Virgin America: Airline of the Present
Spent the day traveling on Richard Branson’s innovative airline. Virgin is a magical land of travel where the plane resembles a disco dance boutique more than a cattle car.
It’s a place where the mid-air wifi is plentiful, the flight attendants still have some spring in their step, and the Boing Boing Video flows like wine through individual entertainment screens.
Meanwhile the rest of the airline industry is seeking fiscal salvation through some kind of Unholy Corporate Zen Minimalism. In their minds, passengers seek to travel in much the same conditions as their luggage. Packaged in ever-smaller containment crates, deprived of amenities, and watched over by humorless, disgruntled attendants who would be better suited serving on fictional Obama Death Panels.
These are the best ideas that this industry has to offer. The American airline industry is little more than an aging, tumor-riddled, pet hamster whose owner refuses to take it off of life-support for fear of facing a trip back to the pet store.
I think it’s time we euthanize some of these government-subsidized industries. Or at least make them work for the occasional paycheck.
[…] made no secret of my affinity for the Virgin brand. It seems to belong to that small cadre of evolved corporations — innovative brands with […]
[…] my Virign America jaunt over to the right coast, I spent some time watching the recently defunct BoingBoing Video […]