I just rode on a Virgin America flight JFK-LAX, to try them out and see their product, and Red didn't work the entire flight. Lucky for me had a fully charged laptop and IPOD. I was free loading so I couldn't complain but I felt bad for some of the other customers. Is Red really as bad as some people make it out to be? Is this something that happens often or did I just not have the good luck that day?

The reports are becoming more frequent recently. I wonder if there has been recent patch that is causing the problems?

VX really need to fix Red. Does anyone know who developed it? I'm guessing it was outsourced to India or something... if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Did they give you any compensation for your trouble? I hear drink vouchers are the norm (and sometimes a $25 voucher in F).

Linux computer, built by Panasonic, running on AMD processor

Red was not working on my last two flights and I was really looking forward to using it. I hope they fix this problem because it should work more often than not, right?!

When people say "Red wasn't working" - can you be a bit more specific?

Were the Live TV channels not working? Could you listen to music? Order Food? Were the screens black the whole time?

We all know there are issues with the satellite reception, for live television, but are people experiencing total system failure? I never have witnessed that myself on any of my flights.

Red gives Linux a bad name! I have been using it (Ubuntu/Red Hat) exclusively for the last few years (8-12 hrs/day, 5-7 days/week) and it is very stable. Other possibilities are hardware, or more likely the software running on it (Red and/or device drivers).


Neither have I... I've been on a flight where it has been reset, but that's it.

On my flight the whole system crashed. Screens were black the entire time. I think the crew basically gave up trying to fix it. I couldn't blame them as they didn't develop the software and don't have a clue how to fix it, just like me when our system goes down. At least our system doesn't crash that often. Most of the problems that we face at JetBlue are dislodged wires or something that causes the picture not to display on the screens.

I spent most of the time talking with the crew. A lot of their crews are former JetBlue crews so we started to compare notes and what not. I don't think I could offer a true and honest opinion on them because I didn't pay to ride. I think if I had paid to ride I might have been upset that the IFE broke but working for JetBlue I know it happens as electronics are 100% reliable.

On 7/22, SEA-SFO (VX 735), Red had no power. At all. No TV, no music, no movies, nothing. And, equally as bad, the F seats are apparently connected to Red because the seats could not be adjusted with the automatic switches. Had to be done manually by the FAs.

What you are describing sounds a lot like a dark flight. No purple see through bulkhead walls perhaps?

on my flights (above) the FA's fully expected the systems to work, but they didn't, meaning there was no video period - no movies, tv, nothing. I still like VA though!!!

Thankfully, my outages have only occurred on SFO-LAX route (once) and SAN-SFO (once). The TV was out and the games froze up on the former. Too short to complain as I had a few magazines with me. My cross country flights have not had any issues.

I asked the crew if that was the "Dark" plane that people refered to and they said no. They couldn't get the system to work and didn't know what ws wrong. 99.99999% of the time, for JetBlue, a cycle of the overhead power switch does the trick and reboots the system. I've gotten pretty good with fixing our system so usually my flights have working systems.

Overall I thought Virgin America was pretty good. The flight wasn't full so I was able to spread out. I think the seats are still pretty new and not "broken in" yet as I just could not get comfortable in them, no matter which was I sat or leaned. I didn't care for the mood lighting in the cabin but that is just my preference. I like my lights 1 of 2 ways, on or off, not in between I can see how people like them and the type of airline they are. I think they are a lot like us, should be since most of their management and crews hail from JetBlue. Cool, hip airline that provides a better service than some of the legacy carriers. I do worry about their obsession with Transcon flying. We can't make money on a lot of those flights but they are still moving ahead with furthur transcon expansion plans. Maybe they are hoping more capacity is reduced which will allow them to pick up more people and raise fares. Who knows but I wish them the best.

It's good to hear that you enjoyed it. I know you are a B6 champion. I hope you'll try it again. It's very uncommon that Red isn't working on transcon. I don't suppose you got a peek at the ship #? I had problems on 633 last week where they couldn't fix it.

I specifically asked if it was aircraft 524 and the FA replied no. The purple and pinkish lights worked just fine. No disco music though.

Have you considered crossing over to the Dark Side? VX are hiring FA's... And it sounds like you care enough about your job to be good at it (you're also on FT to begin with) =]

I would think about making the switch...but I have several factors working against me.

1) I live in the midwest and commute to work. I don't know if VX has the same agreements the B6 has in place for me to get to/from work.

2) I like the situation that I am in now with Jetblue

3) Early in 2009 I will be leaving JetBlue to go and fly for the US Navy

Soooo reason 3 is the biggest factor but I enjoyed my time riding on VX and would do so again if given the oppurtunity, or if UA's PS flights were full