Alaska Airlines to Keep Virgin America Perks

Alaska Airlines in planning to retire the Virgin brand, but not the amenities that come with it.

Thanks to increased market competition for Alaska Airlines – what with it expanding to cover Virgin America’s footprint and Delta encroaching on the airline’s market in the Pacific Northwest – customers may soon be feeling the glow of better amenities brought on by that competition.

When Alaska acquired Virgin America and decided that it would retire the brand, Virgin customers were concerned that the much-loved amenities on those flights would be disappearing as well. Luckily they won’t, and more amenities will be added to entice customers. Alaska intends to incorporate many of those perks into its own brand.

According to The Motley Fool, Alaska is planning changes to its gate areas, including playing music while customers wait and during boarding. And Virgin’s ambient lighting scheme inside planes will be replicated on Alaska flights—just rather than Virgin’s purple or pink mood lighting, it will be blue to stay on-brand. Customers also now have access to free chat services during flights, with complimentary Facebook Messenger, iChat, and WhatsApp. Free movies are available now as well. And in a leap ahead of where Virgin was, Alaska plans to introduce free satellite wifi to all its planes by 2020. It won’t be free, but it is expected to cost less than what Alaska is currently charging, and for better service.

Some of the Virgin America amenities will be changing, though – mainly first-class seats. Virgin’s first-class cabin was decidedly posh, with only eight spots and big seats. Now, those will be a bit smaller and more in-line with standard airline first-class seats.

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