Revisit of Virgin America LAX-DFW F-RT July 2011

[Carfield]

Revisit of Virgin America July 2011


Because of a recent July 4th sale on Virgin America, I am able to find a relatively affordable last minute first class fare to Dallas Ft Worth from Los Angeles. The flights cost about $619.40 with all fee and tax included. I have a $300 credit previously and expiring soon, so this is a good opportunity to get acquainted with VX again. I also decide to write a short report and see how VX is up-keeping its service. This DFW service is still considered medium haul so meals and services are similar to Seattle flights.

Here is the full itinerary:
July 5, 2011
VX 882 LAX-DFW Lv1715 Arr2220 Airbus A319-100 N527VA “Tubular Belle”
July 6, 2011
VX 879 DFW-LAX Lv1415 Arr1535 Airbus A320-200 N641VA “Dotscomsecrets Air”

Booking:
Virgin America’s website is pretty user-friendly and you are able to preview the seats before booking the tickets. All the upgrades can also be done on the website under “manage my booking” section. I was able to use the credit easily on the payment page. The only thing that is lacking is a good app to be used on i-phone/Android/smart phones.

Check-in:
I arrived pretty early on both the inbound and outbound flights, as I wanted to spend some time looking at planes – something I missed doing.

LAX – of course a much larger operation is happening here. V Australia shares this check-in area as well. The setup is pretty typical of all VX operation – a first class/main cabin select priority line, a web check in baggage drop off line, a full main cabin service line, and then the lines of self-check-in kiosks and baggage drop off lines. All the lines are well staffed, and there is a staff assisting passengers with kiosk check-in as well. I used the first class check in line, since I did not want to bother with kiosks. F line was pretty busy, and an agent in main cabin saw me and escorted me to his counter. Very good service! The agent was efficient and polite.

Entrance to T-3


Check-in areas



First class priority line



Nearby V Australia section – when will I fly you again?

[Carfield]

DFW – The operation is much smaller with only six daily flights for now (three to SFO and three to LAX), and VX uses Concourse E, and the check-in counters are located next to Alaska Airlines and Delta. They have the similar setup, but the self-service kiosk is a common airline used kiosk, rather than the unique VX kiosks. Two agents were working the desks when I arrived around noon. There was no wait in the first class line, and Pat, the agent, immediately welcomed me. She was very friendly and it looked like a promising operation here. Virgin seems to hire its own staffs at the counters and gates.

Entrance


DFW check-in area




Floral arrangement


First Class line


Kiosk – a common airline used one, rather than the unique VX kiosk


Plane-spotting at LAX:
Of course, it is very nice to see this lovely plane – Singapore Airlines’ A380 daily. It basically parks at gate 123 every day. 9V-SKI was on duty this afternoon – really beautiful!


Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 N382HA arriving as HA 10 from HNL

[Carfield]

Gate area at LAX:
LAX uses Terminal Three and Virgin America has planned to eventually take over the terminal, as Alaska will move out soon. Jetblue possibly will stay and has set up a few counters as a recent tenant. Air Tran is still using T-3 but presumes will move to T-1 as it merges with Southwest. Alaska Airlines is the other tenant, but will move to Terminal 6 in 2012. There are lots of construction going on, and I sincerely hope that there will be more eateries moving in.

Gate desks


Departure FDIS



Gate 35


N527VA “Tubular Belle” arriving from San Francisco as VX 932





Getting ready

[Carfield]

Gate area at DFW:
Concourse E is basically the non-AA section, and other non-AA or OW alliance airlines use this concourse. Virgin uses E20, and E18 is the alternative gate for the morning flight – two VX planes overnight at DFW. There is a food court with Popeye’s Chicken, Manchu Wok, Aunt Annie’s pretzels, as well as a couple restaurants. It is not bad.

Gate E20


VX Red Carpet


Virgin America logo at jetbridge


Virgin joint promotion with Chrome books


Counter



Return Kiosk


N641VA “Dotscomsecrets Air” arriving at DFW from SFO as VX 850
A bit history about this plane – this A320 is actually leased from Jazerra Airways




A word about the loading:
Both flights went out 100% full in economy class, and first class and main cabin select were pretty full. There was one empty F seat and two empty Y+ seat – both middle seats at Row 3. Of course the loading did not indicate the yield, and it is summer holidays now, but the new flights seem to be doing very well. No wonder VX quickly increases to thrice daily flights, but to really capture some of the business traffic, they need at least two more daily flights on both routes. I have also noticed many first timers and have overheard a number of first class passengers asking the F/A about the service, catering, seat functions, entertainment system, and overheard a passenger telling her companion, “I am still getting used to the purple.”

Flight information:
Both flights took off on time and had an early gate arrival, which was excellent.

With an early arrival from SFO, boarding began on time at 4:46pm. The gate agent offered coach passengers a chance to check in their bags for free and to board with first class, as the flight was full. Door closed at 5:13pm, and we pushed back right on time. LAX was relatively quiet as we took off from R/W24L at 5:21pm. Flying time was two hours and forty-three minutes with an initial cruising attitude of 37,000feet, and then up to 39,000feet as we lighten up the load a bit.

Sunset over New Mexico/Texas


Descent began at 9:36pm local time and we landed on R/W17R at 10:04pm and parked at gate E20 four minutes later.

Return flight had the inbound flight arrived slightly late from SFO as VX 850. The plane did not park at gate till 1:38pm, but after a speedy clean up and catering process, boarding began at 1:55pm, and door was closed at 2:19pm and pushed back a few minutes later. We took off from R/W18L at 2:44pm, and flying time was two hours and thirty-eight minutes with a cruising attitude of 38,000feet. It was a pretty smooth flight, compared to the flight into DFW, and descent began at 2:50pm local time, and we landed on R/W24L at 3:22pm, and parked at gate 37A at 3:29pm and N641VA would continue to SFO as VX 947 an hour later.

[Carfield]

Cabin:
Both A319 and A320 feature an eight-seat first class cabin, and I don’t think I need to say much about the seats, which are recliner seats with 55 inches of legroom and a generous recline. TV was ten inches wide, and there are individual universal power outlet and USB drive. I had 2F on the way out and 2A on the way back.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful white leather seats, which are pretty clean and maintained very well judging from the hectic schedule:






Seats in recline positions – very nice and I still think VX has the best first class seat on an Airbus A320 or a narrowbody aircraft.



Amenities & Catering:
First Class receives free headsets and only the return flight crew did a full pre-takeoff beverage service. Nevertheless bottled waters were pre-placed at each first class seat prior to boarding.


Pre-takeoff beverage in new VX plastic glass and new VX napkin – the plastic glass has the hexagon shape




Full Menu Transcript
Lunch & Dinner (after 10am)

Appetizer
Exotic Lettuce Bundle
Fresh exotic salad greens rolled in a bundle with fresh European cucumber, served with a spring peach vinaigrette and teardrop tomatoes

Entrée
Spring Lamb Medallions
Sautéed medallions of spring lamb, lightly brushed with pomegranate molasses and coated with pistachio & hazelnut dukkah, served with English pea spaetzle, fresh vegetables, minted chimichurri and a light lamb jus
Or
Stir Fried Shiitake Mushrooms Noodles with Baby Bak Choy
Stir fried fresh Chinese egg noodles tossed with bak choy, shiitake mushrooms, snap peas, peppers and a sesame ginger sauce, served with sizzling rice, tofu and tempura eggplant, asparagus, sweet potato

Dessert
Chocolate Whiskey Cheesecake
Layered vanilla and dark chocolate and whiskey cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and garnished with a fresh berry

Thai Coconut Tapioca
Light and fluffy tapioca infused with fresh Thai basil, lemongrass and coconut milk, topped with lightly spiced fresh mangoes

Drinks
Wine selections may vary.

Red Wine
Los Cardos Malbec 2008
Big House “The Slammer” Central Coast Syrah 2008

White Wine
Buehler Vineyards, Russian River Chardonnay 2008
Dashwood Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009

The Good Stuff
Absolut Vodka
Bombay Sapphire Gin
Jack Daniel’s
Bacardi Rum
Bailey’s Irish Cream
Glenlivet 12 Years Old Scotch
VeeV Acai Spirit
Sauza Hornitos Reposado
Karma Sparkling Wine
Heineken
Bud Light
Black Star Beer
Blue Moon

The Good Stuff (Minus the Booze)
Ghiradelli Hot Chocolate, Honest Tea Beverages, E-Boost
Coco-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Ginger Ale, Sprite, Seltzer, Tonic Water, Cranapple Juice, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, Bloody Mary Mix, Bottled Water, Coffee, Jasmine Green tea, Peppermint tea
(No special hot tea is provided because they are in the midst of switching brands – only regular black tea)

Catering – there was a printed menu from LAX to DFW
Virgin America has gone through another change in terms of glasses, cups and chinaware, and the new glasses are all stemless. The menu changes according to season and the direction is more fusion style food, than typical airline food. Some people will find it a bit more modern, but the food is actually pretty good and reflects some innovation. The perfect example is the starter course, instead of just a plain salad it comes up with a salad wrap idea. The tapas in the return flights are also very good, and the beet salad is excellent. Entrées wise – the Asian noodle dish comes out not too bad, and the spicy beef fillet also comes out nice. (The other choice in the return flight is Stuffed Pasta shell, which is not very tempting). VX tends to maintain one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian choice. The medium haul flights (basically LAX/SFO to DFW, and LAX to SEA) and long haul flights basically share the same menu, but instead of serving individual courses, they served them all together, and the starter and desserts are smaller, and there are less bread selections. However, I found VX food to be very good and more innovative and better than my typical US major airlines.

[Carfield]

Beverage – Gin & Tonic – new glass


Closeup of VX logo


Dinner set up – one tray service with all courses placed in the tray


Starter – exotic lettuce bundle – basically salad wrapped in lettuce and a good presentation


Entree – good Asian vegetarian dish



Dessert – Chocolate Whiskey Cheesecake and Thai Coconut Tapioca


Snack service – my choices this evening – Honest Tea – Peach and white tea flavor, with Brent & Sam’s chocolate chip cookies and dry roasted almonds – a snack basket was placed in the galley after main meal service – typical choices - Popcorn chips, dry roasted almonds, cashews, and Brent & Sam’s chocolate chip cookies

[Carfield]

Return flight has no menu.
Beverage – Screwdriver – vodka and orange juice


Full lunch – starter and entrée


Starters – duo tapas


Shrimp in Mango salsa


Beetroot Citrus salad


Wheat roll


Airplane salt & pepper shaker


Entrée – Grilled beef fillet in spicy black bean sauce, polenta sticks, stir-fry vegetables and Swiss cheese and mushroom toast




Nice toast

[Carfield]

Dessert tray – strawberry mousse cake



Honest Tea – Honey Green tea



Flight Attendants:
How should I phase it? Virgin America is really proud of having many young and pretty F/As, and hypes up the sex appeal. Of course, they have their share of model like F/As but also some veterans, who have worked for other US airlines. To some extent, most VX F/As try very hard to prove VX to be a good airline, but sometimes the over hyped advertisement gives you unrealistic expectation. In the end, Virgin America is not Singapore Airlines, and they still have inconsistent factors and some bad apples.
For this roundtrip flight, I encounter two different sets of F/As. Mike from LAX to DFW is a bit more mature, but has a fun and informal attitude. He makes funny announcements and tries very hard to sell Virgin America to all the first timers. He indeed works throughout the flight, and is a bit more outgoing. He explains to the folks that the flight is a shorter one, so service is less spread out. He emphasizes the word “self-service” and indeed leaves out a basket of goodies in the galley after dinner service. Kristen in the return flight sounds like a non-American – she looks like one of the exchange F/A from Virgin Blue. She is not a funny gal but pays attention to details. She does a pre-takeoff beverage, despite a late incoming arrival and late catering. She pulls out all the beverage trays and it is a strong signal that she is going to do a full pre-takeoff beverage. She serves the meals in two courses, and puts some thought in the plating process. Both of them reflect different styles but I am lucky to have two sets of very good crews.

Conclusion:
As a frequent traveler between DFW and LAX on AA, Virgin America really offers a superior product in first class (as well as main cabin). The planes are newer and the F/As are more enthusiastic. The array of products offered for free or for a fee is innovative, and the seats are more comfortable. The personal entertainment units are excellent and most importantly, their fleet are all WIFI enabled with universal electric outlets and USB drives throughout the plane. Virgin America really takes care of a modern traveler and provides a product that is creative and younger than AA and other full service airlines. Of course, AA offers many flights per day, a more established airline lounge network, and AAdvantage is a very good mileage program, compared to Elevate. I sincerely hope that Virgin America can survive and with a few more frequencies, it maybe able to steal a few customers from AA. DFW to JFK will be a good flight to do too and the VX team at DFW is very good, and I wish them success in the future.

N527VA at DFW on arrival


N641VA at LAX

[cally]

are virgin america and virgin australia owned by richard branson

[Sethor]

Only a small percentage of each

[TheFA2X]

great TR, I agree that this is the best first class in a narrowbody aircraft, even I was tricked that it is in a widebody airliner!