[eroded]

But what are the alternatives?

1. True segregation where the rich go to a separate school all-together / have separate planes, etc.

2. Everyone wears the same lowest-common denominator clothes / travel in the same travel class?

Each of these alternatives is economically inefficient, and the poor suffer more as a result as their fares cease to be subsidised by the rich.

I'd rather fly $500 return to Tokyo, because some rich guy upfront is paying $4000 for a flat bed, than pay $2000 because some left-wing loon demands everyone has the same class of travel.

[reeses]

"I'd rather fly $500 return to Tokyo, because some rich guy upfront is paying $4000 for a flat bed"

NB: I'm 40 and didn't have these issues when I was younger/fitter/elasticker.

I pay $10k+ for a flat bed to Asia because I find that I can be off the plane and ready for a meeting the next business day, with no need to take an extra day or two on either end. Little seats that don't recline all the way are a recipe for back pain, neck pain, or just general low-grade misery, as if air travel isn't annoying enough. It's not really about "rich" (although I'm glad I have the option) but more about productivity and not losing time. The same thing happened with Saturday stay-overs on round trips (I don't know if they still do this) or one-way tickets being as or more expensive than round trips, because business customers often prefer to be home on weekends.

All that said, I generally book business and upgrade myself to first, so I'm not feeling the full $10-15k pressure myself. Also, I only book international first on vacations, when it's miles/points anyway, for which the spendy fares help out a lot.

Plus, I really don't want to fight with 500 people over two toilets. That gets more important when you get old. :-)

[logicallee]

At the end the original article states pretty clearly what the alternative is: "Everyone wears the same great clothes, but pay different prices for it."

Even the quoted $15 (all JPKab could afford) is more than enough to meet Nike's manufacturing cost, for example, so under the suggested scheme he could wear the same clothes others do; and if Nike could charge different people different amounts, it would prefer to also receive the $15 than not receive it. (If it wouldn't impact its ability to charge its normal prices.)

In practice every company strives for price discrimination, by making something for every price point without hurting the higher ones.