Originally Posted by entropy

if they charged $10 more a seat to cover better wine I doubt they would see any falloff in bookings.

there is certainly 'word of mouth' advertising. SQ's reputation is not due to advertising, its due to people oooohing and aaaahing at the Dom they serve up front, and the mystique of having such high class service. That attracts people ($$$$) to their airline and allows them to charge a premium for their actual premium service.

CO refuses to add value to their product. Having lousy products that you do offer (crappy seats in Y, disgusting greasy pizza thingies for 'meals', and swill wine in J), does nothing but deter people from using CO in the future.

I have been exploring the option of using United for more of my travel. They are often more convenient, rewards are far easier to redeem, upgrades are also obtainable, and the service is not that bad. Quite frankly, of late I have found that United's service in F has been more or less as good as Continental's, except that United has better wine (though only OJ/Water pre-flight). If you're stuck in Y, United is certainly better. They may not feed you, but at least they aren't feeding you disgusting crap either, and your butt is in a much more comfortable seat.