Are you sure you're not a budget airline?

Ignore the fact that this was taken with my iPhone, on a rainy gray day at O'Hare. Doesn't American Airlines look like a budget carrier?

Budget airlines used to have a bad reputation. Southwest changed that by offering a basic, but friendly and positive experience. It's propelled their airline to the top of annual quality surveys, and consistent profits. JetBlue took this model and exanded on it, offering high quality entertainment options and more comfortable seating. Virgin America is a newcomer, but is following the same model - low prices, basic comforts and new technology.

The old, traditional airlines have lagged behind significantly, while finding ever more creative ways to charge you - such as charging for checked luggage, while still allowing anything short of an overseas steamer as a carry-on.

For the record, I think anything that is a carry-on, ought to be something you actually carry - not a rolling suitcase.

Bare metal has NEVER made anything look new – instead the plane looks like it's lost half of its paint. While I respect any airline that hasn't had the urge to make their planes look like a flying whale or web 2.0 startup, but the artwork on the plane says, "We haven't updated our look since 1975, and we're ok with that. Combined with the fact that AA DOES fly a large amount of older planes (the MD-80 pictured was introduced in 1980, and is basically a modernized DC-9 – which was itself introduced in 1965). It's old, loud, and inefficient. Of course, a plane from 1980 is still perfectly safe, because of frequent high-level maintenance. But the plane can still look old - particularly if you haven't cleaned the interior since you bought it.