Crap service isn't just on the ground....
Whilst I agree that there are some ground staff who seem to get some sort of pleasure of watching staff travelers run for flights, the lack of service is occasionally apparent in the air. I've not staff traveled often but my gripes about service when I have traveled would mirror that of our normal customers. It varied between wonderfully attentive, supportive and excellent on some occasions to woefully inattentive and dismissive on others.
I think this is the thing that kills us time and again in competition with others carriers. We're simply not consistent.
As to the rest of the argument (ST as a profit centre, the crappy system, the fuel surcharges on what would be an empty seat, etc) I couldn't agree more. It's a seriously crap system and fixing these things would do wonders for engagement.