But you can get all or most of those with small, inexpensive add-ons to the coach experience. That's a relatively new development.

The big U.S. carriers all have an E+ seat now. Daypasses to lounges now range from cheap to free. Most airlines have a way of selling you a priority access package for a few more bucks.

To me, it appears that they are genuinely trying to serve the rock-bottom leisure traveler and the people willing to pay a little bit more, but not quite what a business traveler would pay for F.

In fact, I even see more and more restricted F/J fares popping up in a range that extends beyond the big corporate buyer and into a range that individuals might consider: J to Europe for $3k R/T, various "-UP" type fares in the U.S. for $100-200 each way over the Y fare, that kind of thing. They still firewall these fares away from corporate buyers with advance-purchase requirements, but they do exist in some markets.

To me, it seems that you have more choices today that you did 15 years ago. Back then, it was still a crappy 32" seat and you had no economically sensible way to buy F without a 30-40% large-corp discount.

The FFP's have gotten worse and more of mainstream America (and the world) is starting to figure them out. And the unbundling of services has been both a blessing and a curse in some ways. But I can't complain too much about the options they offer now to non-F-pax vs. what they offered years ago.

The main option we lost during this time was the option to buy a smoking seat, and I'm pretty happy with "losing" that option!! ^