groundhand,
I guess it's a case of you don't always get that for which you paid, but you hardly ever get that for which you haven't paid. It sounds as if it will be the same with customer service people. I can see it: 'Yes sir, you have a problem because the machine can't read your FF card. That will be £5 for me to look at the problem, and after the first 5 minutes, it will be £1 per minute - even if you've just spent £8000 on a First Class return to Australia'.
I'll be too old for travelling much in 7 or 8 years. Probably a good thing.