I've had a few notes from the cockpit. It's always a pleasant and long-lasting memory.

I made a point to thank one of the pilots after the flight in order to urge him to do this more and get his other pilot pals to do the same. I told him that since there really isn't that much that separates AA from UA for most very frequent flyers, the real competitive edge is going to be the sense of acknowledgement. When it comes down to pushing the button between an AA or a UA flight, it's not the food or the movies that makes the difference. It's the remembrance that you are expected and respected that is the tie-breaker when schedule and price are equal.

For such a low cost gesture (can it take longer than 5 minutes during the doldrums of three hours at 35,000ft?), it's an action with very high impact.

I told the pilot that signing his name on a card with a word of thanks was like printing money for UA.

I can understand why UA doesn't require this kind of thing. Insincere thanks easily turns sour. But some VP of flight operations would be really smart to work with the marketing department to urge some inflight marketing when the best customers are a captive audience. And why not flight attendants too? Why don't flight attendants echo the same message and offer a simple expression of acknowledgement and thanks? I'm not saying this because I'm an egomaniac. I just want UA to survive.

Come to think of it, the only consistent acknowledgement of my status that I get from UA is from the Mileage Plus agents. Every time I call them (and I don't mean reservations) I hear something like this: "Oh, I see that you are a 1K Million Mile Flyer. Thank you for flying with us so often Mr. WayMaker."

Could it be that the only UA employees who have instructions to consistently acknowledge good customers are those who report to the marketing department? Why isn't everyone trying to woo new and return customers?