Comments

I was very excited for my travel last week, as I’d be flying out to San Francisco to be on Virgin America’s inaugural flight to Chicago O’Hare. The flight from Boston to San Francisco was great, as was the inaugural flight.

Unfortunately, getting home didn’t work out too well. See, Virgin offered to comp all of my flights, so I decided to try an ORD-SFO-BOS routing. Yes, it’s very much circuitous, but I figured I’d be saving some money and I would actually be productive during my flights thanks to Virgin’s power and Wi-Fi. I did something similar for Virgin’s Toronto launch last summer and it actually worked!

But seriously, next time I try to book a 30-minute connection, someone please talk some sense into me. The O’Hare departure left six minutes late, the flight ended up landing in SFO fifteen minutes late, and I ended up deplaning just as the door was closing on the Boston flight. To make matters worse, the next flight was the red-eye, which had no seats!

Since I had to be home for Friday morning, I began frantically searching for a way home. My best bet, it appeared, was a US Airways itinerary to Providence with a connection in Philadelphia that would get me in around 11:45pm that night. Fortunately, I decided to talk to a US Airways airport agent about it, who said that the SFO-PHL flight was delayed enough that I would end up missing my connection.

I continued looking around for options, and US Airways kept looking like the best one. I ended up booking an SFO-PHL-BOS itinerary. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a red-eye in the back of an A321, but it would get me home. The flight was much more expensive than I had hoped, but I did arrive as scheduled Friday morning.

So, I’ve learned my lesson. Had I had at least an hour layover, I would’ve been fine. But in the future I shouldn’t let saving a few bucks blind myself from realities. In this case, I should have just booked a ORD/MDW-PVD flight a few weeks before my trip and have been done with it.

Nevertheless, the trip was a very interesting one. Due to the fact of my extreme sleep deprivation during the week, I’m not sure if I have enough details to write up a whole trip report. :D But I will provide a few thoughts on Virgin and US Airways, and hopefully later this week I’ll have some more on the Chicago launch and some of the interviews I did while there.

Thoughts on Flying Virgin Ameirca and US Airways Last Week

  • Virgin America gets the little touches down pat. I was impressed to see that at Boston, the station manager’s business cards were available at check-in and at the gate. That tells me two things. First, Virgin actually cares what its customers think. Second, it’s willing to empower its front-line to deal with issues rather than have everything be dealt with at headquarters.
  • Another nice touch is Virgin’s kiosks, check-in counters, and gate counters. Apparently they’re a bit lower than those at other airlines, which makes them feel a bit more accessible.
  • Little touches are nice, but they don’t matter when the important things are off. For example, I arrived for my flight back from O’Hare a bit after 5 am. The Virgin check-in desk was supposed to be staffed by then, but no one was around yet.
  • Last week I arrived into Boston very early, and got to the Virgin gate area just before the first flight to LAX was set to depart. I was surprised to see the captain walking around the gate area and introducing himself to passengers. I doubt that’s really common an any airline, but that gesture was definitely appreciated by all.
  • The “wow” factor after flying Virgin America wears off after a few flights with them. That’s not a big deal – Virgin sets a high bar and you begin to expect that. (And hopefully, in Virgin’s case, that’s why you become loyal…)
  • When I missed my connection in SFO, the Virgin America gate agent was incredibly apologetic about the whole situation. I bet many employees at other airlines wouldn’t do that.
  • One possible opportunity for service recovery at Virgin – offering up access the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse, even for a fee (the lounge is currently open to First Class, Main Cabin Select, and Elevate members for a fee). That would certainly make a stay at SFO much more enjoyable.
  • I’ve been slightly disappointed with Virgin’s cabin service with my few flights on them. On the non-inaugural flights I’ve flown, I’ve always purchased some kind of snack or meal, and I’ve been a bit disappointed with the delivery. Basically, if Southwest can always deliver free snacks with a smile, I feel Virgin could do the same with a $10+ meal.
  • That said, one of the flight attendants on my ORD-SFO flight deserves mega kudos for trying to help with my connection. When I mentioned I had a connection, she helped me find space for my bag further up on the aircraft. Unfortunately I still didn’t make the flight, but she was very generous nonetheless.
  • I was pleasantly surprised by US Airways’ service on my flights. The flight attendants were…experienced, for lack of a better term. They just did their jobs really well. On my SFO-PHL flight, the three FAs who were mainly helping out in the back (I think that’s where they were stationed, at least) worked really well together, and one was particularly helpful in helping passengers find space in the overhead bins.
  • Somehow, just somehow, I was able to sleep for most of my SFO-PHL flight. I normally can’t sleep while flying, so apparently I was quite sleep-deprived.
  • My SFO-PHL flight was packed. I’m the fact that it was Memorial Day weekend helped, but it got me thinking how much US Airways’ West Coast redeyes feed the first bank of morning departures in Philadelphia.
  • The SFO-PHL flight was operated by an A321 in the Stephen Wolf-era colors. I have some great memories with that livery, and it will be sad to see it finally go away. The dark fuselage is still quite distinctive.
  • One can really sense US Airways’ on-time performance. Both of my flights began boarding earlier than scheduled.
  • The gate agents for the SFO-PHL redeye were announcing before boarding that overhead space would be out by the time the last zone would board, and started offering free checked bags. The fact that some passengers can end up with a free checked bag while others have to pay $25 just doesn’t seem right to me. Granted, I realize the airlines need as much revenue as they can get, but still…
  • Final thought on Virgin America – they have an amazing product, but sometimes the more comprehensive schedule of a network carrier comes in handy. Granted, my issues were completely self-imposed, but I still think my point is valid.
  • And one last thought on US Airways – the airline appears to have the basics down pat. It’s been great to see the airline improve its operation, especially in-terms of on-time performance. Now, it’d be great for the airline to start improving its product a bit, but it needs to be careful here, as the company uses its cost advantage to account for a revenue disadvantage. Either way, catching up to other competitors by adding first class to RJs is a great step in the right direction.