Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Reviewing Red: A Look at Virgin America's In Flight Entertainment
When Virgin America came to life last year, they promised a brand new flying experience, a premium low-cost experience built around purple lights and Red screens. Red, their in flight entertainment experience, is a powerful system, but still doesn't seem to work all that well - even after a year plus.
First, here's where Red shines the best. Their in flight information is among the best out there. Using Google maps, the system lets you zoom in over particular areas you are flying and seems to update fairly quickly. The best part of the system, is that the bottom pop up bar that can be used to change channels can keep the flight information available to you with just a quick swipe to the screen.
Also, you can quickly and easily order a snack or a meal through their services as well, and with 24 channels of live TV, plus a wide selection of music, movies and foreign language options makes the system very powerful.
There will be some internet connectivity, and the system is set up to have a news reader application although neither of these things are activated yet. It is a touch screen system which could be annoying, but the screens are suitably sensitive enough that tapping the screen won't bother the person in front of you.
A couple of things that need improvement though. The TV reception. On two longer flights, the reception was horrid. At times, none of the live channels got any reception for a seemingly inexplicable reason. For one flight, the satellite seemed totally out of sync as 12 of the 24 channels had 0 reception for the length of the flight. The pop up nav bar is buggy and at times will just stay in view on the screen, obscuring the lower third until you turn the TV off and turn it back on.
Also, the chat feature? Totally not used and not needed. Frankly, it would probably be a better use of system resources to offer more radio stations, games or tv stations. On the whole, the system is powerful and will grow with the airline, but there are some bugs that need correcting. Fixing them will give Virgin America one of the best in flight experiences in the sky.
First, here's where Red shines the best. Their in flight information is among the best out there. Using Google maps, the system lets you zoom in over particular areas you are flying and seems to update fairly quickly. The best part of the system, is that the bottom pop up bar that can be used to change channels can keep the flight information available to you with just a quick swipe to the screen.
Also, you can quickly and easily order a snack or a meal through their services as well, and with 24 channels of live TV, plus a wide selection of music, movies and foreign language options makes the system very powerful.
There will be some internet connectivity, and the system is set up to have a news reader application although neither of these things are activated yet. It is a touch screen system which could be annoying, but the screens are suitably sensitive enough that tapping the screen won't bother the person in front of you.
A couple of things that need improvement though. The TV reception. On two longer flights, the reception was horrid. At times, none of the live channels got any reception for a seemingly inexplicable reason. For one flight, the satellite seemed totally out of sync as 12 of the 24 channels had 0 reception for the length of the flight. The pop up nav bar is buggy and at times will just stay in view on the screen, obscuring the lower third until you turn the TV off and turn it back on.
Also, the chat feature? Totally not used and not needed. Frankly, it would probably be a better use of system resources to offer more radio stations, games or tv stations. On the whole, the system is powerful and will grow with the airline, but there are some bugs that need correcting. Fixing them will give Virgin America one of the best in flight experiences in the sky.
Labels: in-flight entertainment, travel, virgin america
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Virgin America Expands to Boston
Airline expansion is not exactly the in thing these days. First ridiculous fuel costs, then a deep recession has made contraction, rather than expansion the rule. But this isn't the case with low cost carrier Virgin America which has announced its eighth and only new destination for 2009, Boston.
The five daily flights, to San Francisco make sense for the fledgling carrier as the Boston-San Francisco route is underserved. This could be a little bit of trouble for an already strapped United, and a bit of salvation for Virgin America whose load factors have led to underwhelming performance.
Will this help Virgin reach a break even point in 2010? Only time will tell, but this is long haul expansion that makes sense for the somewhat troubled carrier.
The five daily flights, to San Francisco make sense for the fledgling carrier as the Boston-San Francisco route is underserved. This could be a little bit of trouble for an already strapped United, and a bit of salvation for Virgin America whose load factors have led to underwhelming performance.
Will this help Virgin reach a break even point in 2010? Only time will tell, but this is long haul expansion that makes sense for the somewhat troubled carrier.
Labels: boston, travel, virgin america
