USA 2011 - Virgin America Review

For whatever reason it was cheaper for me to buy two separate tickets to get to the East Coast from HK this time.  I took United to SF and then Virgin America onwards to DC.  I bought the ticket online and found their website pretty well designed.  I had heard some good things about Virgin America so I was looking forward to seeing how the experience was.  (to be honest, I've never flown Jet Blue, but I'm guessing Virgin America is similar...)

Long time Etchy blog readers will recall my fixation with blue lighting (on my car, motorcycle, etc),  so I was impressed with the stylish interior lighting.

The seats are also pretty cutting edge. Everyone gets a touch panel screen and a fancy molded plastic seat.  

The entertainment system is pretty good for a domestic flight.  Satellite TV and (paid + a few free) on demand programs.  But the system is a lot more than just TV.  

You can order food and drinks directly from the touch screen (including a few things that are actually free)

Apparently they have Doom 2 (although I couldn't actually find it on the system)    ... and yes... inflight wifi! :-O

Unfortunately for me,  its apparently not free.  I was tempted to spring the $12 for it... but since I was taking a red eye, I figured I should probably take a nap instead of surfing the whole flight.

But if you're going to run wifi the whole time, no way your batteries' going to last the whole flight, right?  nothing to worry about with the PLUG... this is the single best feature on this plane.  I don't know why they didn't do this years ago...   unbridled electronics use without fear of running out of batteries. Pure genius!  (In 2003 I found some long distance trains in Japan had plugs at certain seats, but apparently its taken a while to get to Economy class airplane seating....) :-P

Last but not least, the screen can also bring up a navigatable google maps interface that shows where you are at the moment.  I guess this is most useful if you have a window seat and its a day time flight.

I made it to DC in one piece just after sunrise.  It was icy and super cold (in the 20's F) and all the flags were at half-mast because this was only a few days after the Tuscon shooting. doh.