GrayAnderson

We can start off with how I got here: Norfolk Southern has totally borked the Cleveland-Chicago line. Backstory is a royal computer problem that completely fouled up dispatching east of Chicago, but that's inside baseball that's largely of interest to railfans. The bottom line is that I decided I had close to a 75% chance of misconnecting in Chicago, something that was not an option for me.

The effective result is that on Wednesday, I will be taking my first "travel" flight (i.e. not just an out-and-back on a lark like I did for People Express's first flight in June) since 2014. I got all the necessary clearances from The Powers That Be Which Live Beyond The Spreadsheets in my life (in no small part due to the net cost of switching from sleepers on Amtrak to Virgin being...roughly neutral) to go Virgin First. So, question time:

(1) How's Virgin First? I've heard amazing things in passing and the photos make it look quite comfortable. Does this hold?

(2) How's Elevate as an FF program? I know it is pretty much a dollar-based program (I come from Amtrak, this makes sense to me) and I'm calculating the reclamation of on-airline spend as being about 10-11% at the base level.

(3) Should I consider the credit card? Realistically, if Virgin is as good as I expect it to be, I rather strongly expect to lock my flying off to them if I'm going anywhere significant on my own, if only as a to "skip" the Charlie Foxtrot that is a good chunk of Amtrak's east-west system (the LSL, Cap, and Empire Builder are all a mess...the joke is that the first two are just trying to make the Builder look good and succeeding)...but the $149 fee does make me blink. I expect to be flying First most of the time (this is basically a transcon-only option; even if they flew out of my local area to Florida I'd still take the train down there), and then mainly until Norfolk Southern gets its act together.

(4) How's the program with respect to Virgin Atlantic (and is Virgin Atlantic worth taking or should I look to fall back on either La Compagnie or one of the swankier BA services)?

transpac-canuck

Generally very good. Depends on the crew and the route, but they always have good snacks, usually have an attentive crew, the seats are very comfortable, and the boarding process is very consistent and straightforward.

On premium routes (e.g., BOS/EWR/JFK to SFO/LAX), they do linen service with multiple courses, three main course selections, and a broader snack selection, along with a few other touches before landing. It is at least as good as any other premium offering IMO, but usually with better crew.

This is well discussed in other threads, but in general, it's very generous with earning and redeeming on Virgin America itself. It is dollar based for both earning and redeeming, and any open seat is buyable with points, so I have never not used points when I wanted to.

Recognition for Virgin Gold members is pretty good. They are working on providing additional benefits (e.g., the new "Love Lounge" at Love Field is available to first class passengers and gold members only).

It's not like United Global Services, but it's as good as you would expect for a smaller airline.

I am a cardholder. It is fine. Comenity, the bank, is terrible. They reject charges for "potential fraud" every 5th swipe, as far as I can tell, and their website is straight out of 1997.

The core value of the higher-end card is free changes and cancellations for your flights. It makes it really, really easy to earn your annual fee back, since if you fly often, you change your tickets a few times a year. It's awesome.

But Comenity Bank only just instituted an auto-pay feature on their website a few months ago. Seriously: 1997.

Points earned on Virgin Atlantic are pretty stingy. I earned more than 2x Virgin America points on a recent coach SFO-EWR flight than I earned on a paid Upper Class ticket on Virgin Atlantic from SFO-LHR.

To their credit, the Virgin Atlantic staff did greet me after boarding with recognition for my loyalty to their "sister airline, Virgin America" and thanked me. Cute.

Hope that helps.

GrayAnderson

Very helpful. I'm...actually looking forward to a flight going somewhere for the first time in about a decade

Edit: One follow-up does come to mind...does IAD-LAX count as a premium market? I know the New York-LAX/SFO markets count, but I can't tell if the DC-LAX/SFO ones (or indeed Boston-LAX/SFO) do.

gooseman13

I want to say DCA-SFO counts, but the IAD flights don't. Don't quote me on that though.

GrayAnderson

I'll check into that for future use. Currently sitting in the Dulles terminal pondering whether any Old Ones were summoned during the design phase (not to mention the messy Metro-to-bus-to-airport connection). National would be highly preferable, but the ticket on that flight got snagged out from under me whilst my credit card was acting up.

GrayAnderson

The flight from IAD to SFO went well. Still wondering about eldritch terminal designs, but aside from that...I had a good flight. Dinner was pretty solid (I'd put it on par with what I'm used to with the Acela), the pre-takeoff Bloody Mary was strong, and the seats were actually pretty comfortable to sleep in. Also, I cracked up during the safety video/demo.

In short, Virgin is an acceptable substitute when Amtrak goes to hell in a handbasket.