GoForFun
Are you talking about the company's financial position, or about time to command?
As far as I understand it the company is pretty sound financially, and it has plans for considerable expansion over the medium term. VS took a loss of c£95m in the aftermath of 9/11, but its cash reserves were still more than adequate. A very extensive cost-reduction exercise has seen the company trading in the black over the last year, though I expect this quarter to be negative. No airline over the Atlantic has had it easy over the last 2 years, and United's ability to charge very low fares while in Chapter 11 has distorted the market somewhat, but we are holding our own!
The expansion I referred to above may take a slight delay thanks to GW2 but, as this week's stock market movements have shown, business and consumer confidence is likely to return quickly once some certainty returns to the Western economies. My bet is that the US and UK will do very well out of the post-Iraq situation, and that recovery will be strong. In that circumstance, the airline may well be able to expand strongly over the next 5 or 10 years. Time to command is unlikely to return to the < 2years that was once common, but should settle at about 7-8 years which is still good compared to most mature long-haul outfits. (Yes, I know you'll get command faster at EK!).
As Flyer Flier states, it's a lifestyle choice. I think the overall package is likely to be considerably improved quite soon, as well.