FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about VX / Virgin America
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Q: Is Virgin America part of Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia?

A: No. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group owns 25% of Virgin America, 51% of Virgin Atlantic, and 10% of Virgin Australia. The rest of Virgin America is owned by private investors who are US citizens. Since Virgin America was created with the ideology of the Virgin Group, you will notice similar themes of corporate culture-- hipness, fun, irreverence. They have, of course, licensed the Virgin name and logo.

Q: Does Virgin America have a frequent flyer program? Can I earn/use my points on/from other carriers?

A: Virgin America's frequent flyer program, called Elevate, allows earning of points and redemption of points on Virgin America flights, Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin Australia flights, Emirates flights, and Singapore Airlines flights. Hawaiian Airlines flights are for award use only and do not earn points.

Earning Points for air travel on Virgin America are earned at a rate of 5 points for every dollar spent. NOTE: Only dollars spent on the base fare are used in this calculation (not fees, taxes, nor purchase while in the air). Elite members earn an extra 25% (Silver) or 100% (Gold).

Points for air travel on Virgin Atlantic (VS), Emirates (EK), Singapore (SQ), and Virgin Australia (VA) are earned based on miles flown, and fare class.

For Virgin Atlantic: Fare classes E,Q,N,V,X,O earn 10% of miles flown. R,L,U,M earn 20% of miles flown. Y,B earn 40% of miles flown. W,S,K,H earn 50% of miles flown. Z,I,J,C,D earn 60% of miles flown.

For Emirates: Fare classes B,G,H,K,L,M,Q,T,U,V,X earn 20% of miles flown. E,R,W,Y earn 40%. C,I,J,P,O earn 60%. A,F earn 80%.

For Singapore: Fare classes Y,B,E,M,H,W,Q,N earn 40% of miles flown. S,T,P earn 45%. Z,C,J,U,D earn 50%. F,A, earn 60%. R earns 70%.

For Virgin Australia: Fare classes E,N,V,Q,T,U,S,M earn 20% of miles flown. Y,B,H,K,L earn 40% of miles flown. W,R,O earn 50% of miles flown. I,D earn 60%. J,C earn 80%.

Redeeming Points are redeemed for Virgin America air travel based on the available fares on the flight on which you would like to travel. Every seat available for purchase is also available for redemption. The current rate of "exchange" between points and dollars depends upon day of travel. For all days other than Friday and Sunday, the rate is around $0.0215 of value per point. For example, if the one-way fare is $62 the number of points required to redeem is 2,884. This exchange rate (which is actually a small fraction under .0215) is consistent across all fares systemwide. For Friday and Sunday, the rate is around $0.0165 of value per point. Once a ticket is booked via redemption, it is like any other ticket in that you can upgrade it, cancel it or change it at the same dollar cost as normal.

Expiry Elevate points will not expire until 18 months of having no points earned in your account at all. As long as points are earned (using any of the methods mentioned above), your points will exist for an additional 18 months.

Q: What about earning with non-airline partners?

A: Hotel stay partners include Hilton family hotel brands, Marriott family hotel brands, Morgans Hotel Group, Virgin Hotels, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Thompson Hotels, Joie de Vivre Hotels, Viceroy Hotel Group, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Plumpjack Squaw Valley Inn, and One&Only Palmilla Los Cabos. Also included are booking sites RocketMiles and PointsHound.

Car rental partners include Hertz, Avis, Budget, Sixt, Alamo, National, Silvercar, and Carey.

You can also earn points in the "Elevate Fly Store", with points earned varying by merchant.

Q: Does Virgin America have a credit card that yields frequent flyer points?

A: Comenity Capital Bank offers two Visa Signature cards, regular and Premium.

The regular Visa Signature card is $49 and offers:
- 1 point per dollar spent
- 3 points per dollar spent on VX travel (in addition to the 5 points per dollar earned via elevate in general, for a total of 8)
- free checked bag
- indefinite deferral of points expiry
- 20% discount on in-flight entertainment and food
- $150 companion travel coupon annually
- 10,000 signup bonus points after first $1000 of purchases within 90 days of joining

The premium card is $149 and offers:
- 1 VX point per dollar spent
- 3 VX points per dollar spent on VX travel (in addition to the 5 points per dollar earned via elevate in general, for a total of 8)
- free checked bag
- indefinite deferral of points expiry
- 20% discount on in-flight entertainment and food
- $150 companion travel coupon annually
- 15,000 signup bonus points after first $1000 of purchases within 90 days of joining
- waived change fees on tickets bought with the card
- earn 5000 status points per $10000 spend, up to 15,000 status points annually
- status point rollover once silver or gold status is finalized for the year
- no foreign transaction fees

Q: Can I earn Velocity Points (Virgin Australia's program) or Flying Club miles (Virgin Atlantic) or KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines) miles by flying on Virgin America?

A: Yes. You can include your Velocity number or Flying Club number or KrisFlyer number in your VX reservation. These points are earned based on miles flown and class of service (notably unlike the way points are normally earned for VX flights). For Main Cabin non-refundable flights, you earn 50% of miles flown (100% on SQ). For refundable Main Cabin, and all Main Cabin Select fares, you earn 100% for every mile flown. For First Class, you earn 150% of every mile flown.

Q: Where does Virgin America fly?

A: Virgin America has two hubs: LAX and SFO. There is also a two-gate "focus" city operation at DAL, Dallas Love Field.

From SFO, they fly to/from SEA, PDX, LAX, SAN, PSP, LAS, AUS, DAL, ORD, BOS, JFK, EWR, DCA, IAD, MCO, FLL, CUN, SJD, PVR, OGG, HNL. DEN begins March 2016.

From LAX, they fly to SEA, SFO, LAS, DAL, ORD, BOS, JFK, EWR, IAD, FLL, CUN. HNL and OGG begin May 14 and June 5, respectively.

From DAL, they fly to SFO, LAX, LAS (eff 12/1/2015), LGA, DCA. AUS ends 11/30/2015.

From JFK they also fly to LAS and have seasonal service to PSP and FLL.

Q: How is Virgin America different from the network carriers?

A: Some major differences are: happier employees, a superior in-flight entertainment system (RED), on demand food, in-flight WiFi Internet, international style first class seating, service, and food (even on short haul flights), power outlets at every seat, and mood lighting

Q: What does the in-flight entertainment system (RED) do?

A:

- Live television from Dish Network (Free)
- On demand movies (some movies cost money in coach)
- On demand TV shows (cost money in coach)
- Games, including some multi-player (some cost money in coach)
- Large music playlist (free)
- Seat-to-seat chat (free)
- Plane-wide chat room (free)
- TV chat (free, allows people watching the same channel to chat about the program)
- Shopping

Q: What is on demand food?

A: Using RED, you can scroll through pictures of the different types of food available for purchase, select what you want, swipe your credit card, and it will be delivered to your seat within 2 minutes. The current coach selection is available at http://hungry.virginamerica.com

Q: Can you get a standby upgrade to first class?

A: Yes. If there are seats available 6 hours or less before departure, you can before check-in. The charge for upgrading depends on the flight distance: 849 miles or less is $79, 850-1499 miles is $139, and 1500 miles or more is $299. The best deal (longest distance within the cheapest category) is SEA-SFO, which still falls within the $79 upgrade. Some have said that you can do it *during* online check-in (OLCI), but I have found that to never work. In fact, if you get through the first page of OLCI, the online upgrade seems to not work. As long as there is a seat, you can upgrade to it. To do it on the web page, go to the page where you can manage the reservation. There will be a button that will allow you to check-in. Do not click it (yet), but note that it is there. Instead of pressing that, press the button that says "change seats". When you mouse over one of the first class seats, it should tell you how much the upgrade will cost, and it should be the price above, instead of the fare difference. Go ahead and select the seat and enter payment information. After you are all done and your credit card has been processed, you can check-in.

Q: Does Virgin America have in-flight Internet?

A: The original 53 planes have Gogo wifi, a ground-based service with a variety of pass purchase options. Beginning Sep 2015, Virgin America starts rollout of ViaSat high-speed satellite internet on i10 newly arriving A320's, with complimentary access til Feb 2016.

Although all aircraft are wifi-capable, service is not available over Mexico or en route to Hawaii.

Q: What's with the mood lighting?

A: When you board the plane, you will immediately notice the purple/pinkish glow from the LED mood lighting. Apparently, some psychologist advised the airline on the colors that will soothe people during different phases of the flight.

Q: What TV channels can you watch on Red?

A:
Q: Does Virgin America have any interline agreements?

A: Interline agreement is an old term governing issuing tickets and transferring baggage for inter-line flights on the same itinerary/PNR. Currently, Virgin America has interline agreements with: Virgin Australia (VA), Virgin Atlantic (VS), Aeromexico (AM), Air China (CA), Air New Zealand (NZ), Air Tahiti Nui (TN), Asiana (OZ), Cathay Pacific (CX), China Airlines (CI), China Eastern (MU), China Southern (CZ), El Al (LY), Emirates (EK), Etihad (EY), Ethiopian (ET), EVA Air (BR), Fiji Airways (FJ), Hainan (HU), Hawaiian (HA), Icelandair (FI), Japan Airlines (JL), Korean (KE), LAN (LA), Philippine (PR), SATA (S4), SAS (SK), Singapore (SQ), South African Airways (SA), TAM (JJ), Turkish (TK), and Ukraine International (PS).

Q: How is Virgin America different from JetBlue?

A: The major differences are: JetBlue has more legroom in coach, Virgin America has a more feature-rich in-flight entertainment system, and Virgin America has a first class cabin on all flights whereas JetBlue offers its Mint product for transcon service only.

Q: Does Virgin America have premium coach seats like JetBlue does?

A: Yes. Virgin America has what is called Main Cabin Select, which includes the bulkhead and exit row seats. These seats have much more legroom than the other coach seats (38" seat pitch), and when you purchase seats in this row, you get food and alcohol for free, priority boarding, dedicated luggage space, and free on demand movies, TV, and games. The cost varies depending on flight distance, and is not based on the coach fare.

Q: Can you get a standby upgrade to Main Cabin Select?

A: Yes. If there are seats available 24 hours or less before departure, you can upgrade at check-in (including OLCI) or prior to check-in. The charge for upgrading depends on the flight distance: 849 miles or less is $39, 850-1499 miles is $69, and 1500 miles or more is $129.

Q: What are the fees for checked baggage?

A: In Coach, the first through tenth bags are $25 each. In Main Cabin Select, the first bag is free. The first and second bags in First Class are also free.

Q: Can you get a standby upgrade from Main Cabin Select to First Class?

A: Yes. If there are seats available 24 hours or less before departure, you can upgrade at check-in (including OLCI) or prior to check-in. The charge for upgrading depends on the flight distance: 849 miles or less is $39, 850-1499 miles is $69, and 1500 miles or more is $169. NOTE: Oftentimes, the cost of MCS plus the upgrade fee is as much as a discounted F ticket was, and almost always more than upgrading Main Cabin to F! Also note that you do not get any priority upgrade treatment when you are going from MCS to F over when you are going from MC to F. It is strickly first come, first served!

Q: How does Virgin America's first class cabin compare with United PS?

A: Please see articos's excellent post on the subject

Q: When I try to use the "chat" feature of Red, it says that it's "currently unavailable". Why?

A: The flight attendants have an override which disables the use of this feature. They disable it when there are complaints of abuse. Unfortunately, this setting is persistent, so if they forget to re-enable it after the plane lands, it will still be disabled for the next flight. Let the flight attendant know it is still disabled, and it can be re-enabled.

Q: Does Virgin America have a lounge?

A: Yes, The Loft is at LAX T3, upper level (formerly the TWA lounge space long ago). Day passes are $30, or $15 for Silver Elite members. Access is complimentary for Gold Elite members. The Loft also accepts PriorityPass.

At IAD, SFO, and JFK, if you are traveling First Class on Virgin America, you can buy a day pass to the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class lounge. This pass costs $45 at IAD, $40 at SFO, and $75 at JFK. Service in these lounges is excellent. The food is very good, and there's top shelf liquor included. The lounges do not expand hours for Virgin America, so they are only open during Virgin Atlantic's flight times. At SFO only, VX Elevate members traveling in coach may buy the $40 day pass.

Finally, Gold elite members also get complimentary access to Virgin lounges in Australia.

Q: What type of planes does Virgin America use?

A: Airbus A320s and A319s.

Q: What are the change fees associated with changing your flight?

A: For coach tickets, you are charged $150 to change or cancel your ticket, unless it is a Western Region ticket (travel between AUS, DAL, LAS, LAX, PDX, PSP, PVR, SAN, SEA, SFO, SJD only) for which the fee is $100. Changes require paying the fare difference, if any. For First Class tickets, there is no fee for changing. Unused nonrefundable balances are kept in a travel bank for later use.

In addition, all tickets can be canceled fee-free for a refund within 24 hours of booking.

The same change fees are charged (in dollars) when reservations are made using Elevate points. You can change from First Class to one or more coach flights with no fee, but once you do that, you can't change it again without incurring the fee. NOTE: Some have reported that you can change a ticket from coach to first class without paying the fee, but that is undocumented. This was last confirmed as of 8/15/2008, but YMMV. You cannot change from coach to first class online. You must call reservations.

Q: Does Virgin America oversell/overbook flights?

A: Virgin America does not overbook or oversell their flights. There has been confusion because you can book a reservation when the seat map looks full and you cannot select a seat. This is because certain rows (row 4, row 9, row 25DEF, and row 26ABC for A320, and row 4, row 9, row 21ABC for A319) are reserved for airport assignment and cannot be selected beforehand. When the seat map looks full, there could be 0-18 seats left.

Q: What are the names of the planes?

A: Virgin America held a contest before their launch, to allow people to name their planes. The plane names are painted in the front.

A319s:
N521VA - Let There Be Flight, N522VA - The 1-Year-Old Virgin, N523VA - Contents May Be Under Pressure, N524VA - Dark Horse, N525VA - Virgin & Tonic, N526VA - Jane, N527VA - Tubular Belle, N528VA - Fog Cutter, N529VA - Moodlights, Camera, Action, N530VA - gogo Dancer

A320s:
N621VA - Air Colbert, N622VA - California Dreaming, N623VA - Three if by Air, N624VA - fRed, White & Blue, N625VA - Jefferson Airplane, N626VA - Unicorn Chaser, N627VA - Runway Angel, N628VA - Entourage Air, N629VA - Midnight Ride, N630VA - Superfly
N631VA - Chic Air, N632VA - Youtube Air, N633VA - The Tim Clark Express, N634VA - Mach Daddy, N635VA - My Other Ride's a Spaceship, N636VA - Airplane 2.0, N637VA - An Airplane Named Desire, N638VA - San Francisco Pride, N639VA - Air Drake, N640VA - Refresh Air
N641VA - Dotcomsecrets Air, N642VA - Breanna Jewel
N835VA - Arnold, N836VA - Spruce Moose, N837VA - Air VH1, N838VA - DFW One, N839VA - Myles from Connemara, N840VA - bytheway
N841VA - #nerdbird, N842VA - real steel, N843VA - ¡VÃmonos!, N844VA - sol plane, N845VA - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, N846VA - Glitter Girl, N847VA - Scarlett O'air, N848VA - bellapierre, N849VA - fly bye baby
N851VA - Friends Of Arjay Miller, N852VA - safady voyager, N853VA - mt. hoodie, N854VA - stand up flyer, N855VA - screw it, let’s do it
N361VA - jersey girl


Q: Does Virgin America sell gift cards like JetBlue does?

A: Yes. See https://www.virginamerica.com/giftCertificate.do

Q: I've heard the safety video is funny, but I've only flown in first class. How can I see it?

A: Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo
{editor's note: I think there's an error in the video when he says, "...tampering with smoke detectors isn't allowed by law..."
The way the emphasis is, it leaves the possibility that it also isn't disallowed by law. You have to listen to understand what I mean}

With thanks to aviators99, who originally Posted this - last updated 03 Apr 2012