I love that some of the people who are dismissing this executive comp issue as a tempest in a teapot are likely some of the same people that would be up in arms if their connecting flight wasn't held three minutes for their late inbound or their FA didn't know know the difference between the Sauvignon Blanc or the Chardonnay or the Concierge team didn't proactively contact them during a delay or a checkin agent wouldn't let them slide on an extra kilo in their bag or re-open a flight that closed 30 seconds ago.
A lot of FTers are all about the ROI and the P/L and the RASK until they are the number being crunched and then it's all about how AC "needs to realize it's in a people business! You can't put a price on customer goodwill!", etc etc ad nauseum.
I don't know if it's simple cynicism or some kind of cognitive dissonance or what but anyone who can't draw a line between this incident and the much-maligned "AC customer service culture" isn't trying hard enough or is being disingenuous.