Good report. A couple of comments:
Originally Posted by
mpcrider
No problems there, but some of the SFO trains have VX listed in Intl Terminal A and other have it in Intl Terminal G (my flights arrived/departed from Intl Terminal A).
Are you sure about this? I imagine I've been on all of the trains and they've all said "A" (all of the VX flights are from A).
I asked if I would get my $50 charge back, and she said that no, it would show up as a credit on my account, as VX has a policy of not returning money (this might not be an exact quote). I was flabbergasted, but decided to stay in row 10 rather then let VX keep my money and not provide any service for it (I considered taking the forward seat and disputing the CC charge).
You may be confused about this. They give you a credit that's tied to your eleVAte account, and you can apply this to any future charge you would normally make with the ticketing agent (that's what they're called). This includes tickets, club room access, standby upgrades, premium seat upgrades, etc. I've had a couple of thousand dollars in these and have used them without a problem. If you're talking about actually "cashing" them out, you're correct, and you can't do that (same as B6 and others).
Other Red thoughts:
- I was disappointed that you couldn't save/retrieve playlists, as I had to create another one when I changed seats. Wouldn't it be cool if you could create playlists online and have them available at your seat?
There is currently a disabled feature where you can set up your playlist on a flight, and the subsequent times you fly on VX is will already be at your seat, based on your eleVAte number.
- The chat was cumbersome, as there's a lot of setup involved, and you need to know someone else's seat number. I didn't play with it enough to see if there is a "plane-wide" chat room, but if it was there it wasn't obvious.
The "plane-wide" chat room is the most visible choice (in my opinion). The seat-to-seat chat is an alternative option. The setup is not very cumbersome, as you just need to agree to not use foul language, etc., and then enter your name.
- The seat pockets seem pretty small to me as well. But maybe I travel w/too much stuff. Here's what I put in them: Bose headphones in case, bottle of water, magazine, sometimes trade paperback book.
It's not just you. The pockets are very small.
- Red seems to be very buggy. And annoying. For example, I pause a song, but still have my headphones on. The FA makes an announcement (which is sent through Red also). When she's done, the song unpauses. Who programmed that?
Typical bad-programmer bug. Interesting to note that the iPhone has the same bug.