A friend of mind updated his Facebook status yesterday with “Flying home to Seattle on Virgin America. My favorite airline.” There’s nothing good to say about airlines. There’s nothing good to say about air travel. And yet, he’s right. It’s probably my favorite airline, too.
Why? What’s so special about Virgin America? They use the exact same Airbus 319 that JetBlue, Frontier, and others use. They use the same airports every other airline uses - same baggage claim, same terminals. Same snail’s pace security. So with so many other factors being identical - suggesting it’s impossible to differentiate in such a commoditized market - why do people outwardly, and publicly, favor this carrier?
Brand has a tremendous amount to do with it. I’d never flown Virgin Atlantic prior to flying Virgin America. But it has cache. Something about the brand actually places into your mind that you have an increased chance of getting lucky when you get home - just because you flew Virgin. And Richard Branson has done a flawless job of managing that brand so the perception extends across all his businesses. If Branson started Virgin Plumbing, you’d call them for the very same reason. Actually, that’s not a bad idea, although there’d be a lot of babies out there who look nothing like their fathers. Anyway…
The second part of their following comes from tiny little details that get noticed - and talked about. Details airlines should think of, but don’t. This, in my opinion, stems from airlines believing because their product is commodity, innovation as “left the building”. Or because they seem to want us to feel the pain of their industry. Sort of the, “we’re all in this mess together” mentality, which has nothing to do with the customer, and has always perplexed me.
All Virgin America aircraft boast “ambient” lighting to soothe you and, um, get you in the mood for your flight. Turns out, the ambient lighting is simply colored filters on the exact same lighting used by every other aircraft of that type. But it sure looks cool when you get in - making you believe you just arrived at the lobby of the W Hotel in Manhattan. Cost them little if nothing more to implement. Just a different idea to create a perception passengers are somewhere else than in the barn, waiting to be herded from one place to another.
Lastly Virgin has invested in technology, and is pushing the envelope. It probably cost them an extra million or so a plane, but the in-seat entertainment, communications and commerce system gets people talking. And that’s the point. Orders for food or snacks take place on a screen in the seat back, including payment. They charge a lot. But who cares, right? I’m getting lucky when I get home!!! Passengers who are separated can use the chat function to check in on each other during the flight.
My experiences on Virgin have been so positive in light of an otherwise awful way to travel, I’m now willing to pay more to fly with them on an upcoming Europe trip, just because I assume the experience will be better. That’s called loyalty, and it has nothing to do with airline miles, which have simply turned into a “thank you sir, may I have another” way of keeping customers.
Thinking different has caused a lot of people to go out of their way to point out how one airline seems to do it better when all other things remain shitty. Which will likely pay off immensely when (uh, if) the economy and the prospects for air travel improve.
