Part of the reason the wait times are so unreasonable for non-status pax is that those with status continually jump ahead of them in the queue. So let's say you call up and you were 10th in line. If, in that time, 10 people call up with status, they'll all go ahead of you, so at the end of 10 people down, you'll still be 10th in line.

I don't have a problem with one of the perks of status being priority call handling. But there ought to be a certain minimum standard for people without status, particularly since sometimes time is of the essence if you're travelling and stranded somewhere.