Virgin America

(...one day before departure from San Diego to New York...) John: Hey, do you think we need to bring headphones? Me: What for? John: For Virgin's in-flight entertainment system, RED. Nowhere in VA's website outlines recommendations for bringing personal headphones, so it's likely they're not gonna provide them. I mean, why would they? Me: Why wouldn't they? Why provide movies, television, music, and games, at the touch of a button, and not provide headphones? I mean, come on, it's common sense.

Common sense, not so much. Get to the airport, I find out Virgin DOESN'T provide headphones. Each passenger is absolutely welcome to tote their own personal headphones on-board, and Virgin also sells a "souvenir" set for $2, cash only, inside the airport terminal (but not on the plane itself). At that moment, I wanted to kick myself because I felt like an idiot: I had perfectly good headphones at home, but if I headed home for them then, I'd miss my flight. After mulling it over (the lay-over in San Francisco- a 2-hour flight + San Francisco to New York- a 6-hour flight), having some form of distraction for eight hours was admittedly needed, so I caved, squeezed my eyes shut, and forked over the $2. But not without feeling like a sucker.

Aside from that abominable circumstance, flying Virgin was fantastic. In their comfortable leather seats, I dozed off to Ne-Yo's 'Year of the Gentlemen' on their entertainment system 'RED', flying red-eye into New York. And have you seen their safety video? So clever! After repeats on subsequent flights, I found myself acting out the clever scenes (...are you the 0.00001 percent of the population who doesn't know how to use a seatbelt? *matador points to himself 'who, me?!'*) at which point, I point to myself. And I thoroughly enjoyed an animated Richard Branson explaining the perks of 'Go Go', Virgin's free wi-fi service, though I didn't get the quip about the 35,000 feet mile-high club... It was nice to have complimentary satellite TV, music, games, and wi-fi, but $8 a pop for a limited-selection of on-demand movies garnered raised eyebrows. Meals come at a hefty price, and so do the snacks and most drinks, though soda, bottled water, and coffee are provided at request for no charge. I had a pleasant experience flying Virgin America. Though RED was convenient, given the opportunity to fly Virgin again, I would pick the airline, versus a competitor, based on ticket-price only... To fly Virgin is to fly with plastic in hand, so get ready to become swipe-happy.