Ah the good ole days. Those days when traveling by air was almost pleasant. 
You had a seat you could actually fit into. You had service. Folks at the airport at least appeared to be genuinely interested in how you were doing. “Do you need some help with that?” “Can I get you a sky-cap?” “Would you like me to escort you to your gate?” “You’d like to check your bags? No problem, just put all five up on the shelf here.” “Smoking is at the rear of the aircraft. Please wait until we take off to light up.” Remember those days?
Remember how it slowly started to slip away? Airlines came and went, even the long established companies. Seats seemingly shrank overnight. Airlines seemed to discourage baggage by “misplacing” it or sending it along days later. Employees got surly. Prices went up. I’m not that old and I clearly remember this happening.
I started flying with American Airlines back in 1984 or ’85 on a regular basis. Well, maybe not that regular, once every couple of months although sometimes more frequently. I flew other airlines like Southwest to closer destinations (thank you Wright amendment!) but mostly it was American. It also helped that I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and that was American’s “hub” of operations. I joined the AA Advantage program in 1986 so I could start collecting all those “loyalty” points for free tickets.
Later in my career, I got a job as a technical instructor for a large computer company. (I don’t really want to say who it was but they are #1, the company name starts with an H, and was started in a garage.) Actually I started my teaching career with a smaller computer company who was, about a year later, bought by the #1 company. Anyway, part of my job required travel–all over the world. I quickly racked up mileage points and gained “Elite status”, first Gold (for flying 25,000miles), then Platinum (50,000miles). Came close to Executive Platinum (100,000miles) a couple of times but never quite made it. I was a Platinum member for a number of years. THAT got me priority boarding. A better chance of getting an upgrade to first-class on domestic flights. Access to Oneworld Alliance lounges while overseas. Bonus miles for each flight that went towards added to my award points. The ability to go through the first-class check-in line and the first-class security line (which had been a real pleasure in a number of airports). And other perks which escape me at the moment.
A couple of years ago, there was a titanic shift in how we taught our classes. Instead of teaching at the customer’s location, we now presented our material virtually. Online. Some customers still wanted on-site classes so we still did some travel and I was barely able to maintain my Platinum status that year. The next year I traveled less and less. Toward the end of the summer that year, my oldest son died suddenly due to a cerebral hemorrhage. That took me out of commission for a few weeks and I was feeling lousy more and more often. My son’s death prompted me to go to the doctor where I was told, “You need a triple-bypass. OH, and no traveling. Stay close to home and hospitals. We’ll see you in surgery after the holidays.” WTF? (But that is a whole ‘nother story as they say.) So that little issue kept me grounded for about 4 months. When I finally got back to work, it was all virtual for the rest of the year. There went my “Elite status”. 
Why? Because you have to re-qualify each year. In other words I have to fly the minimum number of miles each year to become Gold or Platinum. It makes absolutely no difference to American that I have flown 824,000+ miles with them. That I have been a loyal user of their services whenever they offered routes to where ever I was going. Nope, now that I am a “peasant”, I have to stand in the ridiculously long lines to check my bags. I have to pay (well, actually the company has to pay) to check my bags or get a boarding pass. On occasion, I have even had to pay extra to get or be guaranteed a seat on the @#$%@!^$ plane!
Now that I am being treated as a peasant for being a loyal user of American, I’m not so sure I want to remain a “loyal” user of their services. I know, I know they are merging with U.S. Airways and maybe it will be better. The thing is all the airlines act like they are doing you a favor by letting you fly with them. Actually it kinda reminds me of an old Monty Python skit where the guy pays to be abused.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
So much for customer service.
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