Airline Fanatic

Fast CompanyMagazine just came out with their November issue, and inside I wasn’t surprised when I found an interview with Virgin America’s CEO: Fred Reid. Why was I not surprised? Fast Company is always interviewing people involved with “it” brands, and there is nothing hotter in the aviation world right now than Fred Reid and Virgin America. You can check out the mostly fluff piece over on Fast Company’s website.

Inside you’ll find mostly what would expect to see from Virgin and a new low cost carrier. The legacy carriers have terrible customer service, we improved on things a little bit from the way JetBlue operates, and added that little bit of Virgin flair that makes all of their companies special. Two things I found out about VA I didn’t know before: they will only fly to primary airports in the cities they serve. This means airports that are usually LCC favorites like Oakland (OAK), Long Beach (LGB), and Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), won’t see any red tails in the foreseeable future. Also, Reid plans to offer meals on his planes that cost $20! He thinks those able to afford first class will be able to expense it, and he is probably right, but I still find it hard to believe he can make airline food taste good enough to justify $20. We shall see though, after all, VA is part of the Virgin empire, and crazy stuff happens over there all the time.