Hi All,

This is my first time doing a trip report so not sure if there is any specific format in this forum!   Living in New York, I wanted to get home to San Francisco for the holidays, but found all the SFO flights to be full. So, I was lucky enough to get a First Class seat on AA 201 JFK-LAX (Non-Rev) and then bought a First Class ticket on Virgin America home to SFO.

AMERICAN AIRLINES 201:

First off, the service on the AA flight was great. I love their new terminal at JFK and have found their transcon product has really gotten better over the last few years. Once they install the new First Class seats, it will be fantastic! The crew was wonderful and very much in the Christmas Spirit smiling throughout the whole flight. The breakfast was nice. I've flown the SFO-JFK route in first many times, but never on a breakfast flight so this was a first for me.

Menu:

Fresh Assortment of Fruit, Hot Bagel with Cream Cheese & Jam, Breakfast Crepe (Thin pancakes filled with scrambled eggs, salmon, and chives offered with sun-dried tomato sausage). Of course I had coffee and juice to compliment.

IFE:

AA has these great On-Demand Digi-Player type gadgets they give on their transcons with Bose Noise-Canceling headsets. The device was downloaded with 20 movies, 30 TV shows, music etc. I watched the Bourne Identity and then Santa Clause 3... plus a couple episodes of Frasier. Long Flight.

Overall for a 5 hour 15 minute flight, I was very content. Granted I was in first class, but the crew even went through the entire plane with candy canes. Nice touch! The flight attendants were truly on their A game and I appreciated that as I have been on flights were they didn't even show up to play!   I arrived in LAX on schedule and now needed to find my way over to Terminal 6 to catch my Virgin America flight. 2 hours till departure to SFO.

VIRGIN AMERICA 846:

I was really looking forward to trying out VX after hearing all the hype. LAX right before Christmas is not fun. The lines that extended outside of T5 and T6 were crazy. Delta looked especially bad. They had 125 people standing at one skycap stand alone. Yes I counted! Got to T6 and the Virgin counter was easy to find. There were 4 agents and only 1 customer being assisted so I went right to the open machines and checked myself in. It was pretty easy and soon I had my boarding card. Since I bought this ticket last minute, I went to an agent to ask for a receipt. (Note to VX, add that option to the machines please!) It took the agent about 5 minutes, but she finally came back with a laser printout that looked like a screen capture form their reservation system. It would do, although I think my career in the airline industry helps me decipher the printout.

Security:

T6 had very long lines. I went outside and stood at the end when a person (airport employee maybe?) told me that I could use the first class lane if I had a first class ticket. So, I was directed to a much shorter lane. Ahhhh! Ooops! The ticket checker did not find the words First Class on my boarding card and refused to let me go through. Granted I had seat 2D... but she was right, the boarding card did not say First Class. So, I was bounced back to the end of the coach line. 20 minutes later I was finally being checked by the TSA and up the escalators to the checkpoint.

Gate:

Once through security, I proceeded to gate 67B for departure. The terminal was packed and the gates VX used were very, well, old and used. Was a bit surprised. The agents at the gate were all very young and personable. They were attentive and assisted their customers with big smiles. For a 11:50am departure, we finally started boarding at 11:35am. Boarding was a bit chaotic and several customers practically ran down an elderly couple who were allowed to board first since they needed extra time. I'm a big guy so I stood behind them and ran interference!  

Plane:

Virgin's planes are very nice. They certainly are different with their mood lighting and purple plexi-glass. The first class seats were very comfortable and the extra pitch was incredible. Kudos to VX for getting a domestic first class seat that stands up to higher standards! There were only 4 of us in First class so we each had a row of two to ourselves.

Flight:

Flight time was scheduled for 55 minutes and we were already 20 minutes late due to late boarding and of course the slew of DL planes moving behind us. Once we got airborne, I found my experience to be lacking. The flight attendants were friendly and truly offered great customer service. However, they had to deal with some product issues that made the customers a bit unhappy. First off, the IFE was very glitchy. Every couple of minutes or so, the Live TV would reset and go back to the main menu screen. For me it was not big deal, but the guy across the aisle was having a fit as he was trying to watch the football game. That kept occuring throughout the flight.

Then came the food and beverage. On the plus side, Virgin offered a fantastic snack box to the first class customers (see picture). It had fun little fancy salads and antipasto. Just right for a short flight. More than what you would find on UA or AA.

Unfortunately there were some issues with the glassware and tables on our flight. When the first class table is folded in half, it's not quite level. It slants just enough to cause the thinner, taller glasses VX uses to slide right off... unless their is a napkin underneath. I caught my Diet Coke and just moved it to the small built in drink table on the armrest. However, the guy across the aisle was too late and his bloody mary hit the floor with full force. With white leather, it looked like a crime scene in first class. Apparently the guy in front of me also had issues as his Coke fell off too. The poor flight attendant did her best to help clean up. She was quick with new drinks, but the bloody mary mix was everywhere.

We landed on schedule and pulled into the International Terminal at SFO. VX had a couple of other flights on the ground so as we deplaned it was packed in the terminal. Their staff seemed to be very cheery and in the Christmas spirit as well. I did not check bags so I was out and in my car in a matter of minutes.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

AA is my regular ride so I know what to expect. The upbeat crew was nice and I appreciated the Christmas Spirit.

My first time on VX was OK. Would I fly them again. Absolutely. I think like any new airline, they just need to work some kinks out and they'll be fine. The guy across the aisle from me may have a different perspective! Their customer service is tops. Their people must go through some great training as they really worked the crowds and made sure no one was left wanting. A+ to them on that. Love the first class seats. However, not sure how long that new white leather will stay... well, new and white!

[Edited 2008-01-01 18:10:00]