The Wal-Mart mentality applies more to the infrequent traveller than to the frequent traveller, at least from what I see. Infrequent travellers do seem to be more obsessed with getting the cheapest fare possible--- I had a friend who suffered a grueling 9-hour trip between ATL and LGA, complete with 2 connections, just to save $50 on the airfare, and I just don't get that nickle-and-dime vibe off of the real road warriors. Although some would gladly take that itinerary for the miles/segments... money's not the motivator.

So finding a Ma/Pa Kettle who "refuses" to fly Carrier A any more then sticks to it when the fare wars begin might be a little harder to do!

Personally, though, when I say it, I mean it. I refuse to fly AA. Long, horrible story about bad situations and how crappy customer service made it worse. It's been 10 years or more since I swore I would never fly AA again and I have stuck to it. It does help that I have 3 major airports within a 90-minute drive of me, one of which is a mini-hub for my preferred airline. But a couple of times at my last job I had to jump through some hoops to avoid AA, as AA was our preferred vendor. I'd rather end up with the ridiculous paperwork and the fare difference out of my pocket than put any money into AA's pockets.

LOL maybe I should fly AA with lead bars in my rollaboard, which would then get so heavy that I would actually be taking money out of their pockets because it costs so much in fuel to fly my lead suitcase around!

PS I had some bad experiences with Home Depot, too, and I decided they don't deserve my money either. I drive the extra 20 minutes to get to Lowe's now. Haven't been in a Home Depot in almost 6 years.