exunited wrote:Cointrin330 wrote:The Virgin brand, as far as airlines go, does not carry the same special cachet that it did in the 1990's and the early to mid-2000's. There is really nothing unique about any of the Virgin branded carriers (Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, and Virgin America, now fading into Alaska). The marketing, mood lighting, on board bars and the purple and red color scheme are pleasing to the eye, but none of the airlines are winning awards or really differentiating themselves relative to the competition. The entire Virgin brand concept now seems a little dated and done. Virgin America succeeded by offering a really different product than most major US airlines, and appealed to a specific type of consumer, but having flown it a few times over the years, there was nothing overwhelming about it.
The single reason VX did not end up in the landfill was that fuel prices dropped dramatically. It was proven over and over that nobody would pay a premium they were counting on for their mood lighting and hipster vibe. Only continuous massive cash infusions kept it going until they caught a break when jet A fell to levels where they could make a buck. VX was anything but a "success".
Might be true for VX, not true for similar airlines, like B6. B6 came up with a "customer friendly" offering of no fees (obviously that has changed, still lower than the competition excluding WN), free snacks, free PTV's, and more legroom. It seems the newest US airlines, who are also "customer friendly" (WN and B6) have survived while AA, CO, US, DL, NW, UA have either merged, gone bankrupt, or both.