Freight generates far more revenue per kilogram. Once loaded, freight sits perfectly quiet in its place until it’s unloaded. Freight doesn’t require oxygen, and it doesn’t require expensive human flight attendants to keep it out of the way, orderly, and occupied, and to and attend to its continual selfish whining. Freight is submitted by its sender using automated systems, and can be handled and tracked to its destination by computer without human intervention. In contrast, human cargo requires expensive human employees to tell it where to go, what to do and what not to do, to respond appropriately to its incessant selfish demands and complaints, and to resolve the problems that inevitably result from the human cargo’s own ignorance, stupidity, and disobedience.

Even worse is how resistant human cargo is to the legitimate honest efforts airlines are now making to remedy the long-standing productivity problems. They’re imposing some nominal and entirely fair fees that reasonably compensate the airlines for expenses (e.g., food, water, blankets, headsets) incurred by human cargo but not by freight, and for the lost revenue from carrying (formerly) non-revenue checked baggage that displaces profitable freight. But rather than being understanding partners who are happy to help airline executives meet their obligations to shareholders, human cargo has the utter uncaring gall to complain and even throw juvenile tantrums. Human cargo is just too ignorant, stupid, and selfish to realize that airlines are doing them a great big favor by letting them occupy a middle seat (which they then cheekily complain is too small for their fat derrieres!), space that would be far more productively utilized for the shareholders if it contained freight. So why should airlines care at all about them?

In short, freight is predictable, compliant, simple, and always contributes to the airline’s bottom line. Human cargo is complicated, disobedient, unpredictable, demanding, and is continually draining the airline’s bottom line. And airlines are having great difficulty with their efforts to force human cargo to behave more like freight. So it’s just good business for airlines to treat their Elite Customers (i.e., freight shippers) preferentially.