Vision Airlines Experience



A sunny day at Fort Lauderdale


V2 664 FLL-VPS Lv1330 Arr1405 Boeing 737-400 N743VA
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Just a short report on an interesting experience on a new airline based in Fort Walton Beach/Northwest Florida Regional airport! Vision Airlines have transited from a charter airline to a scheduled airline with a base at VPS. Yes it claims to fly to Destin/Fort Walton beach, but in reality, it flies to Northwest Florida Regional airport! Don’t go to the wrong airport! In some way, the scheduled operation seems to start off from a bad note – a confusion on which airport Vision airlines indeed flies from. I am a bit hesistate to call it low cost airline, as it offers a complimentary on board service of non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, but then it charges for luggage and operates a bare bone operation from out station. Staffs at VPS are more properly dressed, but at out station, staffs are a bit laid back and have a very simple operation. I read about it at airliners.net and after reading a couple reports, I feel like that I should grab a flight before it reduces to its previous charter operation. Its business plan is a bit shaky. I have originally planned to fly its new Las Vegas flight and the fare is a low $69, but I missed the deadline so I stuck with a simple Fort Lauderdale to VPS flight then. It is a short distance flight and I can easily find back up flights back to NYC in case of anything happening to the airline. To be honest, the flight itself is alright, but of course things are a bit on the bare bone side – forget about inflight magazine or entertainment system. For a 75 minutes flight, it is fine. The loading on various flights based on my observation was fairly good – not sure it is a break even load, but seems healthy. Its passenger mix is a bit interesting but there are a number of local residents at Fort Walton Beach, who appreciate all these services.

Booking:
I booked the ticket through its website, which was fairly to navigate. I was able to get a seat assignment (exit row I got too with no charge), as well as prepaid for one piece of checked bag. I received an e-ticket through my email, shortly after completing the purchase. I really have no complaint here. The website is simple, but good enough for a startup airline. The ticket price is $124.50 including the $15 bag fee. Not dirt cheap, but acceptable!

Check-in:



I arrived at the airport about two hours prior to arrival, and it was easy to locate Vision Airlines counters, despite our flight to VPS was not listed on the departure board. I was able to find the counter, as signs were clear outside and inside of the airport. It basically uses Terminal One Concourse B and its check-in counters are next to Allegiant. The check-in line was rather busy because only one agent was working, and she had to coordinate information from headquarter. During my check-in, the agent was friendly but was also on the phone with the office getting load number from the inbound flight from VPS and our outbound flight, and confirming its flight status. I found out we had 96 passengers. The agent was efficient and friendly, despite busy. She was in a good spirit and thanked me for the business. I was surprised to see a real Vision Airlines baggage tag used on my check-in bag. I was also thankful that I prepaid one pieces of check-in bag.

Concourse B was basically Southwest/Frontier/Continental/Vision Airlines concourse, and was fairly busy, but security line was organized and I was through within ten minutes. I wanted to buy lunch and waited for the plane to arrive and to take some pictures. The inbound flight was running a bit late and parked at gate B8 at 12:44pm.

N743VA arriving at the FLL gate


A lovely Boeing 737-400


There was this annoying thing – the flight was not displayed at the flight information screen and even the gate B8 did not have a Vision Airlines sign. I think Vision Airlines should at least put up some temporary sign. The boarding experience was the typical affair – family and wheelchair first, and then board by rows – strictly enforced. The staffs were average, but I was really annoyed that they could not even get the flight number right and the destination right. This flight flied nonstop to Fort Walton Beach and then onto St Louis, while the agent announced the flight to Louisville and Fort Walton Beach. There was a little confusion, but most passengers seemed to be rather seasonal and familiar with this unprofessional boarding act. However Vision Airlines needs to hire better ground agents or makes sure FLL airport authority works on the proper sign and computer display. Boarding began at 1:07pm, and I was on the second group.