I have watched this thread grow and feel compelled to comment.
I am one of the people who fly F, pay for it and are not embarrassed of this fact. I expect better treatment NOT because I am better, but because I am PAYING more. This is why we call it at capitalist system.
Now, for the experience – Frankly, I spend fully 75% of my time on long haul flights sleeping. I am not in this for the experience, I am in this for transportation. Good food, nice wines and good service are incidental and VERY helpful – they will cause me to select the airline I fly, but in the end my attitude is that if you are in Y I am not better than you – just more comfortable than you.
Now to status. As has been said several times here, the status is a perk that acknowledges loyalty. ANY business does this in the normal course, but the airline industry has formalized the process. There are three categories of people in this status game:
1) Those who fly on Y tickets and need all the perks they can get to make the whole thing less than painful
2) Those who fly on premium tickets and want to get first crack at seats during ops problems, etc.
3) Those who are just nuts and think that a bunch of status makes them really cool
Finally – the notion that Brits are status obsessed can go many ways – after all this is the country that has brought us a first class carriage on the 15 minute Heathrow Express
However, if we Americans could get our heads out of our egalitarian obsessed a**, then perhaps we might be able to deal with the real world a bit easier – frankly this is its own version of snobbishness.
PS – I am a new member of the BA forum and do not always agree with the trends here – however I admire BA for not totally diluting the value of their premium product like the US Airlines have done – also, I VERY much appreciate the candor, objectivity and honesty that Pucci brings to this board. On MANY of the other airline forums, the employees go off on a us vs. them tangent – Pucci tells it like it is, and for my money that makes her a giant value to this board.
Now – as an American I must stop wasting time typing this post so I can go off and sue somebody
That must be an easier way to make money then flying for business.