It's easy to get rude when times are good, but customers have long memories.
The late 1990s were the best time ever for the airline industry. Planes were packed to the gills, and the airlines made more money than ever before. United Airlines, then the nation's biggest carrier, saw its stock price jet to more than $125 a share.
United's biggest hub is in my hometown of Chicago. They go almost everywhere out of O'Hare Airport, and their fares are usually among the lowest, so I fly them a lot.