Who said competition for customers was dead in the airline industry? I’ve noticed some clever innovations coming out of Virgin America Airlines recently, which would make you wonder if you’re on a plane or in a luxury spa:

• mood lighting to induce relaxation (nah, I’d rather be assaulted by ear-splitting flight announcements)
• color tinted windows to reduce daylight glare (what, the greasy & wonky plastic blind isn’t good enough for you?)
• black leather seats with 32″ of legroom (possibly designed by Ferrari)
• 9″ video screens (no more lame Meg Ryan & Sandra Bullock movies)
• Google Maps to check the location of your aircraft (let air traffic control worry about the other planes)
• games (including Doom, if you’re into that sort of thing)
• in-flight text messaging (I hope the pilot sets his IM status to BUSY)
• standard 110v plug at every seat (no exorbitantly priced adapters for the desperate few)
• USB ports to charge PDAs, cell phones (& countless useless gadgets)
• coming soon, broadband internet access at every seat!

Starting next year, the word is that Virgin America will be offering broadband internet access at every seat. Virgin America is working with AirCell to deliver ethernet and Wi-Fi access across its entire continental U.S. fleet. Now the purple mood light might remind some of their last trip to Amsterdam, but who can argue with wireless access in-flight? I would say “bring it on” but that might jinx it, so I’ll just wait patiently instead.

I believe that some of the other airlines (like American Airlines with AirCell) are working on Wi-Fi too, but nobody wins at marketing like Virgin so stand back and watch them take all the credit. To be fair, Air Canada has a terrific in-seat entertainment console that lets you watch old tennis classics, oblivious to your screaming infant in the next seat. But Wi-Fi would be a quantum leap forward and you’d never be bored on a flight again. Did I mention that Virgin America keeps its headquarters in San Francisco International Airport (SFO)? While the domestic terminal looks like a hotel lobby that time forgot, SFO International is pristine, less crowded, and very handy for anyone in the Bay Area or flying from the West Coast.

I do enjoy listing all the junkets above and many of these passenger-friendly features would make me consider flying Virgin more often. I’ve no doubt that Wi-Fi access will make a lot of frequent fliers change allegiance and drag the incumbent airlines into the fray faster. These are all good things that raise the bar on customer service for the flying public. But when push comes to shove, you really can’t beat a good novel and a glass of wine on a long flight. Purple lighting is optional in my book…

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