Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

It's also a choice how to fly.

You know why CD always talks about getting upgraded to first class? Because not enough first class tickets are sold. A plane maybe has 15-20 first class seats, and it's rare that they're all sold for first class prices. Loyalty members and frequent fliers end up there as a "perk".

You know why airlines are at a race to the bottom for ticket costs, scrapping anything that makes customers comfortable? Because every fare is available on the internet, easily comparable, and consumers will buy the cheapest fare even if it means flying a no-frills airline. I'm convinced some consumers would sit out on the wing if they could save $10.

You know why nobody that's not rich (and despite your pleas, most on this site aren't "rich") does what you suggest and makes use of the option that you don't have to show up hours early--which exists and is called flying private? Because it's damned expensive, that's why. There are all sorts of options out there where you can book these flights, but very few people can afford it.

Simply put, if bigger seats i.e. "make the whole plane first class" was something mainstream consumers would pay for, there would be at least ONE airline doing it. But we're not willing to pay for it.

Flying sucks, because all we're willing to pay for is a great big Greyhound in the sky. Flying sucks because we, as consumers, chose low price over  high quality.

That's what I mean when I say you don't understand economics or consumer behavior. We got where we are re: flying because it was driven by what consumers wanted--low price. "Make the whole plane first class" is something consumers SAY we want, but then we pick the flight based on price, and bitch about why the airline experience is so shitty.

 @OrangeAfroMan , economists refer to what @betarhoalphadelta described here as "revealed preference".  It is a topic that economists spend a great deal of time researching and studying because it screws with their models.  An example (I'm making this up but I would guess it is close to true):

• Conduct a poll, 90% of fliers say they'd pay $10 for a bigger seat.
• Actually redesign the plane to offer bigger seats and offer them for fares of $10 higher than the normal and . . . nobody buys tickets.  

#1 is what people say they want but #2 is what they ACTUALLY want - their revealed preference.  This happens all the time, not just with flying.  When polled people think "sure I'd pay $10 for a bigger seat" and they aren't really "lying", in that moment they REALLY believe that they would but then when push comes to shove and they go to google flights to find flights for their next trip what they actually do is click "sort by price" and pick the cheapest or at least the cheapest that is not too ridiculously inconvenient to their schedule.  

The economics of airfare in general is fascinating.  More than almost any other industry, the marginal costs (cost to add one more unit - in this case passenger) are usually effectively zero.  Ie, if an airline has a plane flying from LA to Phoenix this afternoon, so long as not all the seats are sold, the cost to the airline of putting Beta's butt in one of their empty seats to fly him to Phoenix for Purdue's triumphant National Championship is effectively almost zero.  Fundamentally this is why the airlines offer standby fares for REALLY cheap, because if they have extra seats on a plane basically anything they get for those seats is a net positive for the airline.  

We like flying (on American) because we get perks because of our status. Free premium economy (more leg room) seats, no baggage fees, free cocktails, free upgrades to first/business, priority check-in, and priority baggage (ours come out first).

We do pay more (unless using points) to fly on American than Southwest or whatever. We're OK with that because we worked very hard to have that choice and not have to choose Spirit, Frontier, etc.

Yeah, and expanding on what @medinabuckeye1 said, the economics that get involved in loyalty programs get interesting. I basically try to fly American or Southwest if I can. American is where all my frequent flyer mileage usually went back when I was regularly traveling for work, and I'd try to work my schedule to maintain status. Even now, one advantage to American for personal flying is that although I don't rack up enough miles to get status, my AAdvantage credit card gets me free checked bags and priority boarding. Southwest I fly frequently from here because it's cheap and easy--and no checked bag fees for that either. 

But while I tell OAM that people like us aren't "rich", I think we're well off enough that we can make those choices, especially since we fly often enough (for business or pleasure) that those little perks can add up. We do take non-monetary aspects into consideration, not just price. But price still matters. I might pay a little more to fly American than, say, United or Delta, but there's a limit. I also won't fly American if there's no direct non-stop flight, but United or Delta has a direct flight (perhaps due to the destination being a United/Delta hub). Price/routing are still important, and they trump loyalty programs for me. 

You are fortunate to have hubs nearby, so flying direct is easy. The only direct flights we can get is if we are flying to certain hubs.

Seems like every other place we go, they put us through Charlotte, Dallas or Chicago.

We use our AA card for everything. Literally everything.

Honestly, I really try to avoid LAX if I can. LAX has much more direct flights than Orange County and typically better pricing, but I won't drive there unless I really have to. I will often look at San Diego rather than LAX because I'd rather drive there than LAX. It's slightly farther away, but I hate LAX so much that I will accept that if the price/routing/etc works.

The number of direct flights out of SNA isn't that great except to certain destinations. A lot of the western states can be direct on Southwest, but any time I'm headed east on American to anywhere except Chicago (where I don't go much now that my parents moved to CO) or Dallas (where I have almost no reason to go) I'm pretty much routed through one of those two most of the time. 

For Indy we flew out of SNA, and neither trip was direct. It was on Southwest through LAS on the outbound trip, and on American through PHX on the return. That was the best price/routing combo I could find. 

I'm tired just thinking about that

When I go to ORD, I'm in my rental car and on the road in 30-40 minutes, tops. 

When I go to ORD, I'm in my rental car and on the road in 30-40 minutes, tops.

When I travel alone, that's usually my case. When I travel with my wife, we check bags so that doesn't work so quickly. 

I will say one thing I hate about the Orange County airport is how painfully slow they send out the bags. For such a small and simple airport, I don't understand what takes so long... 

That's why I like priority baggage tags. By the time we get from the gate to baggage at ORD, our bags are there, we hop on the tram, and go right to our rental car (no counter stops for us - Hertz Gold).

Ahh. I don't fly frequently enough to maintain status any longer, so that's been out. I'm not one of the million mile club lol. Only about a third of the way there.