Price levels...
Indeed, I should say that passengers want cheap tickets and will put up with limited space for that.
Now, are the prices of premium seats actually reasonable?
Baseline economy is 31 to 34 inches, usually. Premium economy is 38 to 40 inches. So 12 to 29 % bigger. Width - sometimes premium economy is 8 abreast instead of 10 in Economy, sometimes 7 instead of 8, et cetera.
So, in total, a passenger in Premium Economy occupies 130 to 160 % real estate of an Economy passenger. But they do not weigh 130 to 160%, surely. Therefore their fuel needs are smaller.
Do Premium Economy passengers pay 120-160 % the standard Economy tickets? Or is it different?
Are the Economy passengers paying money for poor treatment so that the upper classes could have large amounts of space for themselves? Or are the wealthy people paying ridiculous sums of money for their tickets so the plebians could travel around at rock-bottom prices?
Who is subsidizing whom?