Virgin America launches in US; 1st flight delayed

[Matt Molnar]

Virgin America launches in US; 1st flight delayed

Wed Aug 8, 2007 12:25PM EDT

By John Crawley and Justin Grant

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Virgin America Inc., the low-cost airline partly backed and fully branded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, launched on Wednesday with a splash of publicity -- but found its first flight delayed by a midsummer New York storm.

The delay was a timely reminder for the new airline -- which offers leather seats, mood lighting, entertainment systems, first-class seating and low fares on point-to-point flights -- that the U.S. domestic market is fraught with difficulties.

"The American airline industry is abysmal," Virgin Group founder Branson said at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport before passengers boarded the first flight. "The reason they go bust is they don't offer any service to the customer." More...

[mirrodie]

"The reason they go bust is they don't offer any service to the customer."

Well he got that right.

The title is misleading though. The delays are wx related and the opening title doesnt mention that.
C'est la vie.

[stuart schechter]

This can't be blamed on the airline. Now the real test is how good they were dealing with the delay.

[Matt Molnar]

Umm, hello, if they truly cared about the customer they would have a fleet of A320EWPs (Extreme Weather Proof). List price: $1.74 billion each.

[lijk604]

Umm, hello, if they truly cared about the customer they would have a fleet of A320EWPs (Extreme Weather Proof). List price: $1.74 billion each.

Where can we get a few of those?

[LGA777]

Must not have been that late out of JFK, as it made it to SFO in time for the planned dual landing with the flight from LAX. Seems they where given taxi priority at JFK for the occasion. I'll bet Fred Reid wishes he had stayed at an airport hotel last night instead of (I assume) a more posh one in Manhattan.

Cheers

LGA777