Free (for a while) Wireless on Virgin Air and High Cost Food, Beverages, and Entertainment

[SMS]

Took Virgin from FLL to SFO last night. The Google-sponsored wireless
for the holidays was delivering about 330 kb/s on a lightly loaded
plane. My nephew was on Virgin FLL-LAX at the same time, and he said it
was pretty slow on a heavily loaded plane. Once they start charging for
it the speed should increase since it's so expensive that few people
will use it.

I'm skeptical about the Virgin Air business model. It's very cool to
have Wi-Fi, video on demand, food and beverage ordering from the screen,
etc., but, IMHO, the prices are about 2x what they need to be to
actually sell these goods and services to more than 10-15% of
passengers. I didn't see a single sale of food, alcohol, or premium
non-alcoholic beverages on the flight I was on.

I'd pay $5 for a decent beer, but not $8. I'd pay $7 for Wi-Fi on a
coast to coast flight but not $13. I'd pay $4-5 for a movie on a 7"
screen, not $8. Maybe it's just me that's so cheap. I don't like feeling
like I'm at a pro football game getting ripped off for this stuff.