jlemon, I totally agree. I did a lot of F travel to HNL on UA in the 80's, and a lot of Int'l travel on DL about 1985-1995. The experience on both airlines (and presumably others such as AA, not to mention departed airlines such as PA and TWA) was so much better than today that it's hard to describe. For example, when DL had 3 cabins, business class was great, and First Class was fantastic. For several years, int'l F on DL was so exclusive that you couldn't get an upgrade or free ticket...you just had to buy a full fare F ticket. The cabin service started off with Dom Perignon, then beluga caviar and frozen Russian vodka followed by great entre's. Other things different from today were that F was often not at all full , and those in F (or hoping for an upgrade) would often wear a coat and tie, or comparable for the ladies. But then came the discount carriers, and later the impact of higher fuel prices and 9-11, and it hasn't been the same since. Nobody's fault, that's just the way it is. (I just did a long Intl trip on DL, and thought it was fine, just not as great as 20 years ago.)