First off, I should report that I don't book BE because I'm well versed in the shenanigans that it comes with. And I'm guessing that Doug doesn't give a darn as long as he gets to tell Wall Street about all his ancillary fee generation. But after sitting next to folks who had BE I wanted to rant on their behalf a bit.

Both outbound and inbound around Christmas, the people sitting between my wife and I (always book Aisle+Window) were in BE fares. And in both their cases, they didn't understand that they had a BE fare because it was an opaque fare from a third party (one was Cheaopoair, the other didn't specify). I have seen the bookings direct with AA & DL (and assume UA is the same) with the multitude of warnings. But 3rd parties are apparently not as obvious about it and it becomes AA's problem. It's American's reputation on the line, and it's AA who "I'm never flying with again".

I won't get into my seatmates' particulars, but in short, the gate agents are dismissive of BE passengers. It's as if, because they are earning 50% EQM, they only deserve 50% the respect. So then the GAs become the bad guys, which adds stress to their job too, so it isn't good for employees either.

I feel like the US3 are misleading the customers by cashing in their reputation while implementing LCC-style policies. People know what they're getting into with Allegiant, or Spirit. But booking with AA should mean you're getting that legacy level of support. AA shouldn't be trying to compete with the lowest common denominator (you don't find Kohl's-brand merchandise at Nordstrom's). I wish AA would stand up and say "Yes we cost $10 more than Spirit because we're worth it."

Fin.