Now you're talking about price discrimination, which customers DO prefer.

If I wanted premium service and a premium seat, I can pay the premium price for business or first class, or fly on a better airline. Even though people complain about the terribly small seats and lack of service on budget airlines and economy tickets, they still choose the lowest seat price above anything else. And the cost of plane tickets has fallen drastically over the past few decades so it's not like the same product is more expensive, people just want cheap flights.

Likewise long wait times on customer service phone lines is proof your time is valued the same as the company's.