Reservation Turbulence at Virgin America
My longtime colleague Jackie keeps things close to the vest. We’ve worked closely for more than 10 years and I don’t know the political causes she supports (I suspect she leans to the left), the music she listens to (I think its 80s music), or her favorite foods (other than Diet Coke, but I hardly call that a food). One thing I do know: There is no one in business that Jackie admires more than Sir Richard Branson, the founder of The Virgin Group.
I don’t know exactly why Jackie reveres Sir Richard so much, but I suspect it has a lot to do with his undeniable marketing and PR genius, the humble origins of the Virgin empire, and of course, her experiences with Virgin Atlantic, which she frequently flies across the pond to visit her in-laws. I know she’s read his books, watched that reality show a few years back, signed the “Let Them Fly” petition, and dreams of sipping pina coladas at his posh Caribbean resort. As I said, she’s a fan.
And that’s why I am so conflicted about posting this entry. She’s not gonna be happy.
Sir Richard today launched Virgin America, a low-cost domestic airline whose initial routes will bounce between San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington. And Jackie is doing her part to help make sure they have a smooth takeoff. I fly to San Francisco regularly and have occasion to travel that way again next week. As soon as Jackie learned my travel plans, she flagged Virgin America’s low-cost introductory fares to me, no doubt within seconds of them being announced.
Unfortunately, my experience thus far with Virgin America is not quite living up to expectations, given the one-woman shill in the office next-door to me. I tried booking a flight online this afternoon for more than an hour, but the purchase wouldn’t go through. I was forced to call reservations, which placed on hold for more than 15 minutes. By way of comparison, I had someone in my office (thank god for interns) call the reservation centers of the major airlines to test how long he would be placed on hold. The verdict: Without exception, he reached a live person within two minutes.
[SIDEBAR FROM JACKIE: “The intern was able to get through right away because nobody wanted to fly the other airlines. Clearly, their agents were sitting around twiddling their thumbs while Virgin America’s agents were working their butts off. Besides, even the harshest Broadway critic gives an opening show the benefit of a preview run before taking poison pen to paper. If memory serves, even we had a few kinks the day we first hung out our shingle. Harrumph!”]
Further, when I tried reserving a seat online, I noticed the exit row window was available, so I grabbed it without realizing that there was an additional $25 fee for this “premium” seat. I’m certain there was some fine print somewhere warning me of the extra charge, but I didn’t notice it. To Virgin America’s credit, the reservation agent I spoke with agreed to waive the additional charge because of my lost time.
Maybe I’m being unfair and too quick to judge. Maybe the snafus I’ve encountered are just a few aberrant “opening day” hiccups that the Virgin America team will quickly work out. Still, first impressions do count and Virgin America’s customer service kinks did cause me to waste nearly 90 minutes of time [not to mention the hours it is going to take me to talk Jackie down from the proverbial ledge over this blog entry].
I truly hope the airline offers me a more positive experience at 35,000 feet next Wednesday. I don’t think I want to be the one to tell Jackie that Sir Richard’s Midas touch was not enough to protect Virgin America from the same issues that cause such reputational turbulence for nearly every other domestic airline.
Fingers crossed I really, really, love flying Virgin America. It will certainly be difficult working with someone who refuses to talk to me ever again.