This is Dave.  Our pilot today on Virgin America flight 409 JFK to LAX.

About 20 minutes prior to boarding, Dave got on the intercom, introduced himself as today’s pilot, thanked us for flying with Virgin America and then kindly said he would come over on the other side of the gate to meet us personally and answer any questions.  Matt and I looked at each other and said, “is this a joke.”  I mean no offense Dave, but I’ve been flying for 25 years now and I’ve never seen a pilot reach out to his passengers in this sort of way.  At most, I’ve experienced a “hello from the cockpit, hope you are enjoying today’s flight.”

So it was an additional surprise when Dave did in fact come over to our seats to reintroduce himself and then proceed to answer several questions from passengers.  People wanted to know if food was served on board, how long the flight was, is turbulence dangerous etc… Each of his answers were thought out, genuine and more than anything, positive and reassuring.

I wonder, was this courtesy extended by Dave himself or perhaps a new marketing initiative that is being rolled out across Virgin America’s flights nationally?  Either way, Dave, I give you props.  Thanks for kicking off my trip to LA and my first experience with Virgin America in such an upbeat way.  I guarantee is this won’t be my last time on board.

P.S. Did I mention I’m writing this post at 25,000 feet over the fine state of Ohio using Virgin’s inflight Internet service?

My friend Matt Spangler, current CSO at thehappycorp, turned me on to the creative guys, Dave Franzese + Mark Miller, over at Dark Igloo. Spend some time on their site and see what magic you can make happen.

My favorites combos are A, D and G,H, C.

I recently met the fine folks over at Red Antler, a strategic consulting group.  They’re a talented team and have worked on projects such as the email newsletter The Tasting Table and the upcoming conference 99% with Behance and our friend Tim Yu at Cool Hunting.