I find that airlines and hotels are becoming increasingly creative in recognizing individuals who bring them a steady stream of revenue. However, the creativity of these symbiotic entities are limited by rising fuel prices, depreciation of the dollar, and lack of resources. For example, if you fly an obscene number of miles with United Airlines, you get the privilege of boarding via the red carpet. This carpet, more or less, a red doormat, is placed strategically on the other side of the rope barrier where the regular people queue up. Even more embarrassingly, is that the ticket agent stands in front of the rug and announces that ONLY people with a certain status can pass through. God forbid if a regular joe schmoe steps on the red mat. So I guess the take away is, if you drop hundreds of thousands of dollars with an airline, you get to board 5 inches to the left of normal everyday travelers. Whoopdee-do! The oversaturation of these “elite” tiers have led to the invention of silly and meaningless rituals. Could they really not think of a better way to distinguish the big wigs? How about just keep creating new titles for them? I didn’t have any problems coming up with a good one.

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