If business travelers are able to convince their higher-ups that they can splurge on hotel stays, then why wouldn't they be able to convince their higher-ups to splurge on better seats? They are paying the higher fares, no?

Another point - have you every TRIED to price out JetBlue? Guess what - you usually end up spending more. People don't care what the lowest published fare an airline puts out is. They only care about what the lowest fare that comes up for the dates and times they put in when searching for a flight. Unless you are booking less than two weeks out, JetBlue and most other LCCs rarely come up cheaper. If people only bought the cheapest airfare, then in fact no one would fly any other route. That just doesn't happen. The problem is that people don't percieve any difference from one flight to another to justify spending any more.

There are over 10 airlines that offer either a better seat or premium economy section. All are experiencing great demand for those products. AA wasn't able to make it work, but all these other airlines have. I think that tells you right there that AA did something wrong.

And no, my time is not worth so much that I am not willing to spend an hundred dollars more for a direct route. I guess I just don't get paid as much as you.