I've purposely avoided flying with Ryanair in the past, but an unwelcome measure of misfortune meant I crossed paths with its Stateside counterpart today - Virgin America.
The first thing that strikes me as odd is the lack of inflight magazine. What sort of airline flies their customers on a 6 hour journey without some sort of aviation-related reading material? Okay - I accept there's no magazine to read, how about a spot of TV instead? Oh, you have to pay for visual entertainment? Alright, no sweat - I have a book in my bag and an iPod in my pocket. But now I'm feeling peckish so I wait patiently for breakfast on this early morning flight. And wait and wait...until it becomes clear that a box of crappy plane food isn't included in the ticket. Fine - I'll order a snack from one of the members of staff on board. To no avail - apparently you have to order from your seat using the stubborn screen that only shudders into action if you press the buttons in exactly the right way. By now I'm absolutely starving so desperately claw at the screen to make my selection from the virtual menu and attempt to make a payment by swiping my credit card underneath - which inevitably doesn't work.
Cue series of bizarre facial expressions as I try to suppress my inner rage (one is British, after all) and sit glaring at the screen wallowing in my distress & trying to ignore both the hunger pangs and the passenger in the next seat who had the foresight to bring a sandwich onto the plane.
Let's sum up by speculating that if there were an award in the aviation industry for being shit, Virgin America would win hands down. Congratulations - I will not be using your terrible airline again in the future.
