I think what he's getting at is that he DID purchase first class seats. However, at a stopover the airline changed planes with a "first class plus" set of seats. Frankly, I agree with him.
The whole allure of consoles is "here's a hardware spec that we're going to work with it for a decent amount of time and bring you quality entertainment". When this notion changes halfway through a release cycle, one can't help but feel like a fool when they bought a PS4.
*Especially* in this gen, there was always a 'first class' where PC gaming and such has demonstrated that there's capacity to play those same games in higher fidelity with other options. But it came with different context, or different planes, I guess in this analogies. For this circumstance, everyone was on the same flight, and then the airline started offering first class as an option instead, when maybe other airlines have had it available for awhile. Previously, everyone was the same exact format. Now that first class exists, your seat is still your same seat. If you want to pay more, you can get more leg room, but you're still going to be on the same flight.
And I can safely assure you that conversations like these, and the feeling of being slighted, is largely confined to these message boards. I've had a few people ask after it in store already for any rumblings, and there's no bitterness, more enthusiastic tech folks eager to see what's coming down the pipe.
That's the issue I see that a lot of consumers have. They paid for what they thought was a first class ticket, only to find out they actually bought coach 6 months after purchase. Of course Sony could fix this by offering a trade-in program to anyone who bought a PS4 within a certain time frame of this announcement but, they won't. According to some that's just an entitled way of thinking anyways.
Here's where it hits for me. My nephew is 8 and finally got his PS4 for Christmas. Most excited he's been in a long time. He'll be upset when the PS4K comes out. Not because of the games but because of what it actually means as it relates to the PS4, which is you're now a second class citizen.
I digress though...I really need to stay out of these because I will not upgrade now or ever. I'll play my PS4 for exclusives only until it no longer can then I'll move on from consoles and just stay on my PC gaming, which has been my main way of gaming since the late 80s anyways.
I don't game on PC myself, at all, but I understand the draw. Myself, I'll probably end up getting a PS4K, once I trade in my existing one, or selling it, if I can get a better deal that way, but that's just because I know I can. I do all of my gaming on my PS4, and being able to get more out of it seems like a worthwhile investment to me. I do a lot of gaming, after all. I've got 12+ preorders just this year.
As to your nephew... I mean, he got it just recently, and this will be at the earliest, a holiday season release, so it'd be almost a year since he had it, if not a full year, so it's still a solid gap in time, and even then, it's a higher end version. When I was a kid and I saw the gameboy updates, I generally asked my parents if I could trade towards the newer models as part of a present, so I could contribute, if I wanted the better version. Maybe I just understood it was a cost related upgrade, even as a kid?
And that's if it even is relevant to most kids. This kind of product will largely be marketed towards adults, not kids. The core model will still be the one directed towards price conscious parents, since they'll be able to lower the cost so much more anyway.