I really must take exception to the "there is no going back" comment. To the best of my recollection, the air traffic control system is publicly funded here in the US. As such, I expect equal treatment whether I'm flying a 150 or a 747 (no such luck).
Perhaps the airlines need to stop trying to put 300 airplanes on the same piece of concrete within 20 minutes of each other. Naturally, being driven by market pressures, they're not going to do so until someone makes it clear to them that they're going to be wasting an awful lot of fuel when they try it. ATC's customer is the pilot. Not the airline pilot, not the corporate pilot, nor Ritchie Rich and his Pilatus...all of us.
I fail to see what is difficult about recognizing that in the public sector the job description is to serve the public.
I haven't had the dubious honor of trying to swap paint with the "big boys" lately, but back when I first received my "license to sleep in the right seat", I remember doing a lot of ILSes to a very busy Class C. Somehow, the controllers always worked to keep us in the flow, and it usually came out fine. However, I don't lose a lot of sleep over the couple of DC-8s or 747s loaded with consumer electronics that may have had to swing out a couple of miles to let us firewall the old 172RG down to the threshold.
If the airlines need airports all their own, maybe they should build some.
Having said that, I hope no one here will take it as a personal slam. I've got all kinds of respect for the "big boy" pilots...maybe one day I'll be one. And I've been favorably impressed with the expertise, competence, and good nature of 95% of the ATC I've encountered. I suppose what I have in my sights with this little rant is the idea that somehow a controller's responsability extends a bit further for a Sky God with 400 Busy Important People in the back than it does for a Good Ole Boy Bug Smasher. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's no one's call to make.
Best Regards,
TRF