Class Accommodations
Sometimes an 'upgrade' keeps you from being downgraded
Concerts, Vacation Packages, Airlines...Three consumer spheres that have adopted a multi-tier system of pricing and service have led to the mistreatment of customers.
Specifically, these services have been structured so that the common folk pay rates that are *just enough* to keep an operation profitable. They then make their real money on selling the upgraded service
Thing is, only so much upgrade can take place. For a concert, obviously the upgrades provide a different visual experience (closer to the stage) and the opportunity to perhaps see the artist (with the other 249 people who bought the $2,400 package) in person at sound check or otherwise before the show. I am not sure who remembers concerts prior to the 2000's when lots of people tried to get to the front of the stage. Ushers did not do much to prevent them once the show started. Now, they will kick people out of every one of the conglomerate’s venues for trying to enter a higher-graded section at one show.
Vacation packages are much the same, with "better" accommodations and more "perks" with higher-tier packages. Again, those who pay to sit at the Captain's Table will be assured that no one from steerage will set foot nearby.
But the kicker is airlines. There is so LITTLE that can be sold as upgrades. The "free checked bag" is not free when the upgrade is more than the cost of checking the bag and paying for it a la carte. More legroom means a few inches on domestic flights; same thing with seat reclining angles. Priority boarding is made to be more important than it is (you can get on the jetway any time before the gate door closes and you will still find your seat waiting for you). And in first class you get silverware for your microwaved, reheated meal, and glassware for the alcohol you overpaid for (You will never get the value of your upgrade in booze, either). Funny that first class passengers are provided the raw materials for weapons that all other passengers are banned from accessing--as if skyjackings by Al-Qaeda can be prevented merely by the cost of tickets. "Gee, Mullah, we could have hijacked that plane and flown it into a building, but that extra $12,000 in tickets just made the mission cost-prohibitive."
So how can an airline justify the huge upsell costs such that those who purchase may get a sense of value, relative to the rest? Visibly treat the common passengers like shit. This is why when you see passengers freak out, it is always in economy class. It is not that wealthier people are less inclined to anger or frustration--it's just that they bought the package that comes with very very little of that. Then, every time someone does freak out in economy and the video goes out on the web, it helps the airlines sell the upgrades.
Kind of like how the NRA sells more guns every time there is a highly-publicized shooting.