LAX To JFK Virgin America Flight Took 16 hours

By: John Lester
03/17/2010 12:22 PM ET

Virgin America Flight 404 from LAX to JFK usually takes about six hours. However, stormy weather caused the flight to divert 90 miles north. The flight took 16 hours.

High winds caused by the storm led to the airport closure in New York, forcing the plane to divert 90 miles north at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, where it landed at 5:15 p.m. A diversion usually takes about 30 to 60 minutes, but due to the weather, the plane sat on the tarmac for approximately five hours.

Travelers grew impatient and disgruntled. Virgin America gave out water and food, but they ran out by the second hour as passengers sat on the runway. Some passengers called it the “flight from hell” as people threw cookies.

Virgin America said guests were given the option to leave the aircraft, in which a total of 20 did. After waiting out the storm, the airline decided to arrange buses to take passengers to New York. With no ground crew of their own at Stewart airport, Virgin sought help from rival airline JetBlue to assist the travelers on the plane.

At 2 a.m., passengers were finally sent to JFK. Virgin America CEO David Cush agreed to give full refunds to passengers. Cush wasn’t upset over the flight delay, but how the flight crew handled the situation.

“After reviewing the particular circumstances of this diversion, we agreed that we needed to have done a better job with communicating a difficult situation to our guests. Our CEO sent out apology letters to each of the guests on this flight and we refunded everyone for their flight,” Virgin America said in a statement.

Virgin America Promotes High Quality For Travelers

Virgin America, Inc. is a low-cost airline that began service on August 8, 2007. It was created to provide low-fare, high-quality service for major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards. San Francisco International Airport is Virgin America’s principal base of operations.

Virgin America is owned by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. The headquarters is in Burlingame, California. The airline operates a fleet of 28 Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

The company solicited the public’s help to name their aircraft through a contest on the Internet. On October 11, 2006, the first aircraft was christened “Jefferson Airplane” after the famous San Francisco band. Former lead singer Grace Slick christened the plane along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The two inaugural flights on August 8, 2007, were on A320s named Air Colbert, named after comedian Stephen Colbert, and California Dreaming. The airline offers dual-class service on all flights it operates. Both cabins feature mood lighting to create a more pleasant and relaxing environment for the passengers and crew. All seats are equipped with Panasonic Avionics’ personal in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems.

The entertainment systems are customized touch-screen environment consoles called Red. First Class seats offer 55 inches of pitch and are 28 inches wide. Virgin America’s First Class Seat is the off-the-shelf Recaro CL 4420 Business Class Seat model.

The seats feature power-ports, adjustable headrests, a massage function, and various recline controls. Travelers seated in first class receive complimentary meals, refreshments, and alcoholic beverages. In addition, they also receive dedicated airport check-in, security screening, and aircraft boarding.

Follow Us