Back in 2016, Alaska Airlines announced that it was purchasing Virgin America. It was a merger that at the time was touted as bringing together two great employee groups to “build on the successes they have achieved as standalone companies to make us an even stronger competitor nationally.” It led to a substantially larger airline but didn’t really set any new standard in airline service or hospitality.
Alaska worked to merge the two airlines together by 2018 with a fast rebrand to avoid paying any additional royalties on the Virgin name that was used by license. Subsequently, Alaska tore down Virgin’s New York focus routes and cut many west coast routes as part of the merger, and downsized their Dallas Love Field focus city significantly. Alaska is also now in the process of divesting of Virgin’s Airbus fleet as part of simplifying their fleet structure back to an all Boeing 737 airline. While our focus of this story is on what we miss, it is pretty clear that the benefits of Alaska’s purchase didn’t all pan out as promised.
#1 – Swanky Check-in experience
Virgin America was arguably the swankiest airline in the US since the days of Braniff. You knew it was different as soon as you stepped into the terminal. Fresh flowers, purple mood lighting, and swanky music was their signature. Instead of computer terminals and lines, they had a desk with modern (for the early 2010s) monitors to check in and red carpet for first class and frequent flyers with status.
It was different than almost every other airline out there. Alaska adopted few to none aspects of Virgin’s check-in experience. Alaska looks like every other airline and that’s too bad.
#2 The Virgin America Cabin
The Virgin America cabin was arguably the most forward thinking cabin of this century. As soon as you boarded, you knew it was going to be a unique experience. The crew had modern uniforms, music played over the speakers, and the clear purple partition was markedly different than any other airline. In first class, it featured white leather seats that were more common on widebody aircraft at the time. The seats reclined to near flat and had plenty of legroom along with footrests and large TV screens. The purple mood lighting set the scene. Coach seating wasn’t anything too special but the all black leather seats were a classy touch.
Alaska incorporated a few of the cabin changes. They have black leather seats and blue mood lighting but that’s about it.
#3 RED Entertainment System
Another reason why we miss Virgin America is their onboard entertainment options. Virgin America had seat back entertainment systems called RED with Live TV, movies, games, music and even the option to chat or play games with other seat mates. It was rumored that quite a few couples met on Virgin America as part of the feature. There were also a few times where a passenger messaged other passengers who did not want or appreciate the communication.
In 2022, this list of entertainment features isn’t revolutionary any more. However, it was fairly rare for narrow body A320s to have this option back in 2007 when it was introduced. Continental was the only major airline that had in-seat entertainment back then. Delta, United, and American–which later took theirs out– added the option on their narrow body fleet in the early 2010s.
One other amazing features included the option of ordering food via the menu at any time via the screen instead of row-by-row service from flight attendants. Virgin America featured local, bay area snacks, wines, and beverages that were pretty gucci at the time.
Alaska adopted only a few of Virgin’s cabin offerings. Alaska said that they improved the onboard experience by offering a bring your own device option. However, they removed the monitors as part of standardizing the now-departing Airbus fleet with the rest of Alaska’s interior refresh. They stated it was to save weight. As part of the merger, Alaska did upgrade their cabins and offer local snacks and treats, primarily now from the Seattle region.
#4 The Catchy Safety Song
I’ll admit that I hated it at the time. However, years have passed and I’m quite nostalgic for Virgin America’s catchy safety video. At Alaska today it’s the industry-standard safety presentation. We kind of miss that ‘up in the sky’ music and goofy video. So we found it on YouTube and are sharing it for old time’s sake.
Nothing is wrong with Alaska, we just miss Virgin
Bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with Alaska Airlines today. They are making money and provide a solid product. It’s just not as fun or swanky as Virgin America was. The merger took away one of the most unique US travel options out of the sky and replaced it with more of the same. That’s why we miss Virgin America. It was different. What do you still miss about Virgin America?
