(FORTUNE Magazine) – AS ANYONE WHO HAS PAID $5 for an airplane sandwich knows, if you fly coach these days, expect to get less for more. Up in first class, however, passengers are being lavished with more perks than ever.

As part of its new coast-to-coast PS (premium service), United will be periodically giving away goodie bags stuffed with everything from St. Tropez self-tanner to Tempur-Pedic travel pillows to gift certificates for events like the Super Bowl and the Cannes Film Festival. Though the bags are valued at $500 to $1,000, they don't cost United a cent; companies pay product-placement firm Madison & Mulholland a fee in the hopes their merchandise will reach high-rent customers. The airline is also unveiling lie-flat seats (a first by a domestic carrier on domestic flights) and meals that include lamb chops and Bellinis.

United isn't the only one piling on the extras. American Airlines has introduced an Atkins/ South Beach diet menu for folks in first and business class, and Northwest is investing $30,000 to upgrade each business-class seat in its international fleet with six-way adjustable headsets and private canopies. Continental, which claims to have started the domestic luxury trend by redoing some of its first-class seats in 2002, is continuing with the strategy. "Business travelers fly more than leisure travelers and expect more. We are not ashamed to say we give them more," says Rahsaan Johnson, spokesman for Continental. "Like most businesses, aviation is not democratic."

In fact, with the discount carriers flying circles around the majors and driving down prices, United has decided its future doesn't lie with the cheapo passengers anyway: "We want the executives, not the young road warriors," says Sue Kazlaw- Nelson, United's manager of advertising and promotions. (Note to road warriors: You get free snacks and satellite TV on JetBlue.) -- Carlye Adler