I have also been buying from Gateway travel for almost a decade.
10 years ago I once paid $1400, in 1994 dollars, to fly to Asia during the summer in coach. This year I'm paying about $1300, in today's dollar, to fly to Asia during the summer in coach. It is a lot more expensive than the previous few years, but I also want to see United stay in business.
For the same trip, I've found AA/NW for about $800. If anyone in UA's market research wants to find out how much E+ and channel 9 are worth to a customer, I can tell them it is worth more than $450 to me on a transpac flight. (Yes, I know AA has MRTC, but no Channel 9...... Okay, so Channel 9 is worth $450 to me....)