Gold_Member

Hi all

I've just returned to Australia after my North America trip. Within the USA, my flights were spread over almost 4 weeks as follows:

1. SFO -> LAS
2. LAS -> SFO
3. SFO -> SEA
4. SEA -> SFO
5. SFO -> JFK
6. IAD -> LAX

I was seated in First Class for all flights at 2A. Overall, my experience with VX was FANTASTIC. Particular highlights were:

- First Class seats were exceptional. The best I have ever sat in for a domestic flight in America or Australia.
- The service was pretty good, especially on board. The flight attendants were friendly, always willing to get me more drinks and made me feel very welcome and comfortable.
- The price of the First Class when I purchased my tickets made this incredibly good value.
- The food was nice, and drinks always a plenty.
- Check-in at most airports was a breeze, well presented and spacious. I was processed either immediately or within 2 minutes. At IAD for example, the lines for the other airlines went out the door without any movement for long periods of time. They would have been over an hour long.

I truly believe VX has redefined a new level of domestic travel with its new First Class service. Loads were about 70-80% on the West Coast, however flights to/from East/West coast were at capacity. I did frequent the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in SFO before my flight to LAS which was nice and made sure I got value for my dosh by turning up 2 hours prior to departure and absorbing as much food and drinkies as possible The Clubhouse was nice, albeit a little small, however the staff didn't seem very interested. Still, $40 well spent.

The only issue I experienced on a couple of occasions upon collecting my luggage was that the local airports didn't seem to prioritise First Class luggage. I suspect this is out of VX's control.

All in all, I am extremely pleased I chose to fly with VX and will do so again on my next visit to the States. Australian airlines could learn a lot from VX.

BTW, thanks for all your advice and posts on this forum. I used it to guide me in my ariline decision and other matters. If anyone has any questions relating to my trip or anything else, please post away and I'll get back to you!

Regards
Gold Member

eponymous_coward

That's interesting- do you include the Australian Virgin airlines in that? How would you compare VX to them in F? Theoretically, Virgin America and Virgin Australia can work together to some extent, as was pointed out in Time's article on Branson (second page):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...731888,00.html

nermaljcat

Virgin Blue do not have F. They have started rolling out premium economy that is really just an economy row with the middle seat converted into a table and a little extra legroom.

IMO - VX is much nicer, but DJ has a similar attitude and low pricing.

I guess the closest comparison to DJ in the US I could make would be SouthWest...

eponymous_coward

Ah, I was looking at the V Australia site, which DOES have Business class, so I figured the domestic airline has something other than coach as well.

I guess Southwest would have to have two-class seating if it ever went to flying TATL/TPAC routes (though that would have to be one LOOOOONG range 737.)

nermaljcat

LOL!

Could you imagine being stuck in a 737 for ~10K miles.

eponymous_coward

Not without sedatives, no.

I took my first trip to Europe in coach this year (LH PDX-FRA). I don't fit well into 17 inch coach seats (broad shoulders), and I have horrible times sleeping on planes without the aid of sedatives, but I was OK until about hour 6 or so of the return trip, where I actually started getting mildly claustrophobic and had to go out of my seat for a while- not quite full panic attack but to the point of "I'm about to scream my head off- why aren't we there yet?"

The lesson I learned is to save up those FF miles for business class seats on 10 hour flights...