Disclosing the pecking order at the time of ticket purchase would allow consumers to make an INFORMED decision about the ticket they are buying... In other words, if I MUST be on a certain flight, I can decide if I'm willing to pay TEN TIMES the price... at least I have the choice, and I could make an informed decision. The way it is now, with everything in the dark, and the only people knowledgable about what really goes on, admittedly are a bunch of well-heeled frequent flyers on expense accounts. ANd I believe first class flyers are paying ten times the price, primarily to have empty seats available to them on ALL flights... I think the current structure isn't paying enough of a premium to have all those empty seats available to first class passengers... Perhaps TWENTY times the price, might cover the actual costs. Compare the cheapest fare on Southwest, say LA to Ft. Laurderdale, of around $200, to the most expensive first class fare on American... Yeah, twenty times the price seems about right... I believe if companies are willing to freely pay those prices, then they should have all those empty seats they are paying for available to them whenever then want. The problem now, is that business people aren't paying enough, and the airlines are basically using the public to subsidize the business people who want all those empty seats around... So, that is, in part why I am against business people stepping on NON-elite people, who have EVERY RIGHT to be on flights they are ALSO confirmed on... Basically, if you want more rights, let's disclose everything, way out in the open, go ahead and pay twenty times the price, and you'll have lots of empty seats around for you. Basically, elite members are getting their cake...AND eating it too.
I simply would like to see REAL disclosure... and getting support from elite members, like many on these boards, is not something I would expect to get.
I believe most people who have been reading this thread understand the issue/concept... I'm not suggest anyone MUST agree, or even believe it... but I think at least the more frequent flyer UNDERSTAND the concept... Understanding the concept, and being fair and reasonable are two different things.

I'll tell you a short story: about ten years ago, the Bank of America in California had what they called VIP lines in most branches. If you were a VIP accountholder, which I was and still am, you could basically cut to the front of the line in this VIP line. I belive a lot of customers resented this, since it was so obvious that the VIP people were in no more of a hurry than the non-VIP customers, so Bank of America doesn't have the VIP lines any longer. Basically, it just looked really bad. All the years I had the VIP card at Bank of America, I only took advantage of it one time, when there was a line of maybe 50 people in line, and I was in an emergency situation of being in a hurry. I felt awkward standing in the VIP line... The crazy thing is at the time, I doubt I had any more or any less money in my account than most other Bank of America customers... but for some reason, they thought I was a good future prospect for a "better customer", so the computer gave me the VIP card.
I always resented seeing the VIP people casually head straight for the front of the line, and I knew it was wrong. I'm glad Bank of America saw the error of their ways. I would hope airlines might recognize this too, one day... I don't think any airline, maybe other than Southwest, can truly make the claim that they TREAT EVERYONE EQUITABALLY and FAIRLY. (although I am disgusted by their policy of charging large people for two seats, since I think they should conversely charge small people LESS money, if they are able to cram say three people into two seats...but that's another issue).
Jim