Why Are Some Olympic Women’s Teams Flying Coach While the Men Fly Business?

The main example used in this article in Time Magazine refers to the different flying experiences of Japan’s women’s soccer team (reigning world champions) and their under-23 male counterparts (nobodies, at least before they stunned Spain in London). So, why the difference?
 
My first thought was that perhaps Japan’s women wanted to teach the boys a lesson in modesty and humility, those venerated traits in the Japanese character which might have started to slip away. How naïve I was. It turns out the ladies also wanted desperately to fly business, but were victims of stinginess and discrimination. They have complained bitterly, and are likely to get the special treatment on their way back (as happened only once before – last summer, after they trashed the German übermädchen on their home soil). Sometimes I am wondering on what planet I live.