As Virgin America evolves out of their infancy, they’re starting to tweak some of their operations to make frequent passengers happy, cater to niche interests and maximize profits. Over the last few weeks the airline has unrolled a series of small changes to their operations; we’ll fire through them quick for you so you can stay on top of things.
- Redemption of EleVAte points: Virgin America’s frequent flyer program, EleVAte, has so far allowed you to accrue, but not spend points. The big advantage in this program among others is that members should be able to spend their miles on any flights – there won’t be any blackout dates that prevent you from traveling on weekend/evening/holiday flights.
- Main Cabin Select: If you sit in the bulkhead or exit rows, in addition to the extra leg room you’ll enjoy the amenities of first class: movies, food, premium checkin and the like. And yes, it does cost a bit more.
- Fully refundable fares: While the vast majority of us don’t use fully refundable fares, the 10% of people that do book the tickets haven’t been able to do so thus far. Fully refundable fares, while significantly more expensive than a regular “economy” fare give one the ability to change/return tickets at the last minute, which is why they’re good for business travelers on tight schedules. Adding this flexibility now lets Virgin America try to capture some of that business traveler market. Note, that to get fully refundable fares you still have to call the airline to book — they have yet to integrate that feature into their booking engine.
These small changes should add further leverage to the product that VA has been building and eventually broaden their market share – in case fun mood lighting and top notch In-Flight-Entertainment weren’t enough. I’m glad that the airline is adapting and responding to user feedback and desires.
Now all they need to do is start flying to the Midwest and I’m sold.