I wish I didn't agree with this, but I do. A year of two ago it seemed that AC was really committed to changing in this department, but it seems to me that the commitment isn't/wasn't genuine or at least that commitment wasn't long lived.

Much of the things that people report here seem to be things that management can fix but don't, or that management has instituted (a 5% off code for a flight problem--it can't be serious, but it sure is).

My own experiences have been a bunch of very mediocre J experiences in the past 18-24 months. These were either Latitude upgrades or Z fares and frankly for the money I paid I expected at least civil/decent service. Instead, I got special meals with the wrong ingredients in them (the ones that make me sick, which is why I order the special meals), and when I brought my mr. noodles because I anticipated the meal to be wrong (which it turned out it was) I got sneered at by the FA. Come on fella, I paid $4k for this ticket, surely you recognize that I am a profit maker for your company! Another time I got woken up by three FA's in the galley area having a loud conversation (I was wearing earplugs), so I got up and decided to take advantage of the pantry basket--except they were blocking access and wouldn't move even when I reached between them to get a banana.

So, when the ff went downhill I lost all desire to maintain loyalty. It now looks like I won't have status with anyone next year, but I will fly a bunch of different airlines. (My TATL flying is down this year, so it would have been tougher to get E, but I might have made the effort with the old program).

Stories like the OP's don't make me want to defend the airline nor to rethink my loyalty.