“We’re pleased to continue working with Virgin America to offer the most detailed seatback maps in the skies,” says Jesse Friedman, product marketing manager for Google Maps. “With fresh data presented in our beautiful terrain view, this update improves travelers’ ability and desire to track their flight progression as it happens. Flying is simply more fun when you can explore what’s below.”
Virgin America says it is the only airline in the U.S. with a touch-screen seatback menu that allows guests to order what they want, when they want it during a flight. The California-based carrier offers one of the largest selections of fresh menu items of any U.S. domestic airline, with a focus on locally produced options.
“Investment in our product is a core part of our business model and will allow us to stay ahead of the competition and win over consumers. Onboard ancillary revenue is a growing revenue stream for us and all airlines, and we want to drive it in a way that gives travelers more value-added options they will appreciate,” says Cush. “Believe it or not: custom cocktails, food pairings, an open tab and shop have all not only been part of our Red roadmap from launch, but they’ve also been requested by our guests.”
Cocktails with Altitude' is now available for order on Virgin America's 'Red' in-flight entertainment platform
Virgin America offers features that include power outlets, fleetwide WiFi and the Red seatback platform, which offers touch-screen and remote control interactivity and a wealth of content and options, including:
● “Watch”: Live satellite TV, cached specialty channels, 30-plus on-demand films, premium TVchannels such as HBO and an on-demand music video library;
● “Play”: A variety of videogames, including cult favorites like DOOM, navigated by a Qwerty-keyboard handset at every seat;
● “Talk”: A seat-to-seat chat feature inside the aircraft, so guests can chat with someone in a nearby seat. Guest can also block unwanted chat requests;
● “Journey”: Interactive Google Maps, now with terrain-view, that zoom at eight levels and track the aircraft in-flight;
● “Eat”: a first-of-its-kind on-demand menu system that allows guests to order what they want, when they want it during a flight;
● “Shop”: an on-demand shopping section powered by SkyMall with hundreds of products; and
● “Listen”: a 3,000-MP3 library and platform to create playlists in-flight.
Related to this story:
- Virgin America Plans to Begin Serving Puerto Vallarta
- Virgin America Launches San Francisco-Los Cabos Service
- Virgin America to Serve DFW from Los Angeles and San Francisco
- Virgin America Plans to Serve Mexico’s San Jose del Cabo and Cancun
- Virgin America Upgrades In-Flight Entertainment Options
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I’m glad to see they’ve upgraded this. The last time I flew with them I thought the interactive system was pretty bad in terms of usability. Although I love the concept, and my wife loves the ability to order items through the screen, I found that the interface felt “slow” and half the applications didn’t work (hadn’t been released yet).
Am looking forward to my next trip to see how the improvements work.