***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying**

In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world.

Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I stand corrected – innovation is indeed taking place in the US too. And in addition to just flying their own airlines regularly, I’d highly encourage every senior airline executive in the world to come give Virgin America a shot on their next trip to the US. And here’s why.
Red, White and Purple – ah..so..Virgin
Virgin America probably has the best in-flight product on a narrowbody aircraft (trust me…I’ve flown a lot of them). And the brand personality truly stands out!

The ambience: The number of innovations inside the cabin are astounding. The first thing that strikes you is the cabin ambience – purple …

When it comes to airline branding, it’s the little things that happen at the various touch points that make the brand stand out, ultimately driving customer loyalty.

I flew from Mumbai to Delhi yesterday on Indigo Airlines, a leading domestic budget carrier in India, known for its tongue-in-cheek branding.

I have a habit of being engrossed in a book or a newspaper during the take-off and landing sequence on every flight I take. On the flight yesterday, once the safety demonstration was done, the stewardess walked down the aisle checking our seat-belts. As she passed me, she realized I was reading and reached out to turn on the reading light for me.

Let me write that again. Without even me asking her for anything, or even making eye contact with her (remember, I was engrossed in reading), she turned on my reading light, gave me a smile and walked away.

It was an aha-moment for me. Having taken over 20 flights in the last couple of weeks (including flying First Class), this was the only thing that stood out. Thanks to such a simple gesture, which made me feel special, I can say with confidence that I’ll be inclined to fly Indigo …

The Bombardier CSeries aircraft has not just pushed the boundaries in passenger comfort, but also possesses some of the best technical capabilities among modern jets. I was lucky enough to be led through an in-depth personal tour at Bombardier HQ in Montreal, by Sam Cherry – a Director at Bombardier who knows the product inside-out. And for the first time one the web, SimpliFlying has videos of what would exclusively be shown to airlines when they’re making a purchase decision (on a really cool touchscreen too!)

If you’re an aviation geek, you’d especially enjoy watching this interview as it covers a variety of in-depth aeronautical topics including:

The use of  70% advanced composite materials for the exterior of the aircraft [15-20% weight reduction] (1:23)
How a global team is putting together different parts of the aircraft (2:10)
What makes the CSeries such an environmentally friendly aircraft [20% greener] (3:55)
Why the engine on the CSeries is game-changing (4:45)
How the 3D computational aerodynamics result in less fuel-burn (5:15)
What makes the CSeries 4X quieter than other comparable aircraft? (5:55)
REALLY cool simulation of the noise-reduction on the CSeries (6:45)…

Over the past couple of months, I’ve spent a lot of time in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and that resulted in an overdose of branding messages from regional airlines like Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Tiger Airways.

I was intrigued in particular by Malaysia Airlines’ “Malaysian Hospitality” campaign – which is a play on the MH code of the airline. Soon enough, I got to experience the “world’s best in-flight service” myself, on Business Class from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles (see photos at the bottom of this article). And here’s what I feel is the essence of Malaysian Hospitality – it’s the “human-ness” of flying. Let me explain what I mean.
Malaysian Hospitality – a story of genuine care
It may sound strange, but a lot of airlines that have good service often lack “humanity” in their service. Sometimes, it even becomes robotic – I’m sure you’ve seen robotic smiles plastered on flight attendants. Malaysia Airlines’ service, in contrast, was genuine and very human – one that makes you feel good as a person. Let me share a story.

I opted to have my meal soon after take-off, while the gentleman next to me chose to have it later. I first …

I was at the “HP Future is…” and was inspired to do an article on what the future of air travel would look like in a year. Instead of doing a “Top 10 article” I decided to do a video of what taking a flight in Dec 2010 would be like, with the advent of social media and new technologies, which airline brands can use. On this hypothetical flight, I managed to fly Business Class at a price cheaper than Economy class, on an airline that does low-cost Long haul! I ordered food on Twitter, streamed happenings from the flight Live back home via Wifi and “rented” a power point to plug in my Mac. I was even notified by SMS that my bags are lost and that got a free cab voucher from them for pick-up. All in all, a great improvement over the last one year Enjoy the video! For me, the future is… now. Airline executives need to embrace new technologies NOW in order to take control of …

As promised at the start of the year, SimpliFlying will be bringing you a new section with video trip reports – mostly shot at 35,000 feet. Because the best assessment of an airline brand can only be done during the Brand eXecution! Here’s the first of such reports. In this 3 min video trip report, I share my experience on-board one of Etihad Airways‘ brand new Airbus A320 planes. This was a flight from Athens, Greece to New Delhi, India, via Abu Dhabi. Three things stood out about Etihad: 1) They greet you by name and talk to you personally2) The planes smell of the desert!3) Their transit lounge for Business Class in Abu Dhabi offers free spa treatments! My rating for the flight is 4.5 out of 5. njoy the 3 min video trip report (Click here if you can’t watch the video) If you haven’t flown Etihad Airways before, I’d encourage you to give it a shot – they’re one of …

Why I had never flown Air India before…
I had never flown Air India till yesterday – intentionally. And I had my good reasons.

Last year, I booked my mom on a Singapore-Delhi Air India flight and the A310 was delayed by over 3 hrs, ensuring that she missed her onward connections. Moreover, a lot of friends who tried to save money had horror stories to tell. One of them once asked for water and the stewardess replied in Hindi, “This is not my lane. Ask the other woman“. That ensured that I never tried the Indian national carrier even though I had the opportunity to, multiple times. So I had really lowered my expectations.
Why I finally flew Air India – the new plane and the new partnership
This time I had the choice of flying from Toronto to Greece either on LOT Polish’s ageing B767 via Warsaw, or Air India to London and then Aegean to Athens. I went for the latter option, because I could fly the B777-300ER of Air India and then the brand new A321 of Aegean. Moreover, I could earn Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles on Air India due to their recent partnership. May be if CrankyFlier had …

Last week, I had the opportunity get a personal tour inside a life-size mock-up of the Boeing 787, at Boeing’s Customer Experience Center near their Seattle Commercial Airplanes HQ. A detailed article and video interview will follow soon, but I just wanted to share the first photos from inside the beautiful plane! Enjoy!

I flew the Premium Economy class on the Japanese All Nippon Airlines when flew back from New York (JFK) to Singapore, via Tokyo a few weeks ago. This wasn’t the first time that I was flying this Economy+ class, as I often flew Singapore Airlines’ Executive Economy from Singapore to Newark, which has now been replaced by an all-business class flight. But there was a stark difference this time – while Business class was not quite full, Premium Economy was jam-packed! But what could be the reasons for that?
The ANA Premium Economy Class
I think Premium Economy is good value for money. From ANA, you get lounge access prior to your flight, which is great for business people, since they can get some work done and have a nice meal. That also means that you can board whenever you want, rather than 40 mins before take off. The queues at boarding tend to be shorter as well. So at least in this aspect, the experience is much better than Economy Class.

Once you get to the seat, you’ll find yourself in a small, almost private, section with just 3-4 rows of Premium seating, between Business Class and Economy Class. The biggest …

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Sleeping for 12 hours straight is uncommon in today’s busy world. Doing that while blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube over Greenland is even more rare. But that was that was the best part of my flight from New York’s Kennedy airport to Hong Kong, aboard Cathay Pacific’s new business class last weekend.

It’s the first time that I’ve recovered from my jet lag in just a day. And that’s enough to convince me that this is probably the best way to travel from New York to Hong Kong. Let me share my personal experience, and you be the judge.
Keeping the promise
Before I boarded the flight from Kennedy airport, while browsing through the Financial Times, I saw a Cathay Pacific advertisement (see picture) for their new business class, which highlighted their cozy beds, as well as the new StudioCX entertainment systems.

True enough, those were two of the key highlights of my flight – I enjoyed uninterrupted sleep and watched a good selection of movies on the 15-inch widescreen when awake. The noise-canceling headphones that were included enhanced the whole experience. Moreover, the seats were almost exactly the same as the virtual demo on Cathay Pacific’s website. Though, I had checked the movies listing on Cathay Pacific’s website before the flight, they turned out to be different on board. In reality, the selection was better (with 100 movies!), so I didn’t really mind that.
Top quality in-flight products
There are a few key items on every business traveler’s mind when traveling long haul – privacy, comfort, space, and to a certain extent, exclusivity. Cathay Pacific’s new Business Class comes up tops in privacy and comfort. The seat converts to a fully-flat bad in just the press of a button. And the bed is very comfortable indeed. The plush pillow and blanket ensure you’re put to instant sleep.

The herring-bone seat configuration ensures complete privacy, as each seat is surrounded by a shell – perfect for the overworked among us who can’t beat the urge to open up that sensitive document. There is an international power adapter and a USB port in the seat too. There is a sense of exclusivity as well, since the Business Class passengers alighted from the plane before everyone else, had bigger television screens, tables had table covers. The AgnusB amenity kit also contained a number of cosmetics, socks and eye shades. But I have to admit that the seat wasn’t as wide as I’ve seen on Singapore Airlines’ new Business Class. Nevertheless, it wasn’t something I’d get too concerned about.

Professionalism is the key word in service
Cathay Pacific is among the famed Asian carriers like Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways that are renowned for their in-flight service. And indeed, the service was very professional on board this 16 hour flight too. It’s always nice to be greeted by your name as you enter the aircraft or just as you’re being served dinner. In my case, I had cut my thumb just before boarding and asked for a band-aid as I got seated. Though I had to wait a while (since the stewardesses were busy preparing the aircraft for departure), not only was I given three strips, but a couple of stewardess stopped by to ask me how I cut myself and if I needed anything else. That was sweet.