Published Friday, October 5, 2007 by the San Mateo Daily Journal

Comment

I love Virgin America

Burlingame is damn lucky to have an airline like Virgin America
headquartered here. Not only is the new airline part of the local
economy and building jobs and attention, it promises to be a
ground-breaking leader in how airlines are owned and operated.

Virgin America is the ostentatious brainchild of Virgin Atlantic and
Virgin Records chief Richard Branson. Though the Federal Aviation
Administration forced the company to have no more than 25 percent
foreign ownership, there should be no doubt that Sir Branson's
imprimatur is firmly planted on the fledgling airline.

Case in point was a recent trip of mine to New York City from San
Francisco. Believe it or not, I had never been to the Big Apple
though my wife spent four years of college there and I wanted to go
to experience the new Rome. (By the way, it was fabulous, like San
Francisco on steroids with no hills).

Getting inside SFO's International Terminal was easy. Virgin America
and JetBlue both occupy gates in the much heralded new terminal
though neither venture overseas or plan to, but I digress. SFO will
fill its beautiful terminal with international airlines once we
completely shake the dot-com and 9/11 blues. For now, though, we
have the battle of red versus blue. JetBlue that is. It's like the
Nortenos versus the Surenos, the Sharks and the Jets, the Montagues
and the Capulets, the Hatfield and McCoys, the Giants and the
Dodgers, the Daily Journal and whatever far-reaching media company
that chooses to contend here. You see my point.

Red is Virgin America and man, do they have it going on. From the
get-go, the dude at the gate was a pleasure. He riffed on the early-
morning mic like a man who gets a bonus every now and then -- or at
least hopes to. First on the plane were the important, those who paid
$100 or more to get the front-of-the-plane white easy chairs -- they
have massage capabilities. Then out of the blue, or red, anyone
wearing red was allowed on (really?) and the rest of us. He even
mocked the flight attendants sitting near the gate catching up on
old times for not getting with the program. They were expected to
be on the plane front and center, the customers seemingly demanded.

No biggie. The plane was nice and shiny and new. We had purple mood
lighting (you'd be surprised how far that goes) and touch screens
in front of us. In the age of iPhones, touch screens go a long way.
Within a year, we will demand it for most services. I even found
myself touching the screen of a television set up to display recent
photos in New York's Natural History Museum to see if I could move
our recent photo to the forefront. And believe me, I am no
technophile. But I saw someone else try it too. But again, I digress.

The rest of the five-hour flight proved to be, dare I say it, cool.
I checked out the plane's path on Google maps, I listened to Amy
Winehouse, I watched CNBC, I listened to Cold Play and Charlie Parker
(Hell, I even listened to Kelly Clarkson, though don't tell anyone).
And though cross-country flights are usually an excuse for me to read
the Science Times section of the New York Times, I never really got
to it. I could order a cheese plate for $8. I could get a can of
tomato juice for free. I could pull up the "Sopranos." I was in-
flight nirvana.

Since Virgin America did not go from Dulles to SFO, we chose JetBlue
for the way back. The music did not work. We were offered blue chips,
orange chips, cookies and not much else the entire way back. Cable
television is cool, but just how long can you watch "Law and Order"
or "Rachael Ray" on a high diet of 100-calorie packs of carbs? Egads.

Thank goodness for delivery pizza once we were taxied back to
Burlingame. Yes, Burlingame, the new home of Virgin America. Please,
oh please suddenly cool city, can I get a cheese plate to go?

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal.
He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com

__._,_.___

Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

Messages

Email article texts/URLs for posting to <BATN@yahoogroups.com>.

Manage your subscription by sending a blank email message to:
BATN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe,
BATN-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com to unsubscribe,
BATN-digest@yahoogroups.com to switch email to digest mode,
BATN-normal@yahoogroups.com to switch email to normal mode,
BATN-nomail@yahoogroups.com to switch email delivery off.
See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN for web access & archives.

Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe