Dennis, I pay for my own ticket even though I have been commuting on and off bi-coastaly for almost 3 years. There are different reasons why I chose United. One of them is their Econ Plus product. It helps me a lot. Yes, I haven't been a fan of their $800 r/t PHL-SEA fares over the summer but I even went to extra mile to take the Amtrak to EWR and fly them from Newark. The factor of multiple hubs helps big time when you are trying to get home and you know they can take you home through a different hub. I would rather pay $50 to $100 more and know where I am sitting instead of paying less and get the middle seat on a 737 that has breadcrums on it. My fares, as they are book by yours truely are not full coach fares. If I get to upgrade to F is because either CS bumped me up as they wanted to free up some space in coach, or I had some e-certificates that United gives them for free. I use milage to upgrade in international segments or if I have to take an assignment in a really short notice. I haven't been on AA for at least 7 years. I was thinking about their more room through the coach thing for a while but then it occurred to me that connecting through DFW was not an option for me if ORD went down. As I said , United has many more alternatives. BAHA Fan of airline travel despite the nasty stuff that comes with it. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dennis W Zeuch Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 3:41 PM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: SF Gate: No-frills, low-cost airlines are fast gaining ground/'Regular' a... I wouldnt consider a direct or nonstop flight a 'frill' or an extra service that a carrier provides for the passengers. Frequent flyer programs---ok -- everyone has one. Some have more appeal than others but that depends entirely on your travel patterns and vacation plans. The only extra service or frill that I can see is preassigned seats...and what is that worth? $5.00? or maybe $10.00 extra? The only people who seem to support the UA AA DL US etc gang are the high mileage freq flyers whose companys pay the bills and want the free upgradge to F class. (And I think youre seeing the begining of the end for First Class on the vast majority of US domestic flights) More and more all Y class and RJ acfts on 2-3 hour flights. Dennis