Wealth would be feeling the Hawaiian afternoon breeze right about now, contemplating a few days of sailing.. drinking herb-laced coffee, the recipe of which I've worked on for years.. I'd have my French Canadian lady at my side, helping me consume coffee and plan the sailing.. She's an interior designer and painter, an incredible asset to everything I do, supportive, loving. More wealth, at that point, could not make me happier. [everything is in place except for the Hawaii thingy. Gotta work on that...]
That experience is still very much there for international F. And it's very accessible to normal people if you're good at accumulating miles/points for cheap. And domestic F is very much like economy from the glory days.
Eh, I got a friend who lives ocean-front on Maui, and other than keeping his hair in check, he barely works. I don't know if his lady is French Canadian, or just French, but she has a beach body and the brains to hook up with a rich guy with beachfront property on Maui. Anyway, he gets all excited and misty-eyed about going to NYC every year around Thanksgiving and hitting the museums and smelling the crisp Autumn air. And when he does go to NY, he has to put up with the same line up and take your shoes off routine and then deal with the portly, old-hag, over-it flight attendants on Delta like the rest of us. So, in my book, the guy is rich, but not truly wealthy. True wealth = large estate on Hawaii (if that's your thing), a Gulfstream, and the staff to be able to say: "Jeeves, pack my bags and book a suite. I want sushi tonight, so Tokyo it is. Call the flight crew and tell the pilots our itinerary. I am going for a dip in the pool and then a swim in the ocean, so please have everything ready to go so we can get out this afternoon. Thanks, Jeeves."
And, even in the middle class, you know your quality of life is slipping vs Asia when your surly flight attendants are like this: and Singapore's flight attendants look like this:
To me being wealthy is not just flying a private jet, but to be able to screw someone up without any consequences to myself. So let's say I am in a store, some dick sales person is rude to me, I can just signal and get one of my guys to take care of him and send him to the hospital when he/she knocks off work.