Incubaker

Virgin America is Flying Ahead

Currently flying from JFK to SFO on Virgin America and there are a few innovative things here that are definitely worth noting. (For those who have recently flown Virgin America, this may not be news to you but if you see that I missed something please post it in the comments!)

Ambiance – For better or worse I felt like I was stepping onto a space shuttle the cabin was lit up with blue and pink lights, and sections were divided with tinted windows. Almost felt like I was walking into a techno club. I am on the fence about the ‘futuristic’ environment they have chosen to create, but it wasn’t a dingy cramped feeling that one often feels when getting on a plane. Plus the modern finishings some how made me feel safer, as if the plane had more recently been tended to.

Safety Video – This was cool. The safety video was drawn out like a cartoon, and built in some brief comedic relief. Very cute, but still informative.

TV /Movies/ Games / Music – Nothing too new here, but having on-demand movies, music, and TV is always great!

Food / Drinks – At any time during the flight you can tap on the on screen menu and order food or drinks to your seat. Genius. This eliminates the bottlenecks and chaos of Flight attendants carting those awkward food trucks down the aisle and gives people what they want when they want it. I literally tapped on coffee, plus sugar, and milk, and a few moments later my selection in hand.

Chatting – This really impressed me. There was a Chat Room available so I could use my controller (which had a built in qwerty keyboard) to chat to everyone on the plane who was in the room! I could also select individual seats on the plane and initiate a conversation with them. I often meet some of the most inspiration people on planes, so any ways to increase communication is great!

Shopping – while I am not a huge shopper and I do see this as a great business strategy for Virgin. People can browse through products and buy them instantly from their seat. What would be very cool is if while listening to the music I could order an album and have an email sent to me to download a digital copy of the album when off the plane. Or order the playlist I create to download on iTunes once landed. Also in the shopping section I was glad to see that Virgin offered the ability for people to buy carbon credits to offset the carbon footprint of their flight!

In terms of airlines, Jet Blue and Virgin are close competitors in my book. Jet Blue seems leaps ahead in customer service – got to love the jokes of the flight attendants and pilots!

The user interface for the media center on Virgin does leave much to be desired, but the functionality is there.

To all the other airlines out there…get your act together. Flying should be fun and easy, learn from your competitors in a time of decreased travel if you want to be the airline of choice you should live by the maxim “innovate or die”.