I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. I'm referring to the seats in the front of the plane, somewhat wider, lie-flat on long flights, better food. This is the type of flight that people who aren't being super-price conscious fly, so called wealth level 3. By definition, anybody flying in coach is not level 3.

Um... That's not true.

My spouse and I could spend whatever we wanted (your 20k or whatever) on flights to Europe from the US in business class; we could pay in cash tomorrow and not really have to worry. But we don't, because that would be stupid.

Flying business class to Europe for 10k each is not something we value.

Similarly, we don't buy steak when we go out to eat. My spouse can cook a steak from our local farmer better than any steak I've paid $45+ for. We don't feel restaurant steak is a good value. Seafood? Yeah, we'll pay for that -- don't know how to cook it well, so it's a good value for us.

There is a significant difference between price and value. Coach is a fine value for me. I'm short, and I want to give my money to restaurateurs in Portugal, not American Airlines. The pleasure per dollar is a much better ratio. (BTW, Portugal is a great value :) )

The only people in their right mind who would subject themselves to the ungodly dignity/torture of coach travel rather than business would be those who don't have money and can't afford the significant difference in comfort that you get in business. I'm 5'6" (short), and travel about 140K miles/year, and I can't think of anything I do each year more miserable than sitting in coach for 14-16 hour flights.

But note - I'm not suggesting that you are making the wrong decision - just that you are making it because you have to think about the cost of flying coach, you aren't at "L3" wealth and so need to think about the marginal value associated with the money you are spending. 99% of people at L3 don't hesitate for a second to book a business class ticket. (In fact, when you are truly at L3 you probably consider flying first class (emirates has awesome First Class Cabins) - or, if we want to stretch the definition a little, opting out of flying commercial altogether)

It is very weird to me that people value their comfort on an airline seat at a rate on the order of $1000 per hour. I suppose L3 wealth is pretty big.

When I first started traveling for work 10 years ago I thought it was nuts to pay $8K-$10K for tickets, and usually just had the company buy coach tickets for $1800-$2k. My thinking was that for the 12-14 hour flights, it seemed to my naive mind that spending an extra $6k was "wasteful".

After many years of traveling north of 100K miles/year, trust me, traveling in coach sucks, and anytime I'm forced to do so I'm miserable. If I had the money, I would never, ever, take any flight > 6-10 hours in coach.