The shiny new Virgin America planes look fantastic. They include all the features you could imagine. Leather seats, mood lighting, entertainment system with hundreds of MP3's and you can even order food from it. The list goes on. But I don't want any of it.
I would gladly give up all of the Virgin America features if they would just add some extra leg room instead. All those features will distract me for a little while but ultimately my comfort will only be permanently improved with a little more leg room. However I guess that is nowhere as sexy to market. American Airlines kind of tried it. For a while they took some rows of seats out of their planes for the Miles More Room in Coach promotion. At the time I was making frequent trips between England and the US and was loyal to Virgin Atlantic. I enjoyed the service on Virgin Atlantic, the entertainment system (when it worked and wasn't just taking up leg room), the wine with dinner, the ice cream during the movie and the fun amenity kit. However I switched to American Airlines just for the extra leg room. The AA service was not as good and it did not have the extras but it was a worthwhile trade off. Unfortunately AA ended the Miles More Room in Coach promotion.
I did read that AA felt passengers were not willing to pay the few bucks more for the extra room. But even as a loyal convert to the service I don't remember seeing anything indicating this at the time. So I don't think customers were really aware.
If an airline would like to add more room but clearly inform customers that it means an extra $20 or so I'm sure it will be popular.
The Virgin America Difference - but I don't want any of it.
Virgin America opens it doors
Virgin America has opened its doors with some great deals.
- $44 San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) - Las Vegas (LAS).
- $129 San Francisco (SFO) - Washington D.C. (IAD) and Washington D.C. (IAD) - Los Angeles (LAX).
- $139 San Francisco - New York (JFK) and New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX).
- $149 San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX).
- $389 New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK) to San Francisco (SFO).
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