Virgin Australia Velocity - Virgin Australia no plans to join an alliance at the moment

(copied from here (http://www.whendoublewidesfly.com/2012/04/virgin-australia-will-not-join-star.html))
There has been a lot of buzz about Virgin Australia joining one of the big three air alliances. First Virgin announced a joint venture with Delta and there was Buzz about VA joining Sky Team soon after. Then in 2011 Air New Zealand invested $143 million into VA buying a 14.9% stake! The blogs then started to buzz again about VA Joining the Star Alliance. Yet to dampen this Buzz CEO John Borghetti told the Australian Business Traveller "You know, we've got so much stuff going on at Virgin Australia that that is really not in our thinking at the moment. That is something we'll think about in 2012 and beyond."

As 2012 approached many thought the Star Alliance had a shoe in. Air New Zealand held a near 15% investment in VA. Then on march 29, 2012, to further excite the Star Alliance enthusiasts, VA and Singapore Airline began a comprehensive code sharing agreement, reciprocal lounge access, and frequent flyer benefits! At this very moment, I even thought VA was on the path to join the Star Alliance. However today John Borghetti shocked many when he was quoted saying, "It's wrong to assume Star is the obvious choice" he said, citing that Virgin's US partner Delta Air Lines "is in Sky Team and Sky Team is a very formidable group, and I think Delta are terrific partners."

So at this time Star Alliances Dreams are Dead and the Sky Team Loyalists are buzzing with excitement. However honestly I don't see VA joining any alliance. I believe The Virgins will unite and set up their own alliance, grow together and remain separate of any of the big three. Already with hubs in LAX, LON, SFO, and SYD there's no real need for any of these airline to join an alliance. The Virgin group has already begun reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and redemption across all three airlines. And finally, I think Borgehetti was onto something when he said "There's no question that cross-border mergers are happening and you wonder whether that's going to impact on those alliances....And there are more and more bilaterals being concluded just like we've done between partners which don't restrict your ability to work with people."

I believe that title of your thread is grossly misleading. It is based on pure speculation and one quote that is not categorical at all, unlike your title.
The quote (again)
..."It's wrong to assume Star is the obvious choice" he said, citing that Virgin's US partner Delta Air Lines "is in Sky Team and Sky Team is a very formidable group, and I think Delta are terrific partners."...

only and only says that it is wrong to assume that *A is obvious choice. It does not say at all that VA will not join *A.
English might not be my first language, but speaking five other languages as well, I believe that I can recognise categorical NO from marketing talk that is supposed to not say too much.
Put it this way. You still might be right, but you supporting material is not good enough to give you right to say categorically "Virgin Australia will NOT join Star Alliance"

I believe that title of your thread is grossly misleading. It is based on pure speculation and one quote that is not categorical at all, unlike your title.

Agreed. There is a great mismatch between what was said in the interview and the title of this thread.

I have changed the title to more accurately convey what was expressed in the story below.

l'etoile
sr. moderator

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/virgin-boss-john-borghetti-has-no-plans-to-join-star-alliance/story-e6frg95x-1226316885002

Agreed. There is a great mismatch between what was said in the interview and the title of this thread.

Thread title has been changed, so guess not worth complaining about, but point is, if you read the thread, I lay it out very clearly. In fact, based on everything the CEO said, it's likely they will not join any alliance. But as humans and airline enthusiasts, don't we all draw speculations? If people didn't predict such things, no one would ever gamble on the stock market etc, We invest on items we believe will do good, return investments, based on earning reports and speculations that earning reports will remain constant and increase over time. Just saying :)

But for now, Point is Virgin will not be joining any alliance. So those who thought 2012 was the year for VA to announce an alliance partnership, we appear to be wrong

I believe that title of your thread is grossly misleading. It is based on pure speculation and one quote that is not categorical at all, unlike your title."

A title/headline is suppose to be bite of information, a clench to get the readers attention, details are to be laid out in the article. When was the last time you read then newspaper and got all the details from the headline? Some sensationalism has to exist or no one would ever read newspapers/threads/blogs etc

A title/headline is suppose to be bite of information, a clench to get the readers attention, details are to be laid out in the article. When was the last time you read then newspaper and got all the details from the headline? Some sensationalism has to exist or no one would ever read newspapers/threads/blogs etc

I will politely disagree with your opinion. I am not here to read a sensationalist, tabloid type titles and articles. I do not think that flyertalk was ever meant to provide THAT type of information. Most of us are here to read valuable information.