Originally Posted by
cryan71
So I finally did, even upgraded to first (using my coupons). Here what I thought compared to Virgin America:
1) No IFE -- you watch stuff on your phone or PDA. Not a fan of this.
2) Seats seemed smaller and didn't recline as much. However, I was really pleased that on the smaller jet had a first class. My seat didn't recline on the small jets operated by Skywest
3) Food on the real shorter flight BUR/PDX was for breakfast a fruit and cheese plate. For PDX/SLC was a hummus/tomato bread slices thingy. Really tough bread. It was the same on the return SLC/SEA flight. However, the SEA/BUR were better, a pasta dish, salad, and lemon bar. Still nothing as good as Virgin America.
4) Service: Really good, especially the SEA/BUR flight. I've noticed that a few of the VA FAs had attitude or just hid after food service.
5) No PDB (water on the seats)
I have to travel to NYC, but really confused about the miles earning process on Virgin to Alaska.
1. AS IFE is pretty awful. I would rate the domestic carriers in this order: VX > B6 > DL >WS > AA > AC > AS. (I don't ever fly LCC or UA, by choice. ) Twice in F on AS I've gotten the IFE tablet free and after 5 minutes I'm bored with the very limited choices, which are probably 10 % of what is offered on VX.
2.
This is the big one. AS seats are almost uniformly awful. The newest 737-900 coach seats are "slimline" Recaros. Stiff and completely lacking padding and a too short bottom. VX MCS seats are better for a transcon than any AS seat. Also, count on the AS birds to be uniformly louder than the VX Airbus planes.
3. AS catering can go from decent in F to an F full meal which could be beat by a mile on AF in coach internationally. Just an example. It will never exceed VX F - ever.
4. AS service can be quite good, but I have never seen a VX crew hide, with the exception of three or four flights in 4+ years on VX. All AS crew will take a break, just like all other domestic legacy carriers.
5. Water on the seats is the max. VX/AA/DL offer PDB in F. I have to say AA on my last 4 flights has definitely stepped up their game in F domestic. The crews were from St. Louis, not other AA hubs. Maybe the difference ?