Totally agree with you Healy! I think a premium cabin is essential for LH profitability for legacy carriers (there will probably always be a certain level of demand for it in particular markets due to the nature of travel on those routes). I just think that long-term, you either need people paying first class fares OR buying business and using points to upgrade (so people are still paying for it, but using a different type of currency) to justify a first class cabin across the entire fleet. A system where people regularly get first class service for a business fare (as proposed in the post above) couldn't be sustained in my opinion.
On a related topic, does anyone have intel on the average loads QF is carrying in First at the moment?