I decided about 10 years ago I'm willing to pay the premium for economy plus seats (more leg room). I don't fly often enough for the market to notice me, but when I fly I notice that those seats do sell out faster, if nothing else I can still pay extra for those seats. I can also pay extra for first class - however the premium is high enough that I cannot afford it despite wanting to.

> those seats do sell out faster

Given how quickly Delta's Comfort+ seats sell, I'd be surprised if they don't install more of those. Given their brand, a row or two of Basic Economy (for e.g. college students), a small main, a healthy Comfort+ and a solid front cabin might be the play.

I wonder if they're selling out or being consumed as upgrades? Domestically, I almost always buy an economy ticket on Delta and get upgraded to Comfort+ within 15 minutes of buying the ticket. That means the bus routes (between hubs) probably have a lot of these Skymiles high-tier members taking up the seats without charge.

That data, which I'm sure Delta has and looks at, could strongly influence how many overall rows of seating to remove in order to fit more rows of Comfort+.

"The market would work if only consumers had perfect information, and infinite capacity to analyze it"

Outside of veblen goods, aren't most consumer choices driven by price?

I have never flown top tier air travel, but even the best experience is somewhere on the scale of cattle-car-in-the-sky. It is a necessary evil to get me to somewhere in a way that is faster than driving. Paying a premium has rapidly diminishing returns when you are stuck in a shared space with the public.

> aren't most consumer choices driven by price?

To varying degrees. Air travel is a product where cost dominates more than with other services.

> even the best experience is somewhere on the scale of cattle-car-in-the-sky

This is most Americans. I personally find lay-flat seats worth the premium from time to time, though not always.

>It is a necessary evil to get me to somewhere in a way that is faster than driving.

I don't see it that way. I see it as a necessary evil to get me somewhere in a way that is much, much, much faster than a ship.

The only signal that was surfaced on many sites was cost, it's not surprising that it is the only thing flyers look at.

Make $/inch-of-floor-space prominent and easy to compare in flight listings and you might see something different happen.