I personally don't think it's unreasonable to hope for wider seats and more legroom throughout the entire plane. I-- and I'm sure that many others on FT-- would be perfectly happy if every seat on the plane was a first class seat. Then there would be no more worrying about securing upgrades, flying in cattle-car-coach, etc., etc. Every person would have as much as s/he wanted.

Now back to reality...

As much as I agree with your sentiments, I don't think that complaining or campaigning on our part is going to do very much to change things. I would join you in a heartbeat if I thought that it would, though, because I agree with you very much-- airlines just don't give the average person enough room these days.

Unfortunately the airline market seems to be all about price, price, and price. People seem to be willing to save $10 on a ticket and risk having a seat back jammed into their knees rather than telling the airline that they would be willing to pay slightly more for more room.

When I fly on business trips, I'd gladly spend the money to get into business or first class-- if my firm would reimburse me for the whole cost of the ticket (I don't really care about how much travel costs, so long as I'm reimbursed for all costs). When I fly on leisure trips, I'd still be willing to pay more for more room-- as long as the charge was reasonable (it isn't today).