I can't read due to paywall, but just a few (yeah no, long post) observations of mine...
I have travelled on a major vacation during the last few December-January periods (except for when COVID put the brakes on that), and most of that travel has been in Business Class (some Economy, a little bit of First). Pretty much all funded with points, which were accumulated thanks to credit cards (both standard spend and signup bonuses) and purchasing points (not a spectacularly huge amount due to flying).
I still see lots of men in the premium classes, but it's not completely just "businessmen"; in fact, not everyone travelling in Business Class is doing so for business. Quite a few couples (man and woman), a few families (parents and young kids, in markets like East Asia or Middle East)...... the average age is still trending towards the older and wiser end of the scale (but then again, I'm not young myself). I suppose if we think of somewhere like the USA, premium cabins replete with young spring chickens screams influencer (or OF model maybe).
Often, if I find someone who "breaks the mould", there's a fair chance they are also playing the points game.
To put some perspective on this, when Business Class was introduced to the world (supposedly by Qantas), the experience was very different. Nothing close to the lie flat seats with direct aisle access and privacy doors that we have now (and that's just the start). It was more luxurious than Economy for sure, but it would be an abhorrent Business Class by today's standards. It would definitely be much more expensive than Economy, but then again, air travel (even in Economy) in those days was nowhere near as cheap or financially accessible as it is today, so if you could fly Business Class in those days, you were loaded (or employed in a very good job).
I imagine this also persisted to some degree in the early days of frequent flyer programmes, particularly as there were fairly limited opportunities to earn points except by flying; certainly not thanks to credit cards (including signup bonuses) or directly purchasing points.
These days, Business Class is a very different and fairly attractive experience (yes, many of us in this forum have become jaded), and more visible (thank you Internet and social media) and accessible. Besides, all the people who flew Business Class decades ago have to stop flying some time, so who is going to take their places? Oh, and even before COVID, travel for business purposes was often Economy only for many organisations.
For myself, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was lucky to travel abroad nearly annually when I was a child, "despite" all of that travel being in Economy. Despite how much Business or First class travel I do now, I still count myself lucky every time I do fly premium, and I'm grateful. I dread the moment in my life when I forget what the "romance" is of flying Business or First for the first time, and "it's just another flight on an ordinary seat".
