Our Virgin America Tour: Charles Ogilvie, Internet Superstar
That sound you hear is the sound of us breaking the fourth wall, or at least dropping the "royal we" for a moment.
In case you haven't noticed, my byline avatar is a floating head in a pink heart. The head belongs to Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America's Director of In-Flight Entertainment & Partnerships. It's been there ever since Jaunted discovered his magically animated eyebrows and come-hither smirk on YouTube. I point it out because you'd otherwise have no point of reference for understanding just how awkward Friday, March 9 was for me. It was the day Jaunted (Publisher Mark G. Johnson and myself, your humble editor) toured the Virgin America offices and infiltrated the company's growing fleet of planes at SFO.
Now, Virgin America is still awaiting clearance from the DOT, so we weren't able to take one of these birds up. Yet the mood in the office's headquarters is far more positive than ours has been at times concerning the Virgin America launch outlook. They expect to start flying this summer, and their optimism has rubbed off on us. We have now gone from "skeptical" to "cautiously optimistic" concerning their summer launch.
In order to arrive on time for our tour, I made the journey from JFK to SFO on practically no sleep, which means I can tell you first hand something you probably already know--the East Coast to San Francisco is NOT a fun flight. It's pretty damn long, and aside from one carrier's well known 36 channel entertainment package, there isn't much to do. That's where VA's newfangled entertainment system comes in. Since cross-country flights are lucrative routes, plagued by passenger boredom, VA was smart enough to install an entertainment system that kicks things up a notch. But more on that later.
For now, VA is leasing gutted planes to offset costs during the grounding phase. It is important to note that the sub-leases, to SkyBus and the like, will only include gutted planes, so no VA "experience" until the Virgin is airborne.
The tease continues, with photos post-jump.
But look! Virgin America is more American than the DOT would lead you to believe.
They even have a cute little pet pictures board in the break room.
For the complete scoop on the VA experience, check back here tomorrow morning for full blown photo, video and prose from our tour. It's an exclusive perspective you won't find anywhere else. Tips on how to make your life as emotionally uncomfortable as mine will not be included, but you could do worse than to start by virtually beheading an airline executive. Time to uninstall Photoshop so this never happens again. Stay tuned!
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Virgin America coverage [Jaunted]
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