you need to have a first class cabin. Unless you're flying cross country (and get lucky) or overseas, you're not likely to be in an aircraft designed to offer tiered seating. Canadair's Regional Jets are the current rage in air transportation, and the biggest plane I routinely get a chance to sit in is a 727. The last time I got to see a first class cabin, I was flying all the way to Heathrow.

Back when fuel was cheap and no one had the foresight to realize that couldn't last very long, the airlines decided the way to win business was to offer lots more flights utilizing much smaller aircraft. When the time came to refresh their fleets - or the smaller regional carriers decided to launch - Embraer and Canadair were getting the orders, not AirBus and Boeing. Today, the travel lanes are crowded, the airports are bursting at the seams, and fuel costs per passenger are making it extremely difficult to turn a profit. If you see parallels to our nation's urban roadways and the interstate system... hmm, wonder why that would be.