bigGSFO From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2755 posts, RR: 7 Posted (3 years 1 month 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 4025 times:
Instead of using the usual press release, VX used Twitter to announce Toronto service (starts June 23). They also offered a 50% off promotion for the first 500 who book using the VXREDHOT promo code (which was part of the tweet).
Very interesting. So they're using 1 1/2 a/c (almost just 1) for this route with no daylight n/s LA-http://www.virginamerica.com/va/pres..._Toronto_Service.html?title=Virgin America Launches Toronto Service
that apparently the LA and SF (with appropriate SFO-LAX/LAX-SFO tags on the California end of the flights) in order to provide a "choice" of times in each market. Hmmmmm....
I also notice that they don't actually publish the flight schedules in the press release, perhaps in hopes that potential customers won't see the poor timing of the flights... It will be interesting to follow these routes and see how they do.
bb
I just looked up the flights and here are the complete schedules (just in case anyone cares):
SANFan From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 4719 posts, RR: 15 Reply 5, posted (3 years 1 month 1 day ago) and read 3622 times:
I apologize for the mess that my post (#3) ended up in; I added something at the bottom (without touching the original post at all) and this is how it redisplayed... I'm not about to touch it again.
ya they times are pretty lame, i'm assuming it's because they are a newer airline and that's all that was available... I didn't know about this route until this morning, or Orlando for that matter. I'm glad Virgin is really expanding
Luv2cattlecall From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1648 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 month 20 hours ago) and read 3284 times:
I thought they announced this back in mid-March? There was even an A.net thread about the press release, which included fleet expansion talks and whatnot.
Either way, this is great marketing, especially considering the clientele they're trying to reach out to. Now all they need to do is comp drinks for anyone who sat through an episode of their Hills w/Wings show!
When you have to breaststroke to your connecting flight...it's a crash!
bigGSFO From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2755 posts, RR: 7 Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 month 20 hours ago) and read 3180 times:
Quoting Luv2cattlecall (Reply 7): I thought they announced this back in mid-March? There was even an A.net thread about the press release, which included fleet expansion talks and whatnot.
They did announce Toronto, but did not give the start date and schedule. They just got the final governmental authorities to operate into Canada.
Elevated From United States of America, joined Feb 2010, 288 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (3 years 1 month 19 hours ago) and read 3116 times:
Quoting dl767captain (Reply 6): ya they times are pretty lame, i'm assuming it's because they are a newer airline and that's all that was available... I didn't know about this route until this morning, or Orlando for that matter. I'm glad Virgin is really expanding
Lame? According to your user name, you could non-rev on us. Oh wait, you're in the 16-20 age range!
Quoting Luv2cattlecall (Reply 7): I thought they announced this back in mid-March? There was even an A.net thread about the press release, which included fleet expansion talks and whatnot.
It was...
Quoting behramjee (Reply 8): The LAX-YYZ-LAX flight connect nicely to SYD with V Australia in both directions!
dl767captain From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 2539 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (3 years 1 month 2 hours ago) and read 2320 times:
Quoting Elevated (Reply 10): Lame? According to your user name, you could non-rev on us. Oh wait, you're in the 16-20 age range!
I would love to nonrev, but alas my username is only an aspiration of mine (something i'm currently working towards). But if Virgin keeps growing it may change to VXA320Captain haha
mogandoCI From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (3 years 1 month 2 hours ago) and read 2309 times:
the LAX-YYZ service can potentially benefit business travelers, but I can't imagine how the timings of the SFO service favoring anyone other than low yield tourists
shanxz From Singapore, joined Apr 2006, 230 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 years 1 month 2 hours ago) and read 2220 times:
I personally think that this is a very smart use of social media by Virgin America - launching a new destination on Twitter.
1. There is completely no support from traditional advertising: I bet the airline has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, by not buying media space in Toronto. I remember when Emirates launched Toronto flights – they had tall buildings in Dundas Square draped in red.
2. Huge boost for social media team: I met with Bowen Payson last month, who leads the social media execution at Virgin America and sensed a lot of passion in him for what he and his team are trying to accomplish. Having no traditional advertising also represents a huge confidence in Bowen’s team by the senior management. It also speaks volumes about how visionary the senior executive team is, being led by Porter Gale and Dimitrios Papadogonas.
3. Fighting the battle on their own turf: Before redeeming voucher, you need to be a follower of Virgin America on Twitter. And not only do they request you, but they automatically verify and get you to follow if you’re not already doing so. They can do this because you’ve entered your Twitter id and password on their website! Now, imagine all the tracking Virgin America can do with this tool as well – identifying which Twitter user logged in, but didn’t buy, and even mapping Twitter-Ids to frequent flier numbers. This is also something I’ve not seen airlines do, but surely reflects the future of social CRM.
All in all, a terrific job by Virgin America. What do you think about their efforts?
Airlines are in the service business, not transport. Brand matters...
Quoting StarAC17 (Reply 11): Quoting behramjee (Reply 8):
The LAX-YYZ-LAX flight connect nicely to SYD with V Australia in both directions!
Thats the reason for the AA flight times which are similar to connect with QF flights.
The AA flight is optimized for the local entertainment industry contracts. While it happens to connect perfectly with Qantas, it is also ideal for LA-based studios. And that just ads to the problem: AC dominates the route while AA survives a token presence with entertainment industry contracts and, well, what's left for VX?
Those bargain hunters, Virginphiles and celebs who aren't bound by entertainment contracts I suspect. I don't like their schedule either and think they will need to offer at least two round trips from both LAX and SFO for any hope to drive business traffic (or any segment willing to pay a decent yield). Of course that would be an even harder market to crack against AC. We shall see I suppose.
mah4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31115 posts, RR: 74 Reply 17, posted (3 years 1 month 2 hours ago) and read 2062 times:
Quoting bigGSFO (Reply 16): Quoting mah4546 (Reply 15):
well, what's left for VX?
Those bargain hunters, Virginphiles and celebs who aren't bound by entertainment contracts I suspect. I don't like their schedule either and think they will need to offer at least two round trips from both LAX and SFO for any hope to drive business traffic (or any segment willing to pay a decent yield). Of course that would be an even harder market to crack against AC. We shall see I suppose.
But with "introductory" fares of $491 from LAX, what's the bargain? AA and AC are cheaper.
ridgid727 From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 912 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (3 years 1 month 1 hour ago) and read 1999 times:
Quoting mah4546 (Reply 15): The AA flight is optimized for the local entertainment industry contracts. While it happens to connect perfectly with Qantas, it is also ideal for LA-based studios. And that just ads to the problem: AC dominates the route while AA survives a token presence with entertainment industry contracts and, well, what's left for VX?
I suppose you don't think Virgin America, and V Australia haven't got some contracts of their own here?
VX has a very dedicated contract department, and one of the reasons Toronto even cam eup was because of those contracts.
mah4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31115 posts, RR: 74 Reply 21, posted (3 years 1 month 1 hour ago) and read 1913 times:
Quoting ridgid727 (Reply 20): Quoting mah4546 (Reply 19):
Nothing significant whatsoever - AA and UA have those.
Just the redeye schedule to LAX proves that.
Well i happen to know you're wrong, but I will leave it at that. you will be surprised.
Well, since I know just about all the major LA studio/entertainment contracts and who is with who, I happen to know you are wrong, and I'll leave it at that. Nothing for me to be surprised about.
What VX has done a great job at doing via the industry is getting its product featured via marketing tie ins on TV shows such as "Real Housewives" and "Fly Girls."
laca773 From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 3746 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (3 years 1 month ago) and read 1890 times:
Quoting mah4546 (Reply 21): Well, since I know just about all the major LA studio/entertainment contracts and who is with who, I happen to know you are wrong, and I'll leave it at that. Nothing for me to be surprised about.
Come on Mark! We know you're the biggest AA fan on here and might as well work for their PR department but you can't and don't know everything. It's not humanly possible. Yes! Possibly you do know a lot of the in's & out's of the entertainment business, but there's more to life than that. I know you can see that. You're on top of it and have the greatest knowledge and know how of anyone on here in regards to AA and probably just about anywhere else .
I think VX has a chance of making YYZ work for them. Their schedules might need some tweaking, etc., but they are pretty savy when it comes to advertising and customer service. Also their costs are much lower than anyone else, so that helps out in the long run.
mah4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31115 posts, RR: 74 Reply 23, posted (3 years 1 month ago) and read 1882 times:
Quoting laca773 (Reply 22): Come on Mark! We know you're the biggest AA fan on here and might as well work for their PR department but you can't and don't know everything. It's not humanly possible. Yes! Possibly you do know a lot of the in's & out's of the entertainment business, but there's more to life than that. I know you can see that. You're on top of it and have the greatest knowledge and know how of anyone on here in regards to AA and probably just about anywhere else .
It has nothing to do with AA, so not sure what you are talking about. VS actually has a lot of the contracts for LAX-LON, not AA nor UA. Where I work we have to fly AA to Toronto or, say, Madrid, but we have to fly Virgin Atlantic to London. Annoying rule for mileage-earning freaks, but so be it. A lot of the studios also follow suit with Virgin Atlantic.
My point stands: this is a tough market and I think VX will have a very tough time. Among the airlines that have come and gone are Alaska, El Al, jetsGo and Westjet. Air Canada dominates the market and AA only survives because of corporate contracts and a Qantas codeshare. That's that, and I'm allowed my opinion.
bigGSFO From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2755 posts, RR: 7 Reply 24, posted (3 years 1 month ago) and read 1864 times:
Does anybody know how many PDEW there are between LAX and
25 laca773: Yes you are! Friendly debabe is always good. I do agree with you how tough this market is for anyone else to enter and at the same time, perhaps we'l
26 ikramerica: Right, because whatever the malarky the founders of VX tried to sell about being an independent carrier open to agreements with any partner, VX is an
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2755 posts, 
From South Korea, joined Jan 2005, 521 posts, 
From Canada, joined Apr 2005, 1624 posts, 
From Singapore, joined Apr 2006, 230 posts, 
From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31115 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
