They're mailing it in
Took a couple of Virgin America transcons last week - IAD-LAX-IAD. The flight crews were wonderful. The planes were clean. Flights were on time. Food in coach was excellent. But I noticed some things....
1) The IFE on the outbound flight lacked volume. You simply could not hear the music at all. Of course, even if you could, the music selections are only about ten percent of what they were two years ago, and only about half of what they were last year. No Copland, no Johnny Cash, no Allsion Krauss, no Bo Diddley. What used to be the best audio playlist in the history of air travel has become a desultory mix of a few leftovers and whatevers.
2) The option to upgrade on the plane has gone away. A year ago, you could use your VS Visa to upgrade from Y to MCS or F, and get a 20% discount for using your Visa Select on the plane. There were seats up front on my flightand I wanted to upgrade, but was told that the new systems won't allow that any more. You could buy a headset or a pen, but no upgrade. Bummer.
3) On the way out to LA, the plane was gogo-inflight equipped. Had purchased a day pass on the ground last year - never used it - and saved a few bucks by using it en route to LAX. Bought another gogo day pass at LAX for the flight back. But that aircraft was equipped with the new Virgin wifi. Not sure there's any way of knowing ahead of time whether your plane will be gogo or Virgin wifi.
This is small beer, I know, but I so appreciated all the little touches that made Virgin America my fave. Alaska can get you from here to there, and they are a dependable carrier. But Branson could put on a show, with lots of wonderful little touches. And now, it seems like some of that small stuff is being lost in the move toward merging the two airlines. Sorry to see that happen.