Virgin America

JFK-LAX Main Cabin Select one way. Allowed two checked bags as it was booked on the same ticket as my international flight on V Australia. Loved what Virgin America offer especially the ability to order food and drink (free on this fare) from the IFE and then it magically comes to you soon after. IFE was also packed with plenty of music and movies etc. Very good experience they offer and present an excellent product.

SEA-SFO A319/320. Check in and boarding efficient. Flight attendants courteous and professional. I found economy seats comfortable for a 90 minute flight - good leg room. Cabin clean and well maintained. Virgin is a unique product in the US vs the main line carriers.

LAX-FLL-LAX round trip. Service was top notch with boarding efficiency inflight service food and IFE well above US standards. Virgin America is the only US airline whose premium economy and first class products are enough of an upgrade over economy to be actually worth the extra money on all flights.

Virgin America just started flying out of ORD so I expected glitches. Not too many tho. Two major things to work on. The system for pre-printing boarding passes kept locking up. Going to SFO was fine returning it was impossible to print out. System kept locking up. Cost me money each time I tried but was never able to do it. Had to have an agent do it at the ticket counter. Seats were roomy enough planes clean.

SFO to FLL travelling with infants. Plane new and clean. Flight attendants professional pleasantly surprised at good amount of leg room. Loved the individual screen for shows and ability to order a beverage from my seat. I'm most grateful for the flight attendant that opened the bathroom door for me and pulled down the infant changing table - as my arms were full of a baby and a diaper bag.

LAX-JFK return. Virgin America straddles a weird and fairly confusing space between full- service and budget but is surely the most innovative airline in the US. So many simple touches - playing music at check-in captain farewelling passengers and explaining delays at the boarding gate instead of check-in staff ordering food from seat-back screen. The legroom is fine by domestic standards but would be tight internationally. My flight over was without incident but the flight back was cancelled. This is where Virgin America completely fell apart. They could not handle the mess of 180 angry passengers trying to get out of New York. Despite sprinting back to the check-in desk it took them 3 hours to get me a hotel and food voucher and they couldn't tell me when I could fly next but said they would call. They never did and it was up to me to contact them to try and get to LAX. There was no communication - we were not told the ticketing system was down - to us it appeared that they were just incredibly slow taking an hour to process each passenger. The airport hotel was excellent and they were able to get me to LAX via SFO less than 24 hours later.

Flew from Las Vegas and loved the fact I could upgrade for less than $500. The plane was a bit worn but very comfortable. The attendants were very nice. The only complaint I have is the food was by far the worst I've been served on any airline. I pretty much starved as I could not eat what was served. Even the bread rolls were stale and not good. So please whoever is in charge of food service do something about it.

My partner and I were blown away by the friendliness professionalism and dedication of the cabin crew on this flight. Not only did they present us with a bottle of red wine (signed by the entire crew) to congratulate us on our recent wedding but the head attendant came to the baggage claim to return my jacket which I stupidly left on board.

JFK to SFO round trip staff professional and friendly. The flight on the way to SFO was only about 70% full which was nice and the flight attendants seemed to take extra time to make sure passengers were happy and were enjoying the flight. I enjoyed the satellite TV and the reasonably priced wifi. On the return flight (a red eye) the check in staff were especially friendly and helpful enjoyed the snack served and managed to get some sleep. The mood lighting is actually helpful. I would even pay a bit more to fly them over other carriers out of JFK.

JFK to SFO. Booked main cabin select for extra leg room (+ one free case priority boarding priority check in and some free food / drink) - 6 hours before (in the middle of the night) we upgraded to first for $160 each. The money was well worth it due to the luxury of 2x2 seating for the first two rows only. However like a lot of flights you're at the mercy of your neighbours - in our case a mother and child who were loud. 1 hour delay announced at the gate at JFK where staff were indifferent beyond belief. They didn't really know what was going on and in the end we left over two hours late. There were some nice touches- lighting in the cabin music in the rest rooms pilot doing his briefing from the cabin. The flight attendants were very pleasant quite informal and helpful. The food in first wasn't really up to scratch. A salad main dessert. (and free drinks on request) followed by nothing - I'd expect a second snack at least. Although the seat was roomy there were no obvious instructions for the seat and it was trial and error to work out the best config to rest in. WiFi was NOT free and cost $11.95 for a laptop - good value with pretty good speed for 39000 feet. The negative comment really was on safety. A mediocre briefing poor checks of the cabin and lead flight attendant despite making the PA for all electronic items to be switched off continued to use his iphone! Main Cabin select seemed worth the money at the time of booking (and the people in our original seats looked comfy). The upgrade to first was worth every cent for the space though I think labelling the service first (other than the seat) is probably pushing it a bit!