All this talk about the number of seats, 767-300, 737-800 and who knows what else.
Now you all know the difficulty in moving away from the "gross-weght and airspeed" formula which got "big jet" pilots their "big bucks" in the beginning.
You see the more load an airplane is capable of carrying and how far it can take it is the measure of productivity and potential revenue. This is/was the heart of our pay system. The rest is just personal prejudiced.
Now in the early 80s we did a comparison of a B747-100/200 verses a B737-200 JT8D-7 in productivity and revenue generation. The 737 pilots were sure their 4 and 5 leg days were equal to if not greater in productivity and revenue generation than a single 747 flown for the same number of hours. After analyzing every possible angle we could think of the 747 always won out. Additionally we discovered the 747 pilots actually received a lower percentage of the pilot pay in total than the 737 pilots did.
What it essentially comes down to is how far and at what cost can we fly a pound of revenue. This is why an old fuel burning tub like the 747-400 beats others, because it carries more weight a further distance than a 737-900 can and all with two to four pilots.
The 747 pilots are more productive and deserve a bigger share of the potential revenue of the airplane. Of course it's up to marketing to sell those potential pounds.
Of course many of you don't really care at all because it's not about gross weight and airspeed any more.