Today Virgin America ceases to exist. The Richard Branson-inspired carrier has merged with Alaska Airlines and will be filed away in the history books like Continental, Northwest, and US Airways before it. Here’s a review of my final trip with Virgin America in May of 2015.
Virgin America had just started service from Washington National to Dallas Love and offered $169 introductory fares in first class. That itself was enticing, but the Virgin booking system also allowed departures from Washington Dulles. Since there were no non-stop flights from Dulles to Dallas, a connection in Los Angeles was required…at no extra cost.
So my flight scheduled ending up being:
Not bad for $169!
I live in LA and could have easily just hopped off in LA and still come out way ahead, but decided to continue on to Dallas…just so I had two flights to compare.
Boarding began 45 minutes before departure at IAD and a handful of employees were cleared into first class at the gate.
Flight 1: Washington Dulles to Los Angeles (A320)
The Virgin America planes have eight seats in first class in a 2-2 configuration. The white leather recliner seats have 55 inches of seat pitch, excellent recline and a footrest. It reminded me of an old international business class product.
A bottle of water was waiting at each first class seat.
FAs performed a manual safety demonstration and we departed on-time for LA.
After takeoff, a menu was distributed along with a hot towel.
Breakfast included a small quiche with green peppers and a side salad with sundried tomatoes. Also included: a small bread roll and fruit dish.
Delicious.
After breakfast I checked out the “Red” IFE, which contained an excellent selection of moves, Live TV, games, and a great library of music.
The headsets provides were flimsy: I was glad I brought my own.
I dozed for a while (no wi-fi), and woke up hungry.
Snacks were available in the galley:
But I was a bit hungrier and asked if I could buy the “gyro sandwich” from economy class. The FA immediately told me there would be no charge and told me he would prepare it for me in a few moments. It arrived plated:
And this sandwich has to be one of the best “BOB” meals I’ve ever had.
We landed on time in LA.
Layover in LA: Virgin Loft
During the layover in LA, I checked out the Virgin Loft in Terminal 3. Virgin/Alaska now operate out of Terminal 6 and the lounge is closed. Back then, it was available to first class passengers and Priority Pass members. It was a nice place to wait out for my connecting flight to Dallas.
Flight 2: Los Angeles to Dallas (A319)
The seat next to me, 2B, remained opened so I had both seats to myself.
Once again, a hot towel and bottle of water were provided.
Lunch was served after takeoff and was absolutely amazing. A nice salad with feta cheese and olives to start, followed by an amazingly spiced beef dish brimming with coriander.
Dessert, which had marshmallows, was something I should have passed on.
Overall, Virgin America certainly gave JetBlue MINT a run for the money in terms of best domestic food.
CONCLUSION
When Flight 1182 touched down in Newark this morning, Virgin America ceased to exist…in name at least. I was never a loyal Virgin America flyer or even fan, but I did have a number of pleasant trips with them over the years and will miss the innovative onboard cuisine and industry-leading “shorthaul” seat in first class.
Virgin America was a great airline with one of the best domestic products in all classes. Actually flew them into SFO last night and there was a mix of celebration and sadness from all the employees I interacted with last night, including the unofficial party going on in SFO as the crews converged, and the signs were being changed (Actually was able to get pictures of the signs being changed at the baggage office)
I flew that same LAX-DAL flight in reverse about a year later, then flew back home from SFO. Ironically, the food was terrible heading to LAX (an awful, watery attempt at butter chicken). The only option coming back from SFO didn’t look any better, but the FA let me have whatever I wanted from the coach BOB menu. FYI, not that it’s relevant anymore, but I think F passengers could always request coach meals, and they’d bring them to you at no charge.
I sure am going to miss VX, especially now that it looks like AS is competing in the race to the bottom…
I’ll miss VX, too. I always tried to fly it in F when it was an option, as it was the best domestic F out there. Not only is Alaska not as good, they are also ceasing some of the more useful VX routes like DAL-DCA. I have a hunch that the VX flyers are not so much going to move to Alaska, but to UA/AA/DL It sort of makes me wonder what the point of Alaska acquiring them was.
VX was acquired for get space at SFO and LAX. Any customers that remain are just a bonus
It’s such a shame. That was hands down the best premium product to get you from LAX to SFO/SEA/LAS/DAL/FLL and as I am a Delta flyer ORD, as well. You had miles of leg room, good meals, on demand snacks (Chex mix!!!), a decent IFE, and usually a sassy/fun FA. Now it’s being converted into Alaska, an airline for which I have not even the slightest bit of fondness.
For my 30th birthday last year, myself and three of my friends had dinner at the French Laundry, and since we knew Virgin would be going away we flew to SFO in first. Silly, yes, but glad I got to fly that one last time.