Virgin America rocks

Last week I got to fly on Virgin America for the first time. I'd just like to take a moment to thank them for the excellent travel experience.

Since we were traveling on Earth Day, they invited those of wearing green to board the plane early. However, since their boarding is so efficient, it didn't actually save me any time -- my travel partner, who was not wearing green, sat down about a minute after I did.

Once on the plane, I was treated to the oft written about purple lighting and trance music. I think some of that lighting is UV, which is supposed to help you adjust time zones or something when traveling on a plane. They also have the trance music in the bathroom throughout the flight, so you can feel relaxed while you urinate at 30,000 feet.

For me, the most important part of any airplane is the seat. If I were the pilot, I would worry about stuff like the wings and landing gear, but since I'm not, it's the seat. I have to sit in that thing for 5 or 6 hours going cross-country, so it had damn well better be comfortable. This was the first airplane seat I've sat in and had sufficient lumbar support. It was actually a comfortable seat! I was able to sit through the whole flight and not be cramped when I arrived. I hope the seats stay this good, and aren't just this way because they are new.

Also important is the entertainment system. Jetblue has a pretty good one, with the DirectTV, but Virgin has definitely one-upped them. Not only do they have the DirectTV, but they also have this way cool entertainment system with movies and games and chat. The chat idea is cool, but sadly, I was the only one logged in the entire flight. I got to watch a bunch of TED talks through the video function, and then I played with the music part, which lets you make playlists and then listen to them. I even played a little Doom. Oh yeah, did I mention the whole thing runs on Linux:



If you look closely, you can see Tux in the upper left of the screen, and the purple lights above.

ps. I'll admit, this entire post was a setup for the picture, but I really did enjoy my flight on Virgin, and would fly them again.