I used to love United Airlines. They used to have the coolest and, dare I say, most moving commercials.

United took George Gershwin’s sultry, inspiring “Rhapsody in Blue” and used it as the company anthem. Their TV ads ran endless montages of wide, rain-slicked runways unrolling like red carpets underneath massive United jets as the orchestral piece ascends from a slow, quiet intro to its full-throttle piano finale. Flight attendants and pilots are always sporting proud smiles along with their crisp uniforms and perfect hair, and passengers always look a little awestruck. The commercials were all about the romance and adventure of travel, but even more so, they conveyed a strong conviction that United Airlines saw itself as THE carrier of lofty dreams and even loftier hopes. That its staff on the ground and in the air were truly dedicated not only to your safety and comfort, but perhaps even to the betterment of mankind. In those happier, fatter times, United was a formidable company and airline.

So what happened?

A week ago I boarded a United Airlines flight from Denver to Dallas, resigned to the fact that over the last decade or so, the airline has lost more than a little of its luster. Customer service ratings are in the tank (one popular destination site for disgruntled United customers is www.untied.com, and no, that’s not a typo), it’s operating under bankruptcy, it has the dubious distinction of having some of the worst airline safety records in the industry, and if that weren’t enough, it ranked second to last in the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2008.

I thought of this as I settled into my seat just a few rows back from a near-empty Economy Plus (EP) section. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with this new method United has thought of for squeezing every last dollar out of your ever-shrinking budget, the EP section offers “up to five extra inches of legroom.” Unlike, say, First or Business Class, you don’t receive any additional services for the privilege of sitting with the rest of us poor chumps in the cattle car. No hot towels, champagne service or even a complimentary bag of three mini-pretzels. You simply get “up to five extra inches of legroom.”

As it turned out, our brief flight to the Big D was only partly full, and as the crew prepared for takeoff, several passengers asked if they could move to the many empty seats in EP. They must have made enough noise, as one flight attendant felt compelled to make an announcement. She planted herself in the aisle in front of EP, as if guarding the sacred area behind her.

She began with a very sincere apology, then explained that the crew could no longer allow passengers to move to EP seats unless they had paid for the privilege.

Apparently, many of the flight attendants had already been reprimanded for doing just that during previous flights, so they were putting their foot down. She ended her speech with the chirpy reminder that we were more than welcome to sit in EP in the future, provided that we forked over the extra fee.

Now, although I disagree with such a petty policy, I’m going to cut United some extra slack out of what is likely misguided nostalgia for the airline that USED to be great. Perhaps they didn’t want to antagonize Economy passengers who aren’t quick enough or lucky enough to snag themselves a “free” upgrade to EP. Perhaps they didn’t want to turn the entire Economy cabin into the free-for-all it already is. Or perhaps their customer service executive was just in a really vindictive mood that day. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

What I did not and could not condone, however, was that while the flight attendant was reminding all of us of the airline’s flaky policy, there sat across the aisle from me an elderly couple, one of whom was disabled and had hobbled on board using a cane and clutching her husband’s arm. They didn’t ask for special consideration, but I wouldn’t doubt that the old United Airlines — the one that billed itself as the “friendly skies” that once “rededicated” itself to “giving you the service you deserve” — wouldn’t have hesitated to offer them a couple of measly seats in EP. Two rows behind me sat another disabled senior, but again, United failed to rise to the occasion. Thankfully, it was a short flight of just over two hours, but c’mon, United.

You couldn’t eat the lousy $14-plus fee and just give those seats to these people? They were empty the entire flight to Dallas. Are you really that cheap and insensitive?

Well, apparently, you are.

It says a lot about the airline when I find myself consistently amazed at how friendly and polite the Transportation Security Administration folks at Grand Junction airport are in comparison to United’s intractable organization. When your crew ranks below underpaid and overworked government bureaucrats, it’s time to rethink your entire approach — or lack thereof — to customer service.

Oh, and please give the rights to “Rhapsody in Blue” back to the Gershwin estate. You don’t deserve it anymore.

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Marjorie R. Asturias is a freelance writer and weekly FP columnist living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.