{"id":70568,"date":"2025-02-06T01:34:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T01:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/virgin-no-more\/"},"modified":"2025-02-06T01:34:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T01:34:12","slug":"virgin-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70568","title":{"rendered":"Virgin No More"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nFlying on Virgin America\u2019s Farewell Flight<\/h4>\n
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April 25, 2018 marked an important milestone for Virgin America (VX) and Alaska Airlines.\u00a0 On that day, the airlines conducted Passenger Service System (PSS) Cutover<\/a>, an important milestone of the airlines’ merger.\u00a0 Ticket counters, reservations, VX flight numbers, website, apps, call centers \u2013 all elements that a passenger would face \u2013 became one under Alaska Airlines.\u00a0 The hip, playful, and edgy brand with the red motif was officially no more.<\/p>\n


[In case you missed it, Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America<\/a> in April 2016 for $2.6 billion dollars.]<\/p>\n

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PSS Cutover was just one of many steps in the merger transition.\u00a0 At the end of 2017, the two airlines\u2019 frequent flier programs merged.\u00a0 This was followed by the receipt of Single Operating Certificate in January 2018 leading to the retirement of Virgin America\u2019s clever radio callsign \u201cRedwood\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the last evening under the Virgin America ticket, two flights were scheduled for departure at 9:30 pm San Francisco (SFO), the airlines\u2019 home airport.\u00a0 While both can be considered as the final flight, the redeye to Philadelphia would land the next day after<\/i> the PSS cutover.\u00a0 Therefore, enthusiasts designated flight VX 1948 to Los Angeles (LAX) as the unofficial farewell flight.\u00a0 [Flight VX 1947 from LAX to SFO<\/a> was the official final flight.\u00a0 Known as Founders Flight, it limited to Virgin America employees only.]\u00a0 As enthusiasm gathered steam on Flyertalk<\/a>, the airline upgauged flight VX 1947 to the larger A321 and moved the departure time to 9:32 pm, making it officially Virgin America\u2019s final scheduled departure from SFO.\u00a0 Keeping this flight accessible to fans everywhere, the one-way price never went above the $50 range!<\/p>\n

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A few days before April 24th, I swung by the Virgin America ticket counter at SFO.\u00a0 Most of the airline\u2019s distinctive tabletop self check-in kiosks had already been removed, except for one.\u00a0 By the final day, this table was gone.<\/p>\n

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Arriving at SFO two hours before flight VX 1948, the ticket counter was quiet on this Tuesday evening.\u00a0 I walked right up to an agent and requested a boarding pass printout.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they no longer have the distinctive red boarding passes.\u00a0 Either they have been totally exhausted or were pulled from service as checking with the gate also yielded nothing.<\/p>\n

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I breezed through Pre-Check and arrived at Gate 51B.\u00a0 There, flyertalk members Nate Vallier (UAPremierExec), Brendan Hooley (socialgecko), and friends were busy setting up the #vxfarewell swag table.<\/p>\n

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A true grassroots effort, through these members and kind donations by other forum members, the swags exceeded all expectations!\u00a0 We are talking about custom printed baggage tags, posters, and buttons.\u00a0 Virgin America also donated clean safety cards (full set: A319, A320, and A321), wine bottle holders, and lanyards.<\/p>\n

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Alaska Airlines graciously opened up their lounge space at LAX for the after-flight VXFarewell Fiesta.\u00a0 They also provided fancy chocolate red velvet cupcakes at the gate.\u00a0 They were delicious \u2013 I had two!<\/p>\n

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There was a flashmob (I only caught a glimpse from a distance).\u00a0 When the announcement for boarding came, it was a very emotional moment for gate agent Jelena.\u00a0 She dedicated the final boarding on behalf of all SFO Virgin America team members to the applause of all.<\/p>\n

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