Virgin America Groupon offer- this weeks' sign the apocalypse is upon us.

[relief tube]

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/blog----
But the trendy low-cost carrier is offering a much steeper discount for subscribers of the online discount site Groupon. In a move that may be a first for a U.S. airline, Virgin America is offering $77 worth of airfare for just $7 at Groupon. The value of the deal can be applied only flights to or from Chicago, for travel booked by May 25 and completed by Nov. 15. The deal must be purchased by 12:59 p.m. ET today (Thursday)----


Maybe VA mgmt will offer a groupon for pilot pay there. (semi-lame zing)

 

[Fubijaakr]

Heading down the Skybus path. $9 fares from Cbus. Anyone remember that? The VX death rattle begins.....

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

VX retreated from Toronto-- too high of a cost to operate in Canada. Now, ORD-- Jetblue started with 5 flights per day to JFK and now thats down to 3 and maybe 1/2 to BOS. The yields just aren't there-- still too many seats. I can only imagine how many times UAL and AA fly between LAX and SFO...

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Will they make a donation to Tibet for every ticket bought?

 

[Hamfighter]

Will they make a donation to Tibet for every ticket bought?

Well played, sir.

 

[Hair-on-Fire]

VX retreated from Toronto-- too high of a cost to operate in Canada. Now, ORD-- Jetblue started with 5 flights per day to JFK and now thats down to 3 and maybe 1/2 to BOS. The yields just aren't there-- still too many seats. I can only imagine how many times UAL and AA fly between LAX and SFO...

There's actually 2x daily ORD-JFK and 3x daily ORD-BOS on B6

 

[Fubijaakr]

I can only imagine how many times UAL and AA fly between LAX and SFO...

VX is going to get their head handed to them in ORD and DFW. They're going the way of Skybus. I admit, I was never a B6 fan, but at least you have become the "hometown" airline of the largest O/D market in the U.S., especially your service into the Caribbean.

VX has made critical mistakes, starting with choosing SFO as their hub. I'd give VX 3 more years MAX.

 

[strobzz]

VX is going to get their head handed to them in ORD and DFW. They're going the way of Skybus. I admit, I was never a B6 fan, but at least you have become the "hometown" airline of the largest O/D market in the U.S., especially your service into the Caribbean.

VX has made critical mistakes, starting with choosing SFO as their hub. I'd give VX 3 more years MAX.

I thougt in your expertise,that VA was going the way of Skybus.They lasted less than a year,now your giving VA three more years.That would be a total of almost seven years of operations.

 

[Tomct]

I thougt in your expertise,that VA was going the way of Skybus.They lasted less than a year,now your giving VA three more years.That would be a total of almost seven years of operations.

Fubi is just pissed because we continue to kick their TRASH on the west coast. The more he talks, the better I feel. It's almost like listening to Charlie Browns teacher....wonk wonk wonk......wonk wonk!!! Keep yapping buddy, we'll be hearing the same crap from you in ten years about how we won't last another year. Yeah, we are the same as Skybus alright, best class of service in the U S airline market and a First Class that is unmatched!! MORON!!


Blue, I think you guys run a great airline, but let's be honest, your service is nowhere near as nice as ours. Blue chips only taste good for so long. You guys dominate the east coast and I'm glad for that, I prefer you guys to anyone else over there....keep on trucking! We have already out performed Yonited in SFO on numerous routes, so I have no worries about ORD. DFW bookings keep getting better and better, so I know we will be just fine there as well.

Fly Safe!

 

[Blue Dude]

Blue, I think you guys run a great airline, but let's be honest, your service is nowhere near as nice as ours.

Wow, were we ever this arrogant? We were pretty full of ourselves early on but this just takes the cake. Maybe it's a west coast thing.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Fubi is just pissed because we continue to kick their TRASH on the west coast. The more he talks, the better I feel. It's almost like listening to Charlie Browns teacher....wonk wonk wonk......wonk wonk!!! Keep yapping buddy, we'll be hearing the same crap from you in ten years about how we won't last another year. Yeah, we are the same as Skybus alright, best class of service in the U S airline market and a First Class that is unmatched!! MORON!!


Blue, I think you guys run a great airline, but let's be honest, your service is nowhere near as nice as ours. Blue chips only taste good for so long. You guys dominate the east coast and I'm glad for that, I prefer you guys to anyone else over there....keep on trucking! We have already out performed Yonited in SFO on numerous routes, so I have no worries about ORD. DFW bookings keep getting better and better, so I know we will be just fine there as well.

Fly Safe!

That's nice and all but, more importantly, how are your pay and work rules?

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Bill, I am wondering why you didn't do your usual "this thread does not belong on the majors board" comment? We are growing, but not a major yet. Thanks for warming up to the idea though.

Donation to Tibet. That was a funny one! You can buy a carbon offset on board, or at SFO in the terminal, but personally I wonder where the money goes. Seems like a scam, maybe I should invest in carbon offset atm like machines for ATL & DTW. Feed me $10 and I will spit out a feel good thank you receipt and donate $0.05 to some global warming awareness campaign. One could do well making $$ off the tree huggers!

The $7 Groupon tickets sold out very quickly. It is our brand of internet marketing, more bang for the buck with the young yuppie crowd we go after. And if you really need to know, it was a very small amount of seats.

And GooglesP, we do have published work rules that are industry average and followed by management. Pay still needs to come up, but I predict when the hiring resumes industry wide it will.

Again, bash Virgin and stay on the majors board. Ask about hiring or say something good and it gets moved to the LCC board. Love the FI consistency!

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

It's called a joke Ralph....lighten up!

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Throttle back Tomct...(my apologies Ralph, I gotta chime in when ignorance shows up)

You are beating United? On what? Load Factor? Any clown with a no-money down leased jet can make money doing transcons to JFK...or a shuttle to LAX. The rubber hits the road when you try to do something that nobody else is doing....like JB and Long Beach. You tout all of your great service....and I agree after hitching a ride, you guys are doing great.....costs money.

Someday, you will realize past your shiny new big jet type rating, that food needs to be put on the table and whoring yourself out for Sir Richard and his lapdog Cush, won't pay the bills. They are using your trash wages and workrules to make themselves rich while you walk around thinking you are cool with embroidered luggage and black pilot shirts. Edgy DUDE.....That's Wicked Awesome!

If you survive....the last laugh will be yours...until you turn a real profit and stay in a city pair longer than 3 months, just shut your cornhole and quit acting like you are the best tennis team in Alaska.

 

[Chairman]

There were no $7 tickets. For $7 dollars you received $77 dollars off your fair!

 

[ualdriver]

There's a reason Virgin gets bashed so much on here. It is because some of us understand history, have lived through it, and don't want to be doomed to repeat it.

So here's the story. Yet another non-union, undercutting airline has started up and is now encroaching upon established competitors. When have we EVER seen this before? And of course, us students of airline history know that this ALWAYS turns out well for those of us that are actually trying to do something about trying to raise pay and work rules in the business. I mean, when Frontier, JetBlue, Valujet got big, wages went UP in the industry, right? So nothing to worry about here, I guess, either. A growing, thriving Virgin (and it's inevitable copycats currently being dreamed up) is good for all of us! Nothing to see here. And of course, as another Virgin pilot stated, it would be "selfish" to ask for anything more.

Don't forget that when you come back to compare hourly rates to United's to "prove me wrong" that you include our 16% B&C fund, our zero dollars per month short and long term disability, and our zero dollars per month health insurance cost.....and of course we are in contract negotiations right now to improve upon what we already have. Any idea when the Virgin pilots will try to negotiate an industry leading contract to show us all how it's done?

And I love the way a Virgin pilot likes to bash YONITED. Seems to me there are quite a few Virgin pilots needing to ride YONITED to get to work as they likely can't afford to live in the Bay area on Virgin wages. I fly quite often out of SFO and unfortunately have to honor our jumpseat agreement. However us YONITED pilots have a GREAT sense of humor. If you would like to share more YONITED jokes with us when many of you come to ask for a ride, please do.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Best FI Post ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Too True!

 

[Chairman]

Hey UAL while you guys are working in your contract make sure second year pay starts at a year from DOH. Besure to get the pay to something livable and don't forget longevity pay for those of us who are pretty happy to still be flying.

 

[ualdriver]

Hey UAL while you guys are working in your contract make sure second year pay starts at a year from DOH. Besure to get the pay to something livable and don't forget longevity pay for those of us who are pretty happy to still be flying.

This isn't a Virgin pilot telling me to "move the line forward," is it? Correct me if I am wrong. If it is, I guess I should ask when I can expect that from you?

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Hi ualdriver,

I can take the bashing with a smile, after all, I wear a black shirt to work!

I was mostly commenting on the fact any Virgin threads on the majors board asking for hiring info get quickly moved, while bashing threads stay here. Just pointing out the FI bias.

Thanks for the education on unionism. I'm kinda new here, started commercial flying just about the time Carter and Kahn did away with the CAB, walked the picket line in 85 in support of my union brothers at ORD rather than interview at UAL, flew as captain on the very first UAX flight in June of 86 with Air Willie and got to start over after UAL bought & sold us in 92/93. I got to repeat the process in 06 after ACA got dropped as a UAX carrier and did the fun but disastrous Indy thing. I have no love for UAL as a company, but do have friends there that I wish well. I also have friends at CAL, and quite frankly the mess you are staring at in getting that integration working is a much bigger threat than a couple of flights a day out of ORD from us. After talking with my CAL and UAL friends, you guys need to go fishing or something, and bring lots of beer along and talk things out.

However, your reasoning is entirely self serving, how my lack of a contract may affect your future. Unfortunately, ALPA will never be on the property here after the battle it waged to try to stop VA from getting certified. The IBT is a non starter as well, which leaves in house the only option. So far there is little reason to get that going with the small pilot group size we now have and the generally fair treatment we get. I predict it will be quite some time before anything happens here to cause a union on the property, so you will just have to live with that info and move on.

As to your veiled jumpseat threat, keep in mind we give out the seat unrestricted, first come, first served, no priority system after our own guys, to you as well. I gave one of your very tired 400 drivers a ride home just a few days ago and made darn sure he got a good seat and any food and movies he wanted. That's just common courtesy. He doesn't make the board room decisions in ORD anymore than I do in SFO, and I have been treated well by you guys which I greatly appreciate.

I am quite sure UAL and AA will be able to hold their own in the ORD markets, just as I am sure we will be able to draw a reasonable share in them. You have hundreds of route combinations and frequent flier miles to dangle to your faithful, all we have are modern IFE systems, good food and hot looking friendly helpful FAs. Seems like a fair fight to me!

I hope you do get back to contract 2000. It's such a miserable atmosphere over there you need some compensation for enduring the pain.

Best wishes,

Ralph