Virgin is a great airline for budget-conscious business travelers. A first-class ticket is comparatively cheap and being able to work comfortably for six or more hours on a cross country flight is well worth the money. Yet the airline totally ignores this segment and instead spends its limited marketing dollars on frivolous and costly promotions that generate a lot of media buzz, but clearly don’t attract loyal customers. I recently received a promotion to fly a Virgin flight featuring Victoria Secret models; Virgin American should be focused on stealing AAdvantage flyers not people who frequent Hooters Air. I can think of several business promotions utilizing the airline’s in-flight entertainment systems that I’m confident would attract business travelers.

Then there is the decision to outsource the reservations system and agents. Perhaps it’s been fixed in the past month, but the last time I tried booking on Virgin’s site it was plagued with all sorts of problems. I’m a firm believer that companies who truly care about providing quality customer service don’t outsource any related functions to third parties. Shockingly, Virgin’s CIO Bill Maguire was bragging about the system to the media even before it was introduced.

Finally, Virgin doesn’t even promote some of the fringe benefits of flying the airline. In my experiences the airline’s turnaround time unloading luggage has been simply amazing; on my last flight, my luggage was waiting for me on the carousel by the time I got there (admittedly, the walk at Kennedy is pretty long). By comparison, I waited nearly 45 minutes for my luggage on a Jet Blue flight last weekend. The international terminals at Kennedy and SFO have considerably better security crews, and I’ve gone from check-in to the gate within less than 15 minutes. And in case anyone’s interested, the pizza served at the Italian kiosk near Virgin’s gates at SFO is pretty darn good by any standard. Lastly, and I know Cranky you and others say it’s all in my head, but the air quality on Virgin’s flights is decidedly better.

Fred Reid has put together an amazingly dedicated and competent team of professionals. But he’s got some real problems on the marketing, public relations, and technology front. If he doesn’t take corrective action soon, I can’t see how Virgin America can survive.