Virgin America Elevate - 100 points for online survey about wi-fi and RED

Just got the following e-mail:

GoAmtrak,

Thanks for flying with us recently. As we continue to improve the experience on Virgin America, we would appreciate it if you would provide us with some feedback. Please take our five minute survey and share your opinion by October 18. As a thank you, we’ll give you 100 Elevate points*, which will be posted to your account within 4-6 weeks.

Click here to take the survey.

Your feedback will be kept in confidence per our privacy policy.

See you onboard soon.

Virgin America

Terms and Conditions:
* All Elevate program rules and restrictions will apply.

I used the open-ended response fields to strongly suggest that wi-fi be made free for First Class and MCS guests.

I wonder who they are sending these too...I'd like to take the survey. What's the link? I last flew VX in May.

No static link. The survey is targeted and the link in my e-mail seemed to contain a unique identifier. I last flew VX in August.

they targeted people who have flown within the last 90 days.

they targeted people who have flown within the last 90 days.

Apparently not *all* people who have flown in the last 90 days.

definitely a random sampling - 10k-15k is my guess

I used the open-ended response fields to strongly suggest that wi-fi be made free for First Class and MCS guests.

It's call flying on VX between Nov 10 and Jan 15! :p

But seriously I'm sure making it free would mean increase in the cost of a ticket in MCS and First Class.

A good idea but I personally view the current first class and main cabin select product as a better seat with food and drink included and priority boarding and priority at the security check point plus free check bag(s). If they were to make wi-fi "free" than I can see them raising the fee to upgrade to First and Main Cabin select to cover the cost. Again, I think it's a good idea, but I also think that the Wi Fi service is an enhancement to the "experience" that not everyone is going to use and those that choose to use it should pay for it.

I'll pay for it when I want to use it and often time I just want to watch something on RED. I wouldn't want to pay more to fly just so the guy sitting next to me and browse the internet for free.

In addition, there is no incentive for VX to make wifi free in First Class and MCS since no other domestic carriers are offering it for free in their premium cabin. In addition, I don't see how Go Go will benefit from offering the service for free to premium guests.

It's call flying on VX between Nov 10 and Jan 15! :p

But seriously I'm sure making it free would mean increase in the cost of a ticket in MCS and First Class.

A good idea but I personally view the current first class and main cabin select product as a better seat with food and drink included and priority boarding and priority at the security check point plus free check bag(s). If they were to make wi-fi "free" than I can see them raising the fee to upgrade to First and Main Cabin select to cover the cost. Again, I think it's a good idea, but I also think that the Wi Fi service is an enhancement to the "experience" that not everyone is going to use and those that choose to use it should pay for it.

I'll pay for it when I want to use it and often time I just want to watch something on RED. I wouldn't want to pay more to fly just so the guy sitting next to me and browse the internet for free.

In addition, there is no incentive for VX to make wifi free in First Class and MCS since no other domestic carriers are offering it for free in their premium cabin. In addition, I don't see how Go Go will benefit from offering the service for free to premium guests.

There are practical problems with making it free for only certain people. They would have to generate special codes for those people, and they would have to only last for one flight.

But seriously I'm sure making it free would mean increase in the cost of a ticket in MCS and First Class.

Your post articulated very well many of the issues behind the bundling/unbundling debate in airline pricing. My issue is that VX specifically offers far more fee-based on-board services for coach pax than most other airlines do, largely through RED.

Normally, I'm all for unbundling and letting folks pay for the services they use. But I perceive a big part of the F and MCS experience to include an unlimited smorgasbord of on-board consumption, including food, booze, and premium entertainment (on top of the free checked baggage). The lack of fees is highly differentiated from the Main Cabin experience.

Even if the cost of a Go Go session isn't that high and not everyone would use the service anyway, making F and MCS pax pay the fee bursts the psychological bubble of fee exemption that makes the premium VX experience so awesome. (Though, if you choose to utilize the Clubhouse, I guess you've already paid one fee even before boarding.) But I tend to perceive things in absolutes, and I know that is not always helpful in airline economics. :p