All Airlines Will Be Equally Terrible Someday

Whenever I fly to Los Angeles to visit my folks, I usually go with Virgin America. I’ve never experienced delays (or ones that I can recall with a shudder), the inflight experience and service is solid, the Wi-Fi usually works, but most importantly, the flights are affordable. My ticket from New York to Los Angeles during the week before Christmas was $131, but cost $2.50, because I was able to exchange flyer points for it. I’ve also had a great experience flying on Virgin Atlantic, which is a completely separate company owned by Richard Branson who has a 51 percent stake, and by Singapore Airlines, which has a 49 percent stake.

But as Kevin Roose (whose writing I adore, read all his stuff!) explains over at Daily Intel, Delta is making a move to acquire Singapore Airlines’ stake in Virgin Atlantic, which may result in a deterioration of the airline’s service (consider American Airlines today after all those mergers and acquisitions), and is probably part of a larger tactic for Delta to get into more airport hubs.

Branson intends to keep his majority stake in Virgin Atlantic, but I’m waiting for the day when every airline is equally terrible and every airport has a room specifically where people go to cry out their frustrations.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.