CONSUMER REPORTS, a magazine that ranks various products, published since the 1930s by Consumers Union, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, has just named Virgin America the best airline in the States, beating JetBlue, Southwest, and all the big full-service airlines. Virgin, which started flying in 2007, has consistently ranked near the top of "best airline" lists. But the carrier (which is separate from its cousin Virgin Atlantic) has never made an annual profit; it lost $145 million in 2012. (CAPA-Center for Aviation calls this Virgin's "perpetual paradox".)

In a survey of 16,663 Consumer Reports readers, Virgin received 89 out of a possible 100 points, four more than Southwest and JetBlue, which tied for second place. The airline "got a clear thumbs-up from readers in our latest survey, with some of the highest scores we’ve seen in years," the magazine wrote. Virgin received top scores in check-in ease, cabin-crew service, cabin cleanliness, baggage handling and in-flight entertainment. Even its less-than-perfect seating comfort score was still better than all other airlines except JetBlue, with which it tied. 

So what does this mean for Virgin? Consumer Reports has over 7m subscribers, so at the margins, some of those people will definitely give the airline another look next time they are booking a flight. But although Virgin has been topping these sorts of lists for years, it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the company's bottom line. Still, Virgin maintains that its finances are looking better—and it is considering an initial public offering (IPO) in late 2014 or early 2015 says David Cush, its chief executive.

To become profitable, Virgin will have to rework its debt. The airline took a big step recently when it converted $290m of debt (mostly owed to Richard Branson's Virgin Group) into conditional equity that the debt-holders will own after an IPO, providing the stock hits predetermined targets. (The Cranky Flier has more on this.) But unless Virgin proves that it can translate customer praise into dollars, that IPO may never happen. I don't shed any tears for failed airlines, but the failure of such a highly-rated carrier would send a sad message to the rest of the industry. Let's hope Virgin figures out how to make its business work.