When it comes to airline companies, its pretty obvious Virgin Atlantic operates on a different level than everyone else. I don’t know about you, but when I fly American carriers (i.e., Delta, Continental, AA, etc) don’t you get this feeling that the whole operation is on the verge of complete collapse?
Even their supposedly hi end elite mileage clubs…all they really are is terminal gates with free peanuts. Enter Virgin: I recently spent some time in Heathrow’s Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse and I must admit…i was praying my flight would be delayed for a few hours. Its really amazing in there and puts to shame what any company has going Stateside. I really don’t understand it. You gotta think that the American companies have spies going to these places right? At the very least for research purposes. Do they just walk out saying “We give up. We can’t compete.”? The difference is literally light years.
This looks like one of those AUTOCAD renderings you see in Wallpaper. But this is really what it looked like.
Every hear of a lounge with a rooftop garden overlooking the runway? Yeah, me neither. Until now.
The rec room included a pool table, big comfy sofas and a 104″ plasma screen tv.
Branding goes a long way. American carriers look like they hired the cheapest college kid they could find to design their collateral and then on top of that, hired the cheapest manufacturers to make the stuff.
They offered a full complimentary menu of excellent food. Peep the intricate placement of food product/logos/branding/colabs/color. Just perfect.
Need to get some work done? In the US, that means hunting down a free outlet that is of course behind some plotted fake plant and then sitting on some lame loveseat with the laptop falling on the floor. Virgin gives you full on offices…a full service business center really.
But hey…not everyone is a multitasking workaholic. If you’re the type that just wants to chill and not think about anything…sit on one of their swings and catch some Z’s as you look out on the runway.
Virgin are no doubt a cut above the rest, especially American carriers. It seems that the carriers in the states collude to outdo each other on the worst possible service and sheer indifference to their customers. I guess the American people are just used to this and accept it as status quo.
Being an Australian ex-pat living now in SF, I just dread travelling on US carriers, it really sucks the fun of getting to a new place. For alone time, Qantas were the only domestic carrier in Australia, they were able to drive the fares up and the quality down. Virgin entered the domestic market about 5 or so years ago and really shook up the what travelling is about. Qantas tried to run them out of business (can anyone say Gov’t assisted monopoly) but in the end, Virgin survived by doing what they do best, treating customers like human beings.
Can’t wait to check out the clubhouse!
Wow…That’s dope, the U.S. has to step their design game up. I’ve seen pics of hotels in Asia that look like the year 2025.
Yo Jeff, Virgin will begin domestic flights starting in August. Check out virginamerica.com. Now its all over for American carriers!
Big fan of your blog Jeff, you have an amazing life
Check my new blog out you might chuckle
http://www.hater-nation.blogspot.com
WOW! That looks more like a house than an airport – pretty dope