Does Virgin plan to add lie flat seats to transcons?
Aug 24, 2015, 8:08 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,895
Does Virgin plan to add lie flat seats to transcons?
I think Virgin has the best economy and "economy plus" product going from NYC to LAX/SFO. However, for business trips, I am now entitled to fly business class on this route. For business and above. Virgin is now selling an inferior product for a higher price relative to American and Delta. Has Virgin discussed adding lie flat seating to its transcons or it is it just not in the cards at this time?
Aug 24, 2015, 12:21 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, UA Silver, Hilton Gold, Hertz Pres Circle
Posts: 1,509
Multiple times since Mint has come out, the VX CEO has said they have no plans to add lie flat seats, major reasons being: it doesn't make sense to have a subfleet when they only have 50 some planes, and while yields have declined they are not seeing a drop in LF on the premium routes. In addition, the drop in yields are in line with other carriers, indicating that its not so much as a product issue as a simple increase in capacity.
Aug 24, 2015, 4:27 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: Amtrak Select Plus, Marriott Platinum, Marriott Lifetime Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,123
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.3; en-us; HTC_T120C Build/IML74K) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)
But it is a product issue. I have picked Mint over VX F many times.
But it is a product issue. I have picked Mint over VX F many times.
Aug 24, 2015, 7:04 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 253
VX only offers 8 first class seats, which is significantly less than the 16+ seats offered by other carriers. This means that revenue from first class is less significant for VX and it makes less sense for them to service a plane to swap in new first class seats.
edit: and just to be clear. I don't know of any carriers that offer lie-flat in an a320 - it's just too small of a plane. Lie-flat is offered in a321s & 757s.
edit: and just to be clear. I don't know of any carriers that offer lie-flat in an a320 - it's just too small of a plane. Lie-flat is offered in a321s & 757s.
Last edited by blackllotus; Aug 24, 2015 at 7:39 pm
Aug 25, 2015, 7:40 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,895
For day flights, I would potentially choose VX over AA/DL if pricing was similar; however, VX is about $600 above for the dates I am looking at (I see nonrefundable business at $1,200 on AA/DL while VX is asking $1,800 round trip)..
Aug 25, 2015, 8:23 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
Something else to bear in mind is that VX offers their F product on all flights while for JetBlue it is a subset limited to a few premium routes. If JetBlue offered an F-ish product on a large portion of their system, that would be another story...but their "Even More Space" product isn't something I'm going to get excited about, for example.
Aug 25, 2015, 8:51 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA and everywhere else
Programs: VX Gold, UA MM, SPG Plat
Posts: 707
The hard product on VX isn't as compelling on LAX/SFO-JFK, but they do offer a fat superior F product into BOS, IAD, ORD, etc. That's the flipside of a consistent fleet.
As noted in other threads, the F product on premium routes has also undergone recent upgrades, including thick bedding and pillows, significant menu improvements and a few other smaller things.
Pricing being the same, I'll buy VX F over the others. Alas, I have also experienced inflated pricing on VX versus JetBlue and the legacies. I assume this is simply because they get a better yield at those prices, even when they don't get me in particular.
As noted in other threads, the F product on premium routes has also undergone recent upgrades, including thick bedding and pillows, significant menu improvements and a few other smaller things.
Pricing being the same, I'll buy VX F over the others. Alas, I have also experienced inflated pricing on VX versus JetBlue and the legacies. I assume this is simply because they get a better yield at those prices, even when they don't get me in particular.
Aug 25, 2015, 12:02 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, UA Silver, Hilton Gold, Hertz Pres Circle
Posts: 1,509
Not saying you haven't, but what they are reporting is that they are not experiencing yield drops that are any more significant than those being experienced by the incumbent carriers that do have a lie flat product. Leading to an overall belief that it is not product issue so much as a capacity one.
Aug 25, 2015, 1:39 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
Which is, in fact, why my last JFK RT was on AA. As far as lie flats, the only time I really want one for a day flight is if I'm connecting from a long haul int'l flight, and if I'm on VX, the odds of that are slim.
Aug 27, 2015, 10:52 am
#10
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
I tend to agree...for a flight experience not exceeding six hours, a "proper" recliner seat (what VX F offers) is quite nice; it's really only when the trip gets substantially longer that anything more stands out.
Sep 3, 2015, 11:01 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: SEATTLE, WA USA
Programs: UAL, AA, AS, CX
Posts: 1,973
Last Friday I flew EWR-SFO in VX F - and while good it pales in comparison to its competitors, true!
IMHO I'd rather fly AA (J) or DL (Delta1) ahead of Jetblues Mint followed by Virgin. Didnt think the VX F seat was cushy at all.
IMHO I'd rather fly AA (J) or DL (Delta1) ahead of Jetblues Mint followed by Virgin. Didnt think the VX F seat was cushy at all.