Fine Food and United Airlines Global Services

Today I Sao Paulo, had lunch at Dom Curro Spanish resturant with Jaime. Among other things, the shrimp/garlic/olive oil dish was excellent. So good, we ordered a second one.
I'm not sure of the final tally, but it was not cheap. Having been travelling regularly on business, I've had the chance to eat at some extremely fancy places. $60 Dinners are not unheard of.
Conventional Wisdom says that the more you spend on food, the better it is. Certainly, the food is usually excellent. But having tasted it all, I see a diminishing return after $25. And sometimes, a $5 sandwich can satisfy more than a $50 steak.
Donald Trump once said that he can get any desert the world has to offer, but an Oreo Cookie is right at the top of his list of favorites.
I always knew that cheap isn't always inferior, but with experience, it is now confirmed for me.


I travel a lot on United Airlines, and have almost reached their 1K status level (after only 6 months). On United's announcments and checkin lines, I have often seen or heard the term 'Global Services', but I could not figure out what this meant.

On the way back from Brazil, I sat next to a guy who works for McDonalds (not a burger flipper) who told me he has Global Services status. It is an unpublished/unadvertised status that is available by special invite only. He flew ~150k miles per year for several years when he received the Global Services invitation. Some of the benefits are more systemwide upgrades and higher priority over 1Ks on waitlists.
Nothing life changing, but its nice to learn something new.