Virgin America as Standalone Brand Disappears Next Week
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines has taken another step to absorb Virgin America into its operations. Pictured are one of Virgin America's Airbus jets, and one of Alaska's Boeing jets. Virgin America
Skift Take
After acquiring Virgin America, Alaska Airlines will switch to a single reservations system next week. The company is confident it will avoid some of the problems other airlines have faced after cutovers. We tend to agree. Let's hope it's a non-event.
Virgin America's decade-plus run as a standalone brand is finally ending next week, and if all goes well, passengers will hardly notice.
The big day is April 25. Late the night before, or early that morning, crews will remove Virgin America signage at 29 airports and replace it with your Alaska Airlines' branding. Red-eyes will depart from the West Coast on April 24 as Virgin America, but when they fly their first flight the next day, they'll be Alaska — even if the plane's paint reads Virgin America. Overnight, the airline will have one website, mobile app, and call center.
Behind the scenes, Alaska, which acquired Virgin America in December, 2016, will transition from having two reservations platforms — or passenger serv
