Honestly, I don't fly enough to have status on any airlines anymore. I used to go to every conference I could, so I was flying internationally several times a year. Frequent flyer programs were entirely mileage-based then, so that made status easy. 100,000 miles was difficult and I only did it with mileage runs. Worthwhile back in the day; system-wide upgrades were easily worth the cost of a trip to Europe for a weekend in the winter :) Plus, visiting random countries was a ton of fun.
I kind of got tired of traveling so much and stopped doing it, though. Traveling for work (just meeting people in other offices) kept my status until about 2017. Then I stopped doing that, and now I'm just a bum with no status on any airline. That's about when the mileage-based gravy train came to an end anyway, so I'm not that upset about it. It is good to be marked in the system as someone to pay attention to (got many free upgrades on Cathay Pacific for no reason back in the day), but you are still treated well when you buy a first or business class ticket even without status.
Pretty nice isn't how I would describe great service. That's my point, the bar is low when it comes to airlines. In your case they should be treating you like a legend.
Not sure why you are doubling down on insisting all airlines suck, when not everyone agrees. When I was Platinum Plus (not even the highest level) AA held up a mostly-full 737 for about 25 minutes because my incoming flight was late and that was the last flight to our destination that day. I was the only person on the jetway, and they closed the cabin door before I even sat down -- in my upgraded-to-first-class seat.
Sure sometimes flying entails hassles and inconveniences but not every airline is awful and certainly not every employee lacks compassion.
One time I lost my keys and missed my flight, and they bumped some paying customer so I could get home sooner. Still feel a little bad about that one.
Another time, I was walking out of the Admirals Club at DFW to board my flight. One of the agents came running out to tell me I was walking in the wrong direction.
But, it's not always great. I had an award ticket in 1st class out of LHR, and they didn't clean the plane at all. The tray table had sticky soda all over it, and the plane was filthy. Miserable flight.
Another time, I had an upgrade to 1st class on a domestic flight, but the TSA didn't like my bags and did an extensive check (I must have been on some list back then, it happened a lot). I arrived way late to the gate, and lost my seat. Ended up flying back home in a middle seat in the last row. It was miserable.
So, it's a mixed bag, but generally good. It's hard for such a large company to offer consistency.
LOL, that other person was probably me, doh! It's fair, air travel comes with a lot of anxiety and heightened emotions because most people are going somewhere important or just trying to get home.
