My wife and I flew VX last night SFO-JFK. There were no lines at SFO international. We walked straight up to check-in (although we checked in online, I wanted to check our bags and talk to the attendant), there was practically no-one in the security line. Pretty good for Thanksgiving Eve. Thankfully we were not flying UA, I doubt we would have come close using the elite lines at the domestic terminal.
There was someone to greet us and help us with check-in (baggage drop). There is definitely a better attitude among the Virgin employees. I was told that Chicago should be coming next year (no news what time next year) and that VX plan to fly into major Canadian cities (YVR, YYZ were mentioned) as well as Mexico. There was also a GA waiting at the gate the whole time.. UA only puts someone there at the last moment.
Plane was clean and comfortable. Loved the "look'n'feel". The mood lights were nice and Red was fun to play with. It had a couple glitches but nothing I couldn't work around or reload. Some older ppl may not be as comfortable with the style and technology, but we thought it was great. I'd prefer Google maps over UA Channel 9 any day (it was a little slow to update position sometimes, but hey - pressing "Center Plane" usually forced an update). I would like to see a "shuffle" feature for the playlist and maybe "remove all" and/or "add entire album" too.
We payed a little extra ($25) for exit rows, which were definitely worth it. Even after paying the extra for these rows and buying food, our tickets were much cheaper than UA and the flight was actually enjoyable. BTW - we had Chicken Caesar Salad and the Fruit and Cheese Platter, both were good (we shared). Love the food ordering in Red.
FAs were nice, made many passes to collect trash and give ppl the chance to ask for things. The water at the rear of the plane was a nice touch too. Also the choice of headphones or earphones and the "spares" at the front and back of the plane.
As soon as VX start flying my regular routes I'll be switching. On UA, you need 1P status for E+, exit rows and priority check-in. But with VX, you can book exit rows, buy good food and get shorter lines (at SFO int'l at least) and it still costs less. The service and IFE is the biggest plus. The only thing I would be missing are upgrades, but e-500s don't go very far anyway. Hopefully eleVAte will include upgrades. Better stop now before this turns into (a bigger) rant. Big ^ to VX
BTW - you can get Virgin T-Shirts from the Virgin Megastore at Union Square San Francisco. But my wife wouldn't let me wear it on the flight
. She thought it would be geeky or dorky or something.