Because the price difference between economy and business class can exceed the cost of the rest of the trip - it's not within the realm of affordability for many people, they can either fly economy or not at all.
I've been looking up flights recently and if your rent is less than 700 you are lucky. You can buy a first class ticket, round trip to the other side of the planet
Just because you've found one ticket somewhere for $700 doesn't mean that's where I want to go or is a time that I can go. Many of my vacations revolve around family events for extended family in another country, so I have limited flexibility in dates or destination.
I'm looking at tickets right now, $735 for economy, $3500 - $6000+ for business, $15,000+ for first class. Fortunately I have a lot of miles, so a 160K mile business class awards ticket is a possibility.
It wasn't just one ticket, i was looking at quite a few destinations, that was just an example. If you plan ahead and shift the departure by a single day the price drops incredibly.
Unless the airline made a huge mistake, I could have bought a round trip ticket to Thailand for 700 first class. It would obviously be slightly higher in price after fees, 9/11 security fees and whatever else is tacked on. Let's say it's a total of 1k.
Save for it. Get good credit cards with valuable travel points. Put it off until you can pay for a premium experience which you'll enjoy more. While saving research deeply where you are going and plan for a longer trip - it makes spending money on better travel more economical.
Put it off until you can pay for a premium experience which you'll enjoy more
I've vacationed in economy, business class, and first class, and the flight is the least memorable part of the trip -- I'd rather spend more money at the destination. For sure, a lay flat seat on a long-haul flight is fantastic compared to being strapped in a coach seat for 8+ hours, but unless I can pay for it with miles, I'd rather spend the money on a nicer hotel or longer stay (or just keep that money in my pocket)
I think many people would. But yet there is incessant complaining about their flight. There just seems to be this cognitive dissonance between keeping money in the pocket and complaining about flight arrangements. Either save longer or deal with it.
Most people complaining are probably those people who have to fly a lot for work. From a psychological perspective I imagine that a flight is a lot less enjoyable if what's waiting for you on the other side is a series of sales meetings compared to if it's that 2 week vacation you've been looking forward to all year.
Why should people not complain if they feel the next higher product tier is a rip-off? You could buy two seats at twice the price to get some more space to spread yourself over, but that's obviously not ideal. Some people are asking for something better, but airlines might not be aware of consumer demand (or ignore it because they want to sell their higher tier seats, which many people can't afford, though).
I think a lot of that stems from the ever shrinking seat pitch and width. Like United's 3-4-3 seating on the 777 - it is super cramped, even in Economy Plus (which gives a few inches of leg room but no more width). I'll never fly on that seat configuration again unless I fly first or business class.
I'd rather fly somewhere interesting twice a year on a crappy flight than once every 5 years on a business class flight. If anything I'd much rather spend any extra money I might have on a better hotel than on a better flight.
And anyway even with the best possible credit card you have to be pretty rich to spend enough to earn enough points for a transatlantic business class flight for your family.
Because my employer doesn't pay for anything higher than Y, even on long haul international.
(That, and all the other points made in this thread - which are perfectly valid, and I say this as someone who has a tonne of miles and has flown long-haul business class for leisure...)
