About a Virgin

Airlines... what were you thinking about?

I vaguely remember reading this on someone's blog (probably enuwy's) on how cute and frankly quite funny the animations of Virgin Atlantic's safety video is. And it really is.

I'm on Virgin Atlantic on my way to the US (first time trans-atlantic on Virgin) and I must say that the service has been fantastic! If you're into well designed interfaces and good looking cutlery, overnight kits and in-flight entertainment, you will love Virgin Atlantic's service. Everything here (with the exception of the service crew) looks designer!

It's no wonder that this is a partner of Singapore Airlines, which chooses great partners to code-share with in perpetuating the good service. I have to rave about what's different.

Top ten impress-me points on Virgin Airlines:
Overnight kits come in a colourful bag, featuring a larger-than-most drawstring bag, normal sized toothbrush, pop cap toothpaste, ear plugs and eye mask.
Cute labels on items, ranging from "Pardon?" on the ear plugs, to "v.smelly" on the perfumes range in the in-flight shopping magazine.
Great range of in-flight entertainment. For all you SQ sceptics out there, there are more movies on-demand on the plane than featured on Krisworld. If that doesn't convince you, check out the music range. Not surprising for a company that makes its money by being the largest entertainment/music provider in the world.
But you can't buy taste. The choice of in-flight entertainment is obviously thought through. I watched A Scanner Darkly, an animated adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dark sci fi novel which features Keanu Reeves in animated form. I've not even heard of this movie (so quite cutting-edge although I am probably also behind in movies so far.) Top recommendations include An Inconvenient Truth, a must-watch documentary on Al Gore fighting for global warming. It is utterly compelling, and I'm impressed that this was touted as a must-watch and not some boring short. The Devil Wears Prada is also one of the new shows on board.
The in-flight entertainment magazine, heck even the descriptions of products sold and the in-flight safety information is entertainingly written and fun to read. Apparently, the descriptions of products offered in the in-flight shop is written by well trained monkeys.
Well designed, on-demand, aesthetically pleasing in-flight entertainment system. If you're one of those SQ fanatics addicted to the on-demand, in-flight entertainment systems with dozens of movies, Virgin Atlantic is not going to be any less. In fact, there are less ads (I saw only one) in the beginning of each movie, which is always nice. Also, the on-demand system is obviously using the same Panasonic back-end system (thanks S- for the information, I wouldn't otherwise have known!) as Krisworld since the background font when you stop/start is exactly the same.
The food is frankly, quite nice for plane food. Dessert was a luxury sample of chocolate pudding which was heartrendingly good. (Allergic to chocolate - made my heart race, but I took a bite and it was simply yummy.)
The in-flight entertainment system also has intranet surfing allowing you to surf the net within the in-flight system and text messaging where you can send SMS to ground mobile phones (at some fee, of course).
And although I wasn't in the right class, there is a full sized standing room bar in business class, going with the latest trend of having all aisle-only seats along the side of the plane, with a drinks bar where the galley is supposed to be on traditional planes.
And my personal favourite: toilets feature tampons (a first on airlines!) instead of penguin pads for sanitary protection. For the information of all the guys who do not appreciate this, this is a mark of sophistication and luxury - I kid you not. Old women who define tax and GST laws define tampons as luxury goods in Australia but sanitary napkins as necessities.

So the next time you're thinking of a flight from the UK, I recommend Virgin as a whole, over other competitors like British Airways or Qantas. It's probably on par with Singapore Airlines or Emirates, but may well cost a lil' bit less. And it definitely offers you great value for your dosh.