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September 26, 2007

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WHERE'S JOHNNY JET?                                 Virgin America
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VIRGIN AMERICA
As you may have already heard, the United States’ newest low-fare carrier is Virgin America (VA). Based out of San Francisco, they currently offer service from SFO to JFK and LAX and will soon be expanding that service to include Las Vegas and Washington D.C. I was fortunate enough to be invited on its inaugural flight from LAX to JFK but sadly I had to decline. I had already committed to taking another airline’s inaugural flight the following day. What are the chances of that? However, the VA public relations person invited me to have a one-on-one meeting with Richard Branson the day before, since I wouldn’t be able to make the flight. Of course, I acted all cool and said, “Let me check my schedule.” When I confirmed that I’d be there, I hung up the phone, double-checked that it was hung up properly, grabbed the football from my desk and did the Ickey Shuffle. I screamed, “Touchdown!” so loud that I woke my neighbor’s baby and then hurt my shoulder, as I dove onto my couch. Excited? Yeah, just a little.



IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM
Richard Branson, the Rebel Billionaire, is the man behind all of the Virgin companies. Sir Richard has been one of my travel idols for some time now. I love his attitude, his innovative vision and all that he’s doing for the environment, for example, investing in alternative fuels. When I arrived at LAX’s Flight Path Museum where the A320 Virgin America plane was parked, I got pumped. I was greeted by a couple of his team members who toured me around. The cabin has mood lighting, which soothes passengers’ nerves and helped me relax, too. The 141 seats in economy are black leather with a shiny white shell. I immediately recognized them from a tour I did a year ago at the Recaro seat manufacturer plant in Fort Worth, TX. I was there checking out American Airlines’ new business class seats. When I asked the Recaro representative whose sleek seats these were, he said, “It’s a secret.” Well, not anymore! In each of the seat backs is a nine-inch video touch screen with the most advanced in-flight entertainment system of any domestic airline. They come with a handheld remote to turn the 18 live channels of satellite TV, a variety of video games, MP3 music files and 25 pay-per-view, on-demand movies. On the flip side of the remote is a keypad so passengers can type messages to fellow passengers and later, down the road, when Internet is introduced in the airlines, passengers will be able to surf the net. As a frequent flier, I really appreciate this and the 110-volt power ports each seat has so you’ll never run out of juice. As if that weren’t enough, (is Branson ever satisfied?) passengers can order food and drinks from their seat. That’s an industry first. Hungry passengers just choose what they want, swipe their credit card and voila! In no time, the flight attendant will be strolling down the aisle with the order. Genius!

RICHARD BRANSON
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walking down the aisle of the plane towards me. I looked up to see Sir Richard wearing a black shirt and jeans. He extended his hand and said, “You must be Johnny!” I smiled, nodded and before I could put together a full sentence, he suggested we go up to first class and have a chat. At first I was taken aback by how tall and skinny the man is (he’s probably 6’1”). I plopped myself down in one of the eight first-class, 55-inch seats and consciously tried not to fiddle with them, including reclining them to see if they really went to a 165-degree angle as advertised. I opened up by saying, “I met you a long time ago at your Virgin Cola party in NYC.” He said, “Well, let’s just hope this venture goes a lot better than that one.” We both chuckled. He was a bit shy and almost seemed nervous but he was probably just trying to ease my nerves. Instead of asking him the same old questions that he must get over and over again (questions to which I can find the answers on the Internet!) I took a different approach.

Q&A WITH SIR RICHARD
I began by asking Richard how often he flies. That took him off guard and he dropped the F-bomb, telling me that he flies practically every other day. When I asked if he ever flies commercial airlines besides his own Virgin brand (Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue, Virgin Nigeria, and now, Virgin America), he said, “All the time.” He joked that that’s why he’s trying to build a network of Virgin planes around the world so that he doesn’t have to fly with other carriers. I was surprised when he told me that to get the new in-flight entertainment system, he tried to borrow $10 million, but the banks turned him down. So he approached Boeing and Airbus. If he bought a bunch of new planes, he asked, would they throw in the entertainment system for free? They did and he had no problem getting the banks to loan him $2 billion. Go figure!

I asked if there were plans to expand Virgin America to other markets. He said he would like to have them service the Virgin Islands where he lives, but they will most likely get into the Hawaii market next. We chatted for a while and to be honest, I don’t even remember half of our conversation or the exact figures. Don’t ask me why I didn’t bring a tape recorder! I was too busy trying to keep my composure. When I said, “It was great to meet you,” he asked if he would see me the next day on the first flight. I explained that I had already committed to another inaugural flight to London. He asked who the flight was with and I told him it was with MAXjet. “Oh, they should take good care of you,” he said. Note: This meeting took place a few days before his buddy Steve Fossett disappeared and I totally spaced on inquiring about their Virgin Galactic venture -- commercial flights to space.

VIRGIN AMERICA’S LOW FARES
I have no doubt that Virgin America will be successful; the amazing in-flight entertainment options will undoubtedly win the business of the traveling public – as will Virgin’s friendly staff and low prices; just $149 one-way for transcontinental flights and $49 from LAX to SFO. I hope to find some time to fly Virgin America in the coming months so be on the lookout for more.

NEW CARRY-ON BACKPACK
One of the perks of my job (besides getting to meet Richard Branson and traveling all over the world!), is that companies constantly send me products to try out. The good folks over at Eagle Creek had impeccable timing when they shipped me their newest bag; the Switchback MAX ES 22 backpack on wheels. Since my Roots carry-on was off being repaired and I didn’t want to take one of my larger suitcases, I decided to give this one a shot for my trip to London. What I really like about the bag is that it’s durable, sleek and useful. It has lots of compartments to store goods and the best part is that you can easily unzip half the bag off and turn it into two separate pieces, using one as a daypack. Both backpacks fit easily into airplane overhead bins and the suggested manufacturer retail price is $290.

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Copyright 2007 JohnnyJet, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pictures From

The Trip

 

Flight Path Museum

 

A320 Virgin America

 

VA Plane Name

 

VA Cockpit

 

VA Economy

 

Black Leather Seats

 

VA Entertainment System

 

VA Remote Control

 

On-Demand Movies

 

Order Food From Seat

 

VA First Class

 

Making Richard Laugh

 

Eagle Creek Luggage (On the right)

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