JaysonSchultz.com

So we're flying right now from O'hare to San Fran onboard Virgin America on their recently added direct flights and I've got to say that I'm in love with this airline.  What do I get for the price of admission?  

• A really sweet looking interior that Jody commented "looks like I'm going to a disco party".
• LCD screens in the back of each seat that feature many things for FREE including...
  • A realtime Google Maps view of the plane (and did you know that it's -31F at 32,000 feet over Iowa?
  • Satellite TV including many variants of ESPN, Disney, Nickolodean, MSNBC, etc.
  • Virgin music statiions
  • Games!  I was just playing Doom using an included controller!  For FREE!
  • And for a fee, on demand TV and movies!
• And most importantly, legroom!  Even though I'm in cattle class, I for once don't feel crammed in like a sardine (actually sardines have more room on other airlines...)

And the LCD screens are more than just entertainment, it's how your order your beverages, food, skymall purchases, everything.  They even have a built in credit card reader.  If Virgin adds more service in the future from O'Hare I really might skip Kayak and just book whatever Virgin has available.  It really is that nice!

Also another nice bonus, I'm test driving a Samsung Chromebook right now that I picked up at the Gate in Chicago.  I get to keep it for the flight and return it to San Francisco when I get off the plane.  And yes that's free too, but only for a limited time (so ACT NOW!!!).  What's even better still, is that for using this free Chromebook, I get access to free Gogo Internet in flight!  Honestly, even if the other airlines gave me free in flight internet, I'd be much more content.

As for the Chromebook itself, it's really lightweight, decent battery life (by Apple standards, that's 7 hrs), and quite honestly just works.  It even has a large touchpad like my Macbook complete with two finger scrollling (though OS X Lion has now taught me that the scrolling is backwards!).  I was even thinking that this would be great for folks that didn't need much in a computer besides a browser and basic office apps (Google Docs).  So I headed to Best Buy's website.  500 bones.  And as far as I know, that wasn't Canadian currency.  I really think this is a great laptop, but not for $500.  Really I'd say the sweet spot would be at $300.  Yes, that's on par with budget PC laptops but I think it has a number of selling points where it could do really well against them.  But at $500, the Google Chromebook is going to end up the same way as Google Buzz, not Google+.

So next time you're flying check and see if Virgin is servicing your route or perhaps consider going on a route that they do service.  It will be one of the best decisions you've ever made!  But stay away from buying a Chromebook at least until the prices come down.  But one and it will be one of the worst decisions you've ever made!

[Update]  One more strike against the Chromebook, Netflix streaming is not supported.  I guess there'll be no Trouble with Tribbles on this flight or anywhere for a Chromebook user.