Flying to London Set to Deteriorate

Now that British Air has fallen into the clutches of an American Airlines alliance, I would start looking for good old American passenger scorn to start seeping into the trip across the pond.  These alliances have given the airlines involved a good excuse to abuse you, while blaming the "partner".  No one wants to extend courtesy to a competitor's customer.  They are so apathetic to passengers as customers, they can't imagine how or why winning a customer's loyalty works. 

Of course, getting around anti trust rules Is always the best way to overcome a smaller, better competitor like Virgin Atlantic. American Airlines learned that when they convinced Jim Wright to get congress to pass an ammnendment to a bill that protected American from having to compete with Southwest on a level playing field. They learned back then that the best quality an airline can posess is a pet regulator. 

Solution? Keep doing what you do Mr Branson.  

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.
Branson Prioritizes Alliance as Virgin Atlantic Mulls Future

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. billionaire Richard Branson said he's exploring all options for Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and hasn't set a deadline for a decision on whether to sell it.

Talks on membership of an airline alliance are ongoing, and joining up with rivals has become a more pressing concern after the initiation of a trans-Atlantic partnership between British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines following a 13-year campaign for antitrust approval, Branson said in an interview.

"We opposed that deal and it may make it more of an imperative for us to look at our own alliances," Branson said by phone from Sydney. "The discussions are still taking place with Virgin Atlantic and time will see what the result is."

Branson, 60, is studying options for his 51 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic after hiring Deutsche Bank AG to assess its strategy. The entrepreneur, who founded the carrier in 1984, had sought to block the accord between BA and AMR which effectively allows the pair to operate as a single airline on lucrative business routes between London's Heathrow airport and the U.S.

Singapore Airlines Ltd., which owns 49 percent of Crawley, England-based Virgin Atlantic, said in March it hadn't made a decision about its stake.

Partnering Up

British Airways, Virgin's biggest rival at Heathrow, is in the Oneworld alliance alongside AMR, while Air France-KLM Group, Europe's biggest carrier, is a member of SkyTeam and Deutsche Lufthansa AG is in the Star group.

Airline alliances allow carriers to offer a wider network of flights, share lounges and in some cases to reduce common costs, and are likely to form a template for mergers within the industry, according to Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of BA's parent, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA.

Branson spoke after announcing that Brisbane-base Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. would change its name to Virgin Australia, adopt a new livery and upgrade its cabins in an effort to win business passengers from Qantas Airways Ltd.

While there's "a logic" to all Virgin-brand carriers joining the same alliance, that will "not necessarily" happen, according to Branson.

"It depends which partners we look at," he said. "From Virgin Australia's perspective it has been very effective to go airline-by-airline with alliances. That may not necessarily be the best for Virgin Atlantic, but all options are there."

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Sydney via rfenner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Neil Denslow at ndenslow@bloomberg.net

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