Virgin America A319 first class was the pinnacle of domestic US first class in the mid 2010s. The recliner style seats featured fully retractable leg rests, a massage function, and ultra-stylish white leather.
Whether or not it was real leather isn’t the point. The neon purple mood lighting, techno-style boarding music, and energetic onboard service made it the hippest way to fly.
The following is an overview of my experience from San Diego to San Francisco in August of 2014.
Flight Number:
VX961
Route:
San Diego, CA (SAN) – San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Date:
August 1, 2014
Aircraft:
Airbus A319
Registration:
N524VA
Flight Duration
1 hour 3 minutes
Seat:
1A (First Class)
Checking in at SAN
This flight to San Francisco was scheduled to depart from Terminal 2 East at 12:15 PM. I arrived at approximately 11 AM expecting long lines at both check-in counter and security. Neither of which existed.
Just about to walk down the red carpet towards the Virgin America first class checkin counter here in Terminal 2 East. There’s no sign of the Paparazzi yet. I’m going for it!So much for the red carpet treatment. Terminal 2 East here at SAN leaves a lot to be desired.Sexy hot virgin action here at gate 25. This is the Virgin America A319 that will be taking me up to San Francisco today.
The boarding process
Virgin America is the only airline I’ve ever known to play music in the gate area during the boarding process. It was always something with a pulsing techno beat – usually emanating from a small portable speaker next to the podium. The track they chose for this flight to SFO was probably a bit too high energy for the overall mood in the gate area IMHO.
I especially like how much emphasis they put on the class of service here on the boarding pass. It’s not just first class. it’s MF’n F I R S T. “is it time yet? What about now? Now? No? How soon then?” (What we’re all thinking here at gate 25 as we wait for the boarding process to begin).
Boarding was just a couple minutes late. No biggie. It obviously wasn’t going to be completely full flight, so there was no rush.
Just a few steps away from losing my Virgin America virginity. No regrets so far.
Virgin America A319 first class cabin and seats
First class on the Virgin America A319 consisted of 8 seats in a 2-2 layout. Although the cabin felt small and intimate with only two rows, the seats themselves were huge.
If the deep blue purple mood lighting wasn’t enough to send tingles through your naughty bits, the sight of these huge (and puffy) white leather recliners would be enough to bring you to your knees. Virgin America first class seats are were the best recliner-style first class seats in the US. Period.
These first class seats were hands-down the most fully-featured recliner style seats I’ve ever seen on any airline. Of course JetBlue Mint is better – but those are fully lie flat seats, so it’s not a fair comparison.
Blankets and pillows on every seat. Even on these short one hour flights from San Diego to San Francisco. You’re not gonna see that on United! I don’t even care that these entertainment system remote controls are positioned in a way which will cause your elbows to inadvertently press buttons for the entire flight. It looks awesome. I ain’t never seen a seat control panel like this in a domestic US first class seat. Every feature (even the leg rest) is driven by electrical motors that emit a very satisfying hum.But wait! There’s more. This is the control panel for the massage function. F me. How was this airline ever allowed to die?Leg room is pretty good up here in the bulkhead row. HOWEVER…… It was freakin’ phenomenal in row 2. This is a pic from row 2 (on the flight back to San Diego from San Francisco 2 days later).There are no seat back pockets in the bulkhead row obviously, but this storage bin was both stylish and convenient. Note the headphones (which sounded pretty good) and lipstick red barf bags (which didn’t sound good at all).The bulkhead walls were transparent. And by transparent, I actually mean psychedelic. And purple.
The departure from San Diego
We pushed off from gate 25 and 12:12 PM (3 minutes ahead of schedule). Although the weather was absolutely perfect in both San Diego and San Francisco, SFO was experiencing delays due to congestion. Waiting it out in Virgin America first class wasn’t the end of the world.
Those of you familiar with the San Diego Airport may not even recognize this. Long story short (and without getting overly nerdy), we actually ended up taxiing along the north side of runway 27. Here we are sitting and waiting for a departure slot.On the flight back to San Diego, the lead flight attendant got up and danced along to the safety briefing. He even had the balls to lip-synch the entire thing. The flight up to San Francisco was far less entertaining.
Our departure from runway 27 was at 12:52 PM. Somehow we managed to takeoff one minute ahead of schedule – despite sitting in the penalty box for as long as we did.
Based on what you’ve seen so far, it would’ve been a real bummer to fly up to SFO on Southwest Airlines, wouldn’t it?If only those people down there could see (and feel) what I’m seeing (and feeling) up here. This white leather first class seat is nice!“Later dudes!” (surfer talk for “see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.”)
First class snacks and drinks
Virgin America did serve full meals on transcontinental flights (between SFO/LAX and JFK). But for these shorter flights within California? It was just a drink and a small snack.
The drink service (and an awfully nice Virgin America napkin). That’s it?Actually, no. These spicy nuts paired excellently with the white leather.
Alcohol was complementary of course, and they encouraged you to eat as many snacks as you possibly could. They certainly weren’t being stingy. Even with the limited service.
The coffee was pretty good too. And they served it in a real mug! If this wasn’t the biggest FU to Delta, United, and American “first class”, I don’t know what is.
First class in-flight entertainment
The Virgin America first class entertainment system that was ahead of its time IMHO. Not only did it feature live TV, there was also a huge catalog of on-demand movies and television shows.
Because of how much space there is between the seats, the video screens flip out from the center armrest in every row.
As I noted earlier, ‘over the ears’ style headphones were included. They weren’t noise canceling though. But they sounded good enough.
Seat and cabin comfort
With the built-in leg rest and massage function, it was difficult being uncomfortable in these seats. They were extremely soft. Very wide. And the leg room? Gargantuan.
Relaxing in these seats was always a little difficult. Not because of how uncomfortable they were. It was because of how awesomely purple everything was.There was no escaping the purple even back here in the second row. I ask again: why did this airline have to die?
First class lavatory
There was only one first class lavatory on the Virgin America A319. There was nothing uniquely “Virgin America” about it though. What a missed opportunity!
Ain’t no party vibes up here in the first class lavatory. Pooping in a Virgin America A319 is no different than pooping in a United A319 unfortunately.I kept waiting for something exciting to happen (flashing lights, techno music, etc), but…nothing. All the glitz and glam is limited to the main cabin I guess.
The arrival in San Francisco
Total flying time was just one hour and three minutes – which is very quick for a flight from San Diego to San Francisco. We ended up being four minutes early.
All lined up for a runway 28R arrival. A very familiar situation for this Virgin America A319. Fingers crossed that the pilot is halfway familiar with this as well…
Touchdown on runway 28R was at 1:55 PM, and it only took eight minutes to taxi over to Terminal 2. Arriving so early is rare at SFO this time of year. It’s usually foggy with limited visibility. We got lucky!
Casually blowing past the NO PARKING warning as we pull into gate 59 at terminal 2? Whatever. Welcome to SFO!
