Hacker attack on VirginAmerica.com?

Yesterday many people struggled to buy their Virgin America tickets including myself. Virgin America, who began taking reservations yesterday, claimed that a hacker attack on their website was the reason for the web problems.

Can we book on Orbitz, too? Yesterday Virgin America also signed a distribution deal with Orbitz and CheapTickets.com. This might be interesting news for stockholders considering that Orbitz (OWW) had their initial share sale yesterday and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. This morning, I tried to buy tickets on Virgin America from Las Vegas to San Francisco in August and found no love for the date I wanted on the website. Next, I tried Orbitz but VA did not come up as an option in my search results.

Can we book by Phone? The reason I was not able to book a flight from LAS to SFO in August was because service doesn’t begin until October 10, 2007. I ended up calling Virgin America and was able to get through. I booked a one-way, first class ticket from LAX to SFO in August and have seat 1A. The reservationist let me know that Virgin America only has “tentative” approval to fly from the Dept of Transportation. If they don’t receive full approval, they will try to find alternate travel or refund 200% of my fare. I was directed to check VirginAmerica.com on August 1 for an update.

Have you purchased a Virgin American ticket? Did you have any problems with the website?

Why Go: To check out that new plane smell, and the plane’s signature mood lighting. Coach seating has leather seats with individual monitors fully equipped with on-demand movies, video games and 18 TV channels. Also, there are special amenities for work-a-holics: “You can plug in to 110v power at every seat.”

Why Not: Flights between Los Angeles and New York have stops in San Francisco. They will begin non-stop travel on Aug. 29.

Caveat: When you call to book your tickets there is a quick message that says it will be cheaper if you reserve your tickets online. I believe the charge is $5 but they said it rather quickly.
When: You can book now for service slated to start Aug. 8, 2007

Contact: Virgin America, 1 877.FLY.VIRGIN or (877) 359-8474 (you can ignore the last two digits, 46)

Related Los Angeles Times links:

LAX to SFO: $44 intro rates on Virgin America
Virgin America to tackle L.A.-S.F.
Virgin America approved to start SFO-JFK flights
Virgin America One Step Closer to Flying
Travel: Destination San Francisco

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 8:18 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Business Travel, East Coast, Frequent Flier, Los Angeles, Luxury Travel, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.