Two notes -
Delta's stranglehold on CVG is a prime example of what happens when an airline takes over a large airport. Holy crap fares are expensive!
Secondly, a 6'2" and <mumblemumble>240#, the seats in First are different enough to make the experience at least somewhat less painful.
Oh yeah, I used to drive to Lexington, Louisville, Dayton, or Columbus when I lived in Cincy. Couldn't justify paying 4x the price for the same seat.
Competition works.
And I agree about the size of the first class seat - that's why I try and fly Midwest's Signature Service when I can.
I hate Southwest and I don't trust JetBlue, but, well, they are so attractive from a pricing perspective I don't know why I wouldn't fly them on my own dime.
As one who did a "non-status" challenge run on AA, my perspective on Southwest is this: if you have non-status (e.g. can't choose the 'blocked' seats, can't board early, get shunted to a third-world call center, get lowest priority, no chance of upgrades at all) you'll be sitting in coach anyway and may not have room for your carry-on.... with Southwest, you can check-in exactly 24 hours in advance, and virtually be guaranteed a Group A (at worst, group 'B') boarding. In group A, you are virtually guaranteed an aisle seat - or if there are a lot of through passengers, you will get nothing worse than a window seat), and you will get on the plane before 2/3 of the passengers, meaning that you will get overhead bin space. It's almost totally in your control - check in early, you get better group choice.
Thus, you have more control over your experience with the open seating policy on Southwest, whereas on the legacies - you're stuck.
Again, if you have status, it's different on a legacy.
And, it's rare that you get an agent or flight crew on Southwest that's nasty or less than helpful. They do enjoy the job.
Further, if you buy a late, full-fare ticket on a legacy, you have a reasonable chance of ending up in a middle seat because the others are assigned. With Southwest, as long as you're 24 hours out, you stand a pretty good chance of avoiding the dreaded middle seat.
The whole 'challenge' experience with AA led me to change my views... I've had status on various airlines so long that I forgot what the experience was like for a non-FF.