An anecdotal addition to the “efficient markets” debate

This site’s devoted readers (if any) will have noticed a relative absence of the ballast I usually provide to this blog, because of a trip to NYC to seek housing. I was only able to fly Jet Blue on the way out, unfortunately. The cost difference between Delta and JB is now actually quite small; my trip back Sunday was actually a touch cheaper. But it’s not just the price that makes Jet Blue vastly superior. On my flight out, I had satellite TV, more legroom and assroom, more efficient beverage service with a delightful absence of carts cluttering the ailes, and incredibly rational and efficient boarding and deplaning. On the Delta flight back, I had a jaw-droppingly terrible movie (although bad in a slightly different way than usual; rather than the typical schlock by a Hollywood hack, this was Jersey Girl–sentimental schlock by a quasi-independent hack inexplicably seen as an “edgy” director so untalented just seeing the images was intensely annoying), after the movie a compendium of the lamest stories of a crappy ABC “news magazine” and (I’m not kidding) an episode of The Fresh Prince of Fucking Bel-Air (the rights to reruns of “Blossom” being a little pricey, apparently), two hours to get a cup of coffee, incredibly narrow sights with almost no legroom, and a terminal with nobody selling food in order compel one to pay six dollars for a terrible-looking breakfast they were out of by the time they got to my seat anyway.

The thing is, does anybody prefer the Delta model? Does anybody prefer atrocious, watered-down movies to 25 TV channels? Does anybody want to pay (directly or indirectly) for a shitty meal rather than just getting a sandwich at the airport? Does anybody want to subsidize a terrible in-flight magazine? Then consider the fact that Jet Blue is making money and most major airlines aren’t. Why do they keep doing these things?