• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, August 6, 2007 10:45 AM

Virgin America, which begins daily flights linking San Francisco to New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, hopes that new on-board amenities will lure passengers. In addition to offering satellite TV, radio and videogames on its 10 new Airbus jetliners, the seat-back entertainment system allows passengers to send each other text messages, order food and choose from a library of 3,000 songs.

The debut is rolling out with the stylish marketing that accompanies Virgin products from cola to cell phones to music stores. Print and Internet ads tout on-board bells and whistles from leather seats and "mood lighting" to power and USB connections for each passenger. The company convinced the city of San Francisco to floodlight City Hall and other landmarks with Virgin's trademark red this week.

Because the Virgin brand gives passengers "a predisposition to try the airline," says Stephen Beck, president in North America for global branding agency FutureBrand, the hurdle is to meet and surpass those expectations.

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