[olympus]

Sure, people would pay more to get better treatment but most people don't fly enough to know the difference. Ask a few people around which airlines give you the entire can of coke and which only give you half the can in a tiny plastic cup. Ask them which airlines give out free pretzels on medium length flights and which ones give out a menu where you have to pay for everything. Ask them how expensive the cheese sampler is off that menu and if they remembered to factor it into their cost of better treatment. Which airline has the widest seats? I actually don't know the answer to that. Thinnest stewards/stewardesses? I could care less about how attractive they are, but I like aisle seats and don't want fat stewardess butt in my face when they walk up and down the aisle. Are you going to be flying in a widebody jet or a tiny regional jet? You get the picture. There's lots of stuff to consider, and 1 inch less of legroom may not pop into people's minds (certainly not mine since I am always in an exit row. It's my mini-first class upgrade).

The fact of the matter is that most travelers aren't informed enough to know the difference between airlines except for the prices that show up on Priceline/Travelocity/Kayak/etc. I would like to see a feature chart on each airline and an estimated value to see if it was worth the extra money. I would pay extra to get updated intel like that before I book a flight.