Alaska ditching Virgin's great first class

Old Mar 22, 2017, 6:53 pm
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Alaska ditching Virgin's great first class

Alaska will ditch Virgin America's industry-leading (save transcons) 55-inch-pitch 8 first class recliner seats in favor of 12 standard domestic F 41-inch-pitch first class seats.



https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2017-...for-the-future
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 7:41 pm
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They're also adding 2 FC seats to each plane and allowing elites to upgrade for free. Plus you'll be able to order food before your flight.
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 8:09 pm
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They will have to give free upgrades...who in their right mind would pay to sit in those crappiy seats?
So sad....Mint here I come! Glad it's being expanded to more markets from SFO before this happens.

Last edited by mmaster737; Mar 22, 2017 at 10:18 pm
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 8:16 pm
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Originally Posted by QXflyer
They're also adding 2 FC seats to each plane and allowing elites to upgrade for free. Plus you'll be able to order food before your flight.
Pre-order to not, it's still crappy AS food.
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 8:23 pm
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Originally Posted by Colin
Alaska will ditch Virgin America's industry-leading (save transcons) 55-inch-pitch 8 first class recliner seats in favor of 12 standard domestic F 41-inch-pitch first class seats.



https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2017-...for-the-future
I'm a little disappointed that Alaska won't be keeping more of the VX feel in first class. I mean the current Alaska FC seat is 41" pitch, so only a downgrade here. Enjoy the Virgin America airline while it's still around (limited time only).
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 8:31 pm
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Mods might want to rename the thread to something more descriptive.(Virgin Brand to be discontinued) is one idea, and combine comments into one thread.
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 10:07 pm
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Originally Posted by QXflyer
They're also adding 2 FC seats to each plane and allowing elites to upgrade for free. Plus you'll be able to order food before your flight.
They are adding 4 FC seats to each VX plane I believe.
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Old Mar 22, 2017, 10:23 pm
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The new design looks so corporate and boring. Absolutely uninspired. They couldn't even keep the purple mood lighting? Or any hints of red?
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 12:52 am
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Originally Posted by keitherson
The new design looks so corporate and boring. Absolutely uninspired. They couldn't even keep the purple mood lighting? Or any hints of red?
Those colors are inconsistent with the AS brand, and the goal is to pay homage to what makes VX great without confusing the brand message. So, mood lighting stays - it's just blue instead of purple.
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 1:06 am
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The news release says this seating will start 4th Q of 2018. Hopefully not sooner... We shall see!
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 1:13 am
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No problem with the change in mood lighting, but the hard product could definitely be better, not to mention the food.
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 1:38 am
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Here is what Virgin Aus 737 looks like, Alaska take note!



What a sad day for this great carrier and more importantly a sad day for product innovation in general. It actually really annoys me that the big corporate guy is taking over the hip little guy. Virgin offers a great product differentiation across all its carriers of VS, VX, VA.

Why are your carriers in the USA so corporate and boring? Looking at the pic in that article is typical Legacy USA.

Alaska's in bed with Qantas and Virgin's in bed with Virgin Australia. Wonder which way that will go...
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 4:35 am
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So Alaska will continue to save their money with their puny portions of food in F.

On the bright side it's good for our weight for those who travel lots.
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 6:43 am
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Originally Posted by Snowdevil
Those colors are inconsistent with the AS brand, and the goal is to pay homage to what makes VX great without confusing the brand message. So, mood lighting stays - it's just blue instead of purple.
This is not retaining anything from Virgin. The 737 blue moodlighting is a standard cabin feature. In fact most newer LED systems can make all sorts of colors but airlines have no imagination so they usually stick to white and blue hues.

VX was one of the rare few to actually stand out because the colors were so different. Hoenstly if you want a unique cabin the closest is B6 mint. I've already switched over and while it's not VX it definitely is not Alaskan!
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Old Mar 23, 2017, 7:07 am
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it seems like this was a foregone conclusion when they made the purchase?

It's hard to see AS change their approach when it has worked so well for them.

Since I don't pay for domestic F, it's a bigger bummer that they have destroyed MCS.
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