Even though I am Plat, and my wife is Gold, I haven't flown CO since May, having given up on upgrades, and just choosing to buy my seats in F or C, depending on carrier and destination. In this case, we were headed to West Palm, taking our dog as baggage, but lines like AirTran, Spirit, and USAirways don't take pets outside the cabin. I bought 2 one way First (A) seats, at $330 each, not a bad price, and it also meant avoiding the upgrade dance at the gate. Flight left at 6:30 AM, and the dog had to travel via Quick Pak cargo, the office for which opens at 5 AM on Saturday (our travel day). I arrive at Newark just before 5. I know where the office is, but only how to get to it by car. This time, I am actually in the terminal. Looking for directions, I can't find any CO supervisory people, and muddle around, asking bag handlers and TSA types. Turns out that not all elevators (which we needed, as the dog was in a shipping crate, and required a pushcart) stop on each floor. Finally get there, but its now 5:20 AM. Fortunately, nobody ahead of us. Even so, it takes nearly 20 minutes, including requiring me to be photographed. Unlike other carriers, CO charges for pets based on weight and volume, including the travel crate. $200 later, I calculate he has been charged more than most people in Coach (the dog only weighs 22 lbs.). Now, it's off to the "elite bag check", where we find ourselves about number 40 in an ever increasing line. How many elites can there be, I wonder? By now, it's 40 minutes to take off. I desperately look for a Redcoat (supervisor) for help to make the flight. None to be found. I make my appeal to some security guy who is watching the line. He says all they have is a lead agent, but that he will help (he never does). We finally make it to the kiosk, punch in the required info, but no bag tag prints. At that point, I interrupt an agent, who is helping someone next to us, asking for help, as we may miss our flight. She looks at me, and says "you are supposed to be here 2 hours early". I lose it, tell her we've been there nearly that long, show her that we have refundable tickets, and tell her, if we miss the flight we will rebook another airline, even if it means a stop. She decides to be helpful, says she will take care of the bag, including TSA, and we head to security, where somehow, we get through, and make the flight with ten minutes to spare. After boarding, I tell the FA we have a dog, and ask for confirmation he's on. The door closes. She comes over and says they have no confirmation, but the Captain has told her they will hand any paper work to him through the cockpit window. She says he will stay at the jetway, in case we need to get off if the animal didn't make it. My mind goes back to the speech we got about "special handling" as being the reason why transport costs for pets are more on CO. Finally, the OK..he's on. We take off, and I discover that the "airline who always feeds you at mealtimes", has dumped the hot breakfast for a roll and some fruit, in F. That's a change from a few months ago. So, what have I learned? Firstly, they have apparently gotten rid of many supervisors in the terminal. That's not useful. Secondly,the help is developing an attitude, which they use to rationalize problems, by telling you how much better the airline is than its competitors..a dangerous arrogance to allow to develop at the point of customer contact. Nest, in flight service has been reduced, to where I personally didn't notice it being materially different from that of Spirit (and other discounters), who will sell you RT premium class for the price of one way on CO, in many markets. Finally being top tier, as well as having purchased full fare, F (A) class tickets, had no effect on our particular needs on that trip. Nobody cared. If you can't, or won't execute the benefits of a loyalty program, dump it. Frankly, the whole experience was both illuminating, and disappointing. Apparently convinced they are unassailable, there seems to be a contest to see how much they can reduce services until they hurt the place. Based on what I observed, in the context of not flying them for a few months, they are working hard to get that point.