Virgin America: Or the Best In-Flight Experience [Ever]

I’m a pretty finicky traveler. I travel with purpose, and have little patience for mishaps in between. Based on that, it may surprise you to hear I’ve flown Spirit Airlines more times than I can count, with only bad experiences to share, and continue to hand my money over to them in some self-deprecating digression.

For my business trip to California — with a short stop in Seattle to visit the sister and brother-in-law — I decided to change things up a bit. Thanks to Routehappy, I had the ability to research the trip beforehand to be fully versed in the airlines that provided service to the west coast route I would travel. I narrowed down my interest to Frontier and Virgin America. I’m so glad I switched things up.

Frontier was by no means awful, but a fresh chocolate chip cookie at the end of my flight isn’t going to erase some of the less-than-stellar experiences I had in each airport, and during the longer leg of my flight.

Virgin America, however, was incredible. The first part of my trip originated in Seattle. The boarding process was quick and painless, and the in-flight experience started immediately. Free in-seat satellite, with plenty of options for premium, paid add-ons. From the comfort of your individual seat, you can order snacks/drinks, watch TV, interact across the cabin with high-tech chat features, shop, and soon, you’ll even be able to read and surf the web on the seat screen. Even better? Power outlets conveniently located between seats.

Normally when an airline offers these perks, I worry that they may be lacking in strong customer service. Not the case with VA. In fact, they have the nicest flight crew I’ve ever encountered. The flight attendant servicing the back of the plane offered me a free drink or snack because passersby and the concession cart kept knocking me in my aisle seat. Too kind.

And, so, while only passive aggressively mentioning the $14.95 charge for WiFi, I can confidently say, I value myself more as a passenger, and will certainly fly Virgin America in the future.