Not to knock on NYC or NYC People, but it's just not my thing or place to hang. Yes it's the center of so many things, but for my personal taste I prefer civility of the people of Mid-America and the South. I wrote this Sunday as I was flying back to Buffalo and these are my thoughts at the time as I was feeling and living it.

So in my travels To and from here I flew AirTran quite a bit. The reason why is that their schedule was great, they flew into Sarasota ( my parents are too old & they hate having to drive to Tampa), Business class was very reasonable to upgrade to and the people that you would fly with were descent folk. This is huge when compared to flying JetBlue to LGA Laguardia. That airline at its core had former Southwest employees which features the "cattle call" when announcing the boarding. So throw that in with entitled Neurotic metro NYC people with Money and you have a shitstorm as us Canadians say. Also with LGA the food options are not the most enthralling (I like southern fair that I can't get back up North.) Plus the bar prices are even more outrageous than other airports (which is scary) Also your drinking buddies while more entertaining than most are not the most friendly. I've had some of the most fun traveling bonding moments in Atlanta with strangers at $5 a draught, great seafood from Phillips and also had he opportunity to run into people that went to Niagara University my alma mater as well.

To me flying into LGA is traumatic and not part of a vacation but an aggregation. Let's face it, sometimes when you're on the plane it's like you're almost there at your destination. For example of you're flying to Vegas everyone is talking about where they're staying, what they play & what shows they plan on attending.

I don't want to be surrounded by loud self important people aggressively bumping into me. I sat next to this old Guy of Dutch descent, he looked working class with his old shoes and may have looked like he was a farmer. Well on his hip he had an iPhone 4s and in his attaché an iPad. Yes he brought his own meal and drinks on he plane, but he had a business to run and money to save for one his forklifts needed repair. Did I mention he was pleasant & did not make noise or bump into me once? Those little things mean the world to me more than price. I would pay more to fly AirTran over JetBlue when laid over side to side.

AirTran took great care of me. When Business class was sold out hey got me an isle seat for $20 with said gentleman from Ohio. Plus that came with zone 1 boarding & attentive flight attendants. But this airline is slowly falling into the air cattle category as one of the first things SouthWest did was do away with XM Radio as I guess those few "extra pounds" of weight was too much for them. I guess that is why I'm blogging this now on an app for my iPhone as WiFi is n longer free as well.

I am going to miss being treated like gold as the market for someone caught in between no frills economy and affordable luxury no longer has a viable option. I don't have hundreds of thousands of miles to gain status on a legacy carrier to Sarasota as I never traveled for decades for any industry or job. The folks that were up in the air for Years working to accumulate the wealth to afford to retire to Sarasota will squeeze me out every time and there are more of them than seats available. There are folks that must have felt slighted as their life savings of miles have dwindles post retirement and they have to sit back in coach.

With fuel prices and consolidation I wonder if I will ever enjoy the level of service that I enjoyed with AirTran to the SRQ? Will someone please step up And serve my market or is that I am the abominally and am not economically viable in the current configuration of the airline industry? Just do a search for "Business Class" on Kayak and see what comes up, only AirTran and with them slowly bent phased out what will happen to the in between market segment like myself that is willing to pay extra but not 4 figures for a comfortable airline seat to great destinations?