For my diabetic mother who has really bad legs, or for me who has had back issues his whole life, or for someone who is treated like they deserve to be there in first class instead of being cattle called into a tiny seat with a bag of pretzels for fourteen hours…
Different priorities.
Flying business or first class is not something I do often (I’ve flown a single digit number of times on either, and all but once on points) but when I do the amount of stress that is relieved is actually very significant. It’s hard to understand until you’ve done it.
And it may not matter to you! And that’s also okay.
I don't have readily available hard data, but flying first or business class is glamorous and an aspirational luxury product. I believe the reason why the average consumer wants to buy luxury goods like Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, etc., is the same reason they would want to experience first and business class.
I feel like we must have different perceptions of the "average consumer." Nobody I know has any aspirations of spending several thousand dollars on a handbag.
Maybe it's different when you only talk to people who make at least six figures.
Actually, sadly enough, a big portion of the people who buy those bags (or similarly luxury items that have fine non-luxury equivalents) don’t have the money to.
Often, people buy these things because it makes them feel better, in that they feel they’ve earned the right to have something nice.
And that is one of the reasons that people tend to make decisions that don’t get them out of poverty. Because sometimes feeling spendy makes people happy, in the short term.
It’s why you see so many lower-middle class people driving around in a used/leased Lexus or BMW. It isn’t that a Ford or Mazda wouldn’t suffice.
Moreover, if you can get it for free, with points, that feel like they cost you nothing? Hell yeah.
(This is also why the Marlboro/Parliament catalogs which made people collect UPC codes for various items were so popular. Nobody needed that junk. But a duffel bag and a laptop for nothing but these random barcodes I’ve collected?! Hell yeah, I’m rich!)
Is this true? I feel like the "average" person cares a lot more about their destination than the experience of the flight.
Going to Disney World or the Carribean might be a dream experience, but having a bit more legroom and drinks on your flight is way, way down the list.