hungarianhc

Hi All,

I think there are some threads about this, but I'm curious about those of you who fly extremely frequently and migrated from a traditional carrier (in my case, United) to Virgin America.

I think the United Clubs are awful, but I do value being able to get a cubicle at an airport and take calls, get work done, etc. I don't get upgraded much on United as a 1K, but I like that it could happen sometimes... I love that I have used my UA miles to get me all over the world like India, Thailand, Australia, Europe, etc. The global premier upgrades have been huge as well...

So for those of you who fly a similar pattern to me but have switched to VX, how has it been? I am based out of SFO. VX refers to SFO as a hub, but it's crazy to me that there is no lounge there!

unavaca

I'm an SFO-based UA 1K that started choosing VX over UA on overlapping routes this year. I haven't yet made status on VX, so I'm not really qualified to speak on the elite benefits of VX.

If lounge access is important to you, have you considered getting the Citi AA Executive card or buying an AA lounge membership? AA's T2 SFO lounge is nicer than UA's and (more importantly), it's in the right terminal. Plus, if you decide to ditch UA completely for AA, the card does give you priority boarding and a free checked bag, much like what you'd get with the UA MP card.

Eastbay1K

What are your VX city pairs you'll be flying?

SFO and EWR both have an AC in the same terminal. (Otherwise, the EWR terminal is such a pit that it is really unpleasant to depart EWR.)

If you're flying JFK, LAX and SEA, the Priority Pass is a good option, because
(1) LAX has a VX lounge that is PP affiliated,
(2) JFK has a PP lounge in T4 that is much better than standard domestic offerings,
(3) SEA has the AS BR and UA UC on the PP.
I'm not up on the PP lounge offerings on the rest of the VX network, except that pretty much all the UCs are affiliated, so if you're at an airport with airside access to UA, you have a lounge.

As far as SFO, I've always found the terminal spacious and just set up the laptop on one of the large tables full of plugs, and have never been crowded.

cringle

PP lounge...ha!

no2chem

Don't do it, unless you're willing to tolerate long delays, or fly only very specific routes that VX has.

My opinion, after trying to convert to VX:

- Their soft product is way ahead of other carriers. Especially F, and even MCS, which is kind of like J, kind of. The flight crew seem to actually enjoy their job as well, and it shows.

- As long as you don't compare to domestic lie-flat (e.g, p.s.), their hard product is pretty good too.

Now for the ugly:

- Did you think UA was bad for IRROPS? Think again. Since VX has pretty much no network, you can't really get rerouted anywhere. Also, since they have few planes, they can't just cancel a poor UX flight to get a mainline in. When things suck on VX, they really suck.

- Crappy schedule. The most frequent flights have a frequency of 3-4x max. So you'll have to live with VX's schedule, which may or may not work for you.

- Did you think the 1K desk was a joke? Well, try calling the VX gold desk, which is much worse. Even basic things like same day change on a refundable ticket was a bit of work.

-Yeah, they only have a lounge in LAX, which is, miles ahead of any UA/DL/AA lounge. But... it's not useful if you're never in LAX.

....

I think in short, unless you got 1K on united by occasionally flying first, you're probably better of either evaluating AA/DL/WN, or sticking to united. I got matched to VX gold last year, flew a couple of flights, and I don't think I've flown with them at all this year, despite having gold status till end of this year.

Last time, I was flying SAN-SFO, and the VX flight was delayed >3 hours 2 weeks in a row. I just walked over to the southwest terminal, picked up a ticket and left on a plane to SFO 30 mins later. So, yeah... IRROPS

unavaca

This is my biggest beef with VX and was the reason I swore off VX for well over a year after flying them for the first time in 2012. They have zero ability to book OAL for any reason (the opposite is true -- UA can not book VX during irrops), so any irrops tends to be rough.

If you like doing VDBs, it also kills that, too. I had the chance to VDB off of FLL-SFO, but punted as I would have had to overnight in FLL and take the single VX flight the next morning.

Irwin Alvarado

I got a status match from virgin and I'm very happy. They're getting all of my business (when the route I need is available). That's one issue, routes are still a little bit limited compared to legacy airlines.

but I mostly fly LAX to SFO-BOS-DFW so it works fine. I have to go to ELP and MEX on other airlines as well but it does't hurt.