You were answering my questions as I was asking them.

The AAngels observations are food for thought. I would not want to be lumped in with people behaving as described. On the other hand, I've never experienced the kind of "rescue" operation described either. Mostly, for me, it's a nice place to sit and work and I've seldom asked for or needed anything special. And on those few occasions I have, I haven't noticed any better treatment apart, of course, from standing in a shorter line in a nicer setting.

Do these AAgents know - and if they do, does it matter - the status of all pax or just AC members before they arrive? The crews know who's who on the plane; is this information available in the lounges? Presumably non-AC elites would trump non-member, non-elites but if not, how would they know?