Articles tagged “virgin america”

Alaska Airlines has always taken customer experience more seriously than other carriers, but historically, that's been easier, since Alaska has been smaller than its competitors. It's good to see Alaska still placing a major emphasis on customer satisfaction after its Virgin American acquisition.

During the decade he ran Virgin America, David Cush couldn't always speak freely. But now Cush can discuss how airlines struggle with Google's mobile land grab.

Virgin America's Elevate members now have an official timeline for when their loyalty program is going to fold.

Alaska's frequent flyers should love this decision. No, they won't get flatbed business class seats to New York, but they'll keep plentiful free upgrades. For most road warriors, that's a big deal.

We are fans of Virgin products and we think that the brand's founder does good work. But we'd also like to see a workplace relatively free of the type of sexist images it promotes at launch events and anywhere else the founder shows up.

The big surprise would have been if Alaska Airlines kept the Virgin America brand. This isn't a big deal, and it's nice that Alaska will be upgrading many of its products in the next three years. New Wi-Fi can't come soon enough.

Though Virgin America and Alaska Air still run separate loyalty programs, the former seems to be shoring up partnerships in preparation to wind down.

It's easy to be skeptical when an airline says it is making passenger-friendly decisions, but this appears to be the real deal. Many travelers will be much closer to a free ticket now that Alaska is retaining its miles-earning policies for the foreseeable future.

Delta and Alaska haven't been cozy for years, but many customers still have enjoyed the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits. Now that's about to end, and the airlines will be true competitors.

Alaska got what it wanted, and it's now among the strongest U.S. airlines on the West Coast. But the hard part is still to come. Alaska must meld two airlines with different cultures and customer bases.