That Time We Sat Next to Richard Branson on a Plane
Richard Branson is a good sport. He hasn’t slept in two nights. He’s done nearly 50 media interviews, taken more than 100 selfies and conducted two press conferences. He’s still smiling when I sit next to him on Virgin America’s inaugural flight to Hawaii.
“Hello! So good to see you,” he says with an enthusiasm that is welcome, but not necessary.
Virgin America launched new daily nonstop flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Honolulu International Airport (HNL) this week. (Photo: Virgin America)
Most interviews with Sir Richard Branson open with a description of his charisma, his charm and his wit. Now I know why. I eat it up, it’s hard not to. All of those things are true, but I do start to believe that, more than anything else, Richard Branson is a good sport. He’s delighted about being on this plane, launching a new airline route, and even talking with journalists who are inevitably asking him the same questions over and over.
I turn on my video camera and he speaks directly into the lens.
“You can’t see the woman behind the camera, but she is very beautiful,” he winks. I ask him to repeat that, but slower so that I can send the clip to my husband. Like a good sport, he does.
Sir Richard Branson greets everyone like a pal, someone he’s known for years. Later that night, we will attend a party hosted by Airbnb to celebrate the launch of Virgin’s Hawaii service and a new partnership between the brands. At the event, a gentleman who won a trip to the island approaches Branson with a mason jar of amber colored liquid. He was an amateur beekeeper, he explained. He wanted to give Branson some of his homemade honey. The airline owner took it without hesitation and thanked him graciously. Branson then sprinted across the well-manicured lawn to make sure he put it in his personal luggage.
Upon touchdown of the first flight in Hawai‘i, Virgin America’s passengers were feted with a red carpet reception on the HNL tarmac. (Photo: Virgin)
He is a walking photo op. I notice it that night. Virgin signage and beautiful women follow him with ease.
For a brief period we sat next to one another on the Virgin America inaugural flight to Honolulu. During that time he genuinely acted more excited to be sitting next to me than I was to sit next to him.
Maybe this kind of demeanor is just what happens when the script of your life reads like an Indiana Jones movie, but better.
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This was Branson’s first-ever commercial flight to Hawaii. 18 years ago he landed on the islands in the Pacific by accident while trying to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon.
“We were forced to crash land miles from Hawaii and we jumped into the ocean and were lucky enough to be rescued by the Hawaiian coast guard. I kissed the ground and gave the coast guard the biggest hug ever,” Branson recounted.
He’s a man who knows how to make an entrance. Branson arrived to the Airbnb party by float boat. (Photo: Virgin)
He knows how to throw a party. Most airline CEOs will give a half-hearted speech and maybe pop a bottle of champagne during the launch of a new route. Branson threw a bash at the San Francisco airport.
The mood was festive. Hula girls served mai-tais with copious amounts of rum at the departure gate at SFO at 8 in the morning. Later, a ukulele player pranced the aisles of the plane, over the Pacific, playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Branson was in on it all. He led a champagne toast mid-flight, chatted with the flight attendants and danced the hula in the aisles.
“The best thing about owning your own airline is you can invite people to come along to Hawaii and we can all go partying in the evenings,” he said.
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Richard Branson can sit anywhere he wants on a plane, but he prefers a window seat.
“I can watch the beautiful women cruise by and still have a bit of a nap,” he explained matter-of-factly.
He checks his bags since security keeps taking things away from him.
“I’ve given up on carry-on. I’ve learned the hard way too often.”
While most airline CEOs actually opt to fly private planes, or sequester themselves in First Class, Branson flies Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic as often as he can, always bringing with him a note pad and a pencil to take notes on what he can be doing to make those airlines better.
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He truly does have a knack for making things better and he knows it, but still he flashes a humble smile when I mention that fact. We then talk about his latest endeavor to disrupt a travel industry mainstay—cruising.
“We love creating things. We want to create the kind of cruise ship that the kind of people who would never dream of going on a cruise ship would want to go on. In two and a half years we will have our first cruise. We just go into industries that seem a bit naff and we go in and try to make them better.”
And what about his commercial space endeavor Virgin Galactic? For more than a decade, Branson has been working to create a program that would allow tourists to travel into space. Last year they experienced a setback with the loss of their shuttle, SpaceShipTwo.
“Our big challenge is space travel,” Branson said earnestly. “We’re putting everything we’ve got to get back on track. In February we’ll be unveiling the new spaceship. It’s going to be beautiful. The engineers have crafted it with a lot of care. Our brave test pilots will be testing it throughout next year and hopefully it will be a whole new era in space travel.”
With that I volunteered to be a brave test pilot. He just laughed my suggestion off and invited me to that night’s festivities.
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