Virgin America has non-stops from BOS on Sat-Sun starting in January 2015

Was bummed that Jet Blue didn't have a Saturday morning non-stop in January, and found out that Virgin America does, beginning in January, starting at $155 (non-refundable).

Booked a Main Cabin Select seat (38 inch pitch, one free bag, 2nd is $25) for $278, which is about comparable to a Jet Blue ticket with Even More Space.

Edited to Add: Fridays too, starting 1/9.

 

Ooooh, thank you for that info! Every now & then I found non-stops on Delta this past year & treated myself to 1st class but I haven't seen any for next year. I would love to try VA, but obviously didn't want to go to SF or LA first. I think it's time to get the first 2015 trip booked so I am off to check it out!

 

Thanks. I am looking to book SB trip!

 

Yeah, I wanted to try VX also, they had some cheap fares to LAS, but always through LAX or SFO and not great times.

A couple of tips:

I originally booked Main Cabin Select (non-refundable) for $278, and selected a bulkhead row. With a 2nd bag, this would have been $303 all in. There's two rows of Main Cabin Select - the bulkhead row 3 and the second exit row 10. Main Cabin Select gives you priority security (supposedly), boarding right after first class (8 first class seats), and free movies, food and drinks (including booze).

After a couple of hours, I decided to cancel, and rebook a Main Cabin Express seat in the front exit row 9 for $30 extra.

So here's how it breaks down:

I booked Southwest for 1/31 using $240 worth of points for a 6:40am flight through MDW that lands at 11:30. That was the lowest price that flight has been at so far. Plus $12.50 for EB, so $252 all in, no guaranteed seat.

JetBlue, the cheapest I ever saw the morning non-stop in January was $154, but they don;t have it on Saturday any more. If they did, it would be $154 + one free bag + $40 for the second bag + $95 for an Even More Space seat = $289

Virgin America, $154 + $50 for two bags + $30 for the exit row seat = $234.

So I'm happy with that. Less than the Southwest flight, guaranteed exit row seat, and takes MDW out of the winter weather equation.

So if you want more leg room but don't need the bulkhead or to use the "free" food & entertainment, go for a non-refundable Main Cabin fare and select a seat in row 9 for another $30.

 

I booked them for the first time for my Friday morning flight out for the Super Bowl. It was ~220 for a non-stop 10:30am flight BOS-LAS. I'm a fan of Jet Blue, but their morning non-stops to Las Vegas have been pretty expensive for quite a few years now.

Looking forward to trying Virgin.

 

Okay, weird thing happened. I decided to book for my birthday, and for the Saturday morning nonstop out of Boston it was cheaper to book Main Cabin Select than plain old main cabin. No brainer I booked the Main Cabin Select and have a bulkhead seat on the side of the plane that I prefer, free snacks and drinks, free luggage, free tv & movies and priority boarding if I understand all their fine print correctly.

Bet you didn't know you were giving me a birthday present when you posted this Chuck! Happy Birthday to Me

Thanks again for posting this. I honestly never would have checked Virgin again without your post.

 

Nice. The only thing I'm bummed about is I have 3 free Southwest drink coupons that expire the day I'm flying, so now I won't be able to use them. But not having to worry about the weather in Chicago that day makes up for it.

 

Yay! Thanks for sharing. I will probably book with them for April :banana: Blank you JB and your to-be smaller seats :Þ

 

Looks like they're neatly filling in the JBLU gap on the weekend morning non-stop. The last VX one is Sun 4/26, and then JBLU resumes Sat-Sun the following weekend.

 

For anyone who booked one of these flights, I came up with a little info on the VX gate at Logan.

VX only has a few flights a day out of BOS, and their gate B38 is cordoned off from the rest of the terminal, and has its own security checkpoint. But once you're past security, there's nothing but a restroom and a mini-Cosi stand. I expect the stand will have water, coffee,juice and maybe soda as well as some pre-packaged food, but be advised that's it, no Hudson News, no bars, etc.

And a couple of other things (these are for the A320 aircraft):

Row 9 is an exit row with extra leg room for $30, which is pretty good considering Jet Blue charges $95 for Even More Space (although the JBLU seats are further forward). These seats don't decline.

Row 8 is the most-forward row you can get without paying anything extra, but the seats don't recline.

If you're interested in possibly flying First Class but want to try to get a bit of a deal:

• If you booked Main Cabin Select, check in right at the 24 hour mark and if there's any First Class seats available, you supposedly will be offered to upgrade for $240.
• If you booked Main Cabin, check in at the 6 hour mark and if there's any First Class seats available, you supposedly will be offered to upgrade for $399.

 

VX913 did not get off to a good start.

Friday landed on time, Saturday delayed 3 hrs, Sunday diverted to Palm Springs.

 

I was on the Sunday flight. It sucked. Really, really sucked. They kept us on the plane at Palm Springs with very poor communications. After 2 hours they gave everyone a bite sized biscotti. I am completely unimpressed and not looking forward to my return flight on Saturday.

I paid the extra $30 and was in Row 5. I wouldn't do it again. I paid $13 for dried up cheese and a glass of crappy wine. I am in main cabin select for the return.

I think I am still cranky from my 12 hour travel day

 

Wow, I wondered if you might have been on one of those flights! Did they tell you the reason for the diversion? I didn't hear anything about winds or bad weather in Vegas...

How did you end up getting to Vegas, did they fly you there or did you have to drive?

 

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VRD913/history/20150111/1535Z/KBOS/KLAS

the radar showed pretty bad weather

 

ApparentLy there was a minor emergency at McCarran with a private jet having a wonky landing gear. We didn't have enough fuel to hold (not knowing how long the delay) so diverted to fuel up. After sitting on the plane for 2 and a half hours with only 2 vague announcements, one being that soon the crew would exceed their allowed hours if we didn't depart soon, we left. The passengers were getting restless with some getting ready to demand to deplane just before we took off.

I felt bad for the folks going to SFO. . When we got LAS they were told they would be leaving at 8 pm. I imagine they had to wait for a new crew.

I fly quite a it, and worked ATC so I understand shit happens. It's all in how it is handled that matters.

 

VX only has a handful of flights a day out of Logan. I'm assuming that they don't have curbside check in and you have to check baggage at the counter, is that correct? How did the check in/security thing go?

 

Check in was. A breeze. Only the one flight was going out at that time I think and I think a lot of people just had carry-ons. The disadvantage of course is they only have that cosi snack bar at their gate. Security is just for them as far as I could tell as well. I'd estimate 5 minutes from being dropped at the door to reaching the gate.

I didn't see a curbside option.

 

I just wanted to update this now that I have returned home. My flight yesterday could not have gone any better. Check in at Vegas was very quick. I had TSA PC but all the lines were short. I had booked main cabin select and was onboard with a minute or 2 of them announcing boarding. We departed on time, had a tailwind and arrived in Boston about 30 minutes early. The service was very good, in spite of being interrupted for a couple of extended periods of time due to significant turbulence. I was in Row 3 which I almost avoided but I loved it. Unlike SWA's bulkhead, VA has a mesh basket to put small items in, and a tray that pulls out and of course, the extra legroom. I also scored an empty seat beside me and one behind me, so I had no guilt about putting my seat back and was quite comfortable. I had a sandwich which was fresh and tasty, Pringles & couple of Jack and cokes. I watched a couple of movies, and before I knew it we started our descent into Boston.

They have redeemed themselves for me for now, although I don't think I would book less than main cabin select in the future. I haven't forgotten the Palm Springs mess, though!